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Minto, ND
(February 21, 2011) - It was a huge weekend for the USCC with a double-header
based out of the Sevens Clans Red Lake casino in Red Lake, Minnesota,
and USCC East hosting the Madawaska 100 in Madawaska, Maine. The Red
Lake 75 and Red Lake 100 featured a unique course both days consisting
of a 20-mile loop of woods, ditch, trail and minimum maintenance road.
Both days proved fun and challenging for the riders with good weather
both days. There was some snow on Saturday, but Sunday was clearer
and temps both days approached 20-degrees Fahrenheit. The FXR Pro 600 race was scheduled for three laps both days including a mandatory fuel stop. Justin Tate set the pace on Saturday, posting a three-lap time of 1:18:53.472, a minute and half ahead of second place Garth Kaufman (1:20:17.572). Even more impressive is that Tate pulled that minute and a half after taking fuel, where Kaufman simply did a touch-and-go. Tate, who has struggled to break into the Top 5 in his first season as a USCC Pro, gave some insight into his win after the race. "Cross-country
is a learning process," Tate said. "I took what I learned
from the first few races and did some testing this week. I found a
really good setup and that's what did it." Coming off a win at the Walker 100, D.J. Ekre suffered a collapsed front shock in the first few miles of Saturday's FXR Pro 600 race. Ekre had better luck Sunday and took the win in the class, posting a three-lap time of 1:29:27.858, some 15 seconds ahead of second place rider Aaron Christensen (1:29:43.112). Like they did at Walker, the pair set a blistering pace that left the rest of the field minutes behind on the time charts with Kaufman in third (1:31:25.899) followed by Zach Pattyn (1:32:41.198), Ryan Simons (1:33:43.478) and Ross Erdman (1:34:35.321). Tate suffered bad luck and was listed as a DNF on day 2. Christensen won
Saturday's Arctic Cat Pro Open race with a one-lap time of 24:49.388,
some nine seconds ahead of the second place sled of Simons (24:58.398).
Ekre won the class on Sunday posting a one-lap time of 27:55.713,
nearly 15 seconds better than second place Tate (28:10.211). Ryan Greening swept the Semi-Pro classes on Saturday, posting wins in the AMSOIL Semi-Pro Improved and Ski-Doo Semi-Pro 600. His time of 24:56.083 in the Semi-Pro Improved class would have put him in second place in the Pro Open class. On Sunday, Bobby Menne IV broke Greening's streak of wins by claiming the Semi-Pro Improved class with a one-lap time of 29:10.788, seven seconds ahead of Greening (29:17.825). Greening came back to win the two-lap Semi-Pro 600 race with a time of 1:01:25.402, nearly 27 seconds ahead of Menne (1:01:52.016). The USCC East circuit continues to grow, and the Madawaska 100 saw over 30 riders show up to compete in Madawaska, Maine. Ski-Doo rider Ryan Scripture won the Pro 600 class with a time of 1:50:43.176, besting fellow Ski-Doo rider Kenny Murphy (1:51:08.338) and Arctic Cat rider John Gessinger (2:01:26.129). Chad Jones won the Pro Open class with a time of 26:57.7, besting Scripture (27:02.1) by nearly five seconds. John Caputo won Semi-Pro 600 and Joe Pelletier won Semi-Pro Improved. Next up for the
USCC is the Munising 300 in Munising, Mich., February 25-26, 2011.
The Munising 300 is a joint USCC/USCC East event and is a points race
for both circuits. For more information about the USCC National Guard
Cross-Country Snowmobile Racing Championship please visit www.usccracing.com.
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