Dick Leads After Day 1 of USCC Red Lake I-500

Thief River Falls, Minn. (January 21, 2011) - Day 1 of the USCC National Guard Cross-Country Snowmobile Championship Red Lake I-500 dawned bitterly cold, with temperatures touching -30 Fahrenheit. As if cold weren't enough, the day saw light snow in the morning and overcast skies all day making for dreaded flat light conditions. A perfect day for cross-country!

The Day 1 course featured three loops that ran to the South of Seven Clans Casino Thief River Falls, home base and top sponsor for the Red Lake I-500. Riders left the casino and headed East, then looped south and West to the fuel stop in Plummer, Minn. Then they looped North and West and again back to Plummer for the second fuel stop before heading back to the casino on a route that closely followed the first loop.

Jesse Thelen drew the No. 1 pin on Thursday, so he broke trail for the field of 135 riders. He was chased by a heavyweight field of FXR Pro 600 class riders including Arctic Cat riders Ryan Simons, Zach Pattyn, D.J. Ekre and Brian Dick as well as Aaron Christensen, Gabe Bunke, last year's winner Dan Ebert, Justin Tate and Grand Forks and Grafton race winner Corey Davidson. It was a veritable who's who of modern cross-country snowmobile racing all leaving the line in the first 20 riders. In all, 36 Pros took to the course and 135 riders total started the day.

By the end of Day 1 Dick had run the 160-mile course in a total time of 2:18:05.591. Simons was 1:45.409 behind him and Pattyn came in third, 6:07.444 behind the leader. After Pattyn came Davidson (7:20.165), Christensen (7:40.713), Ross Erdman (7:57.699), Cory Davis (8:19.765) and Cody Kallock (8:57.872).

Saturday's course will consist of three loops totaling nearly 180 miles with fuel stops set to take place in Warren, Minn., at the Warren County Fairgrounds. Saturday will host the first ever USCC Vintage I-500 race. The Vintage class riders will leave after the modern sleds and race the full course on Saturday including fuel stops. Legendary names such as John Carlson, Brian Nelson, Aaron Scheele, Archie Simonsen and Bob Enns are set to compete.

Fans will be able to follow the race live online at www.usccracing.com as well as on the USCC fan page on Facebook. For more information on USCC racing please visit www.usccracing.com.

The USCC racing circuit is entering its ninth year and is the largest cross-country snowmobile racing organization in North America. USCC has expanded with an Eastern circuit called USCC East. The USCC and USCC East hold races in six states including North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Maine and New Hampshire. Follow USCC on Facebook or visit www.usccracing.com for information, registration, news and race results. Contact USCC at: 701-248-2029. For sponsorship information contact Noel Schanilec: noel@usccracing.com. Media contact, Jim Urquhart: jimu@usccracing.com.