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With an awesome beginning to the 2016-2017 snocross season, the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National finals really set a high standard for the coming snocross competitions of this season. The competitors were clearly ready to go heading into this contest, and one of the reasons that this event was especially exciting to watch was that each rider was going all out and nobody was holding back at all. This is clearly going to be a highly intense season if the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National is any indication of what is coming for the rest of the season’s competitions.
Held in Duluth, Minnesota, the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National saw great conditions for the contest, which had a lot to do with the persisting polar vortex weather pattern that has held up across the Midwestern United States for the last few weeks. The polar vortex helped to usher in some very cold temperatures and a bit of snowfall as well, allowing for the snocross track and facilities to be in prime conditions for the event.
Within the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National event there were many racing teams and sponsorships present, making this contest a very large and well represented one. Some examples of the major racing teams present at this prestigious competition were Warnert Racing, Leighton Motorsports, Watkinson Motorsports, Carlson Motorsports, Woodies Racing, Boss Racing, London Recreational, Hentges Racing, Team LaVallee, Team Monster Energy, AMSOIL, and many more.
In terms of the actual snowmobiling company sponsors present at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National, Ski-Doo had several team appearances and competitors, along with Polaris, Arctic Cat, and more. This was a phenomenal event that saw excellent conditions, and was attended and viewed by large crowds. For the benefit of anyone who happened to miss out on the excitement of the 2016 Snocross National event, the podium finishers and final round results will now be included and detailed briefly.
1st Place Pro Open – Lincoln Lemieux:
Taking the lead with the first place spot in the Pro Open finals at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National was racer Lincoln Lemieux. Lemieux is a member of the Ski-Doo racing team, and has multiple other big name sponsorships. To name a handful of Lincoln Lemieux’s primary sponsorships, they include but are not limited to AMSOIL, Air Force, Rockstar Energy, Ski-Doo, and more. Lincoln was racing with the bib number thirteen at this event, and gave the audience and event personnel quite an entertaining performance at the Snocross National in Duluth. Originally from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Lincoln Lemieux has been racing in snocross for multiple seasons now and is already leaving a lasting and indelible mark on the sport of professional snowmobile racing.
Some of Lincoln’s biggest racing strengths, and the primary reasons he was able to take home first place at this prestigious event, include his ability to maintain an efficient rhythm and timing no matter what the track is doing. While other racers allow the movements of the track to slow them down in order to compensate for jumps or sharp turns, Lincoln is able to almost always gain momentum in turns and jumps instead of losing it. Being able to exhibit expert timing and sensibility while navigating fairly large ramps, landings, and turns of varying bank and size is a critical skill in terms of maintaining speed through the more challenging aspects of the track.
Lincoln Lemieux’s Ski-Doo built snowmobile definitely served him well in this race, and he was able to exhibit truly expert throttle control through the race giving nothing up in the straightaways. Although Lincoln was able to hold strong throughout the race, it is a fact that runner up second place finisher Tim Tremblay presented multiple serious challenges to Lincoln throughout the Pro Open finals at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National. In spite of Tim Tremblay’s best efforts, Lincoln Lemieux was able to blast through the pack and take first place after crossing the finish line. Lemieux’s career is looking very strong right now heading into the 2016-2017 season, and it is clear that he is a major contender to keep eyes on as the season kicks into high gear.
2nd Place Pro Open – Tim Tremblay:
Racing his way into second place, yet another Ski-Doo team racer was able to enter podium rankings in the form of Tim Tremblay. Tremblay is an outstanding snowmobile racing athlete, and he was one of the only racers in the field who was able to present any kind of serious challenge to the first place finisher, Lincoln Lemieux. Although it could be argued that since both the first and second place finishers in the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National are both riding for Ski-Doo that perhaps Tremblay allowed Lemieux to win or even let off him toward the end of the race, this theory is unlikely considering how competitive these racers truly are. Plus, they all have their own individual racing stats to protect, and most of the racers realize that team affiliations can sometimes be temporary but personal stats will follow a snocross racer for their entire career.
Hailing from Quebec, Canada, Tim Tremblay has some extensive experience in snowmobile racing, and he appeared to be quite comfortable indeed with racing in the excellent conditions in Duluth for this competition. Some of Tremblay’s sponsorships include Ford, Air Force, AMSOIL, Ski-Doo, and a host of smaller sponsors as well. Racing with the bib number of eleven at this race, Tim Tremblay along with Tucker Hibbert and Kyle Pallin were come of the only racers who could even attempt to pose a serious threat to Lincoln Lemieux’s dominance at this race. Tremblay looked great on the straightaways at this race, and his ability to power his sled efficiently and with solid throttle control was definitely in play as well. Where he was really able to shine however was in the hard turns; it was in the deep turns where Tremblay was able to come close to challenging Lincoln Lemieux’s lead, but Lemieux’s ability to accelerate out and ahead after turns is a major factor that went into preserving his lead and eventual first place finish.
3rd Place Pro Open – Tucker Hibbert:
One of the only other people besides Tim Tremblay who was able to challenge Lincoln Lemieux’s first place lead and finish was Tucker Hibbert. Tucker managed to bring in the third place podium finish at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National which was a big positioning for his racing team, which happens to be Arctic Cat racing. Arctic Cat racing is having a decent start to the season, not great, but decent, and Hibbert’s third place podium finish is definitely a nice morale boost for the team. Considering that the Polaris team ended up taking the next four ranking finishes after Tucker Hibbert’s third place outcome, it is likely that Arctic Cat is very thankful to their rider Hibbert for his performance at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National Pro Open finals.
Some of Tucker Hibbert’s additional sponsorships include Team Monster Energy, Arctic Cat, Ram Trucks, Arctic Cat, and a host of smaller ones. One of a handful of Minnesota natives himself, Tucker Hibbert certainly had an interest in performing well on his home turf, and he was able to complete that objective to a significant degree. Racing with the bib number of sixty-eight, Tucker Hibbert showed a high level of determination in his riding, and even when he faltered or started falling back toward the middle of the race he never let up at all.
In terms of the racing style exhibited by Tucker Hibbert at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National Pro Open finals in Duluth, Minnesota, he started out with a hard charging style. Although he was not able to completely maintain his pace throughout the whole race, he never stopped pressing the second and first place finishers whenever he possibly could. Although he fell back by a slightly larger margin heading into the last leg of the race, he was able to at least give the second place finisher Tim Tremblay a run for his money on a couple of the tougher turns in the track. Tucker Hibbert has demonstrated his value as a racer to the Arctic Cat team, and is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming weeks and months of the 2016-2017 professional snocross season.
4th Place Pro Open – Kyle Pallin:
Picking up the fourth place finish at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National Pro Open finals was snowmobiling athlete Kyle Pallin. Kyle is an extremely skilled racer who is currently riding for the Polaris racing team, and he definitely represented Polaris quite effectively in the Snocross National at Duluth, Minnesota. He is originally from the state of Michigan, and Kyle Pallin has many years of snowmobiling training under his belt. That training came in handy at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National event in Duluth, and given that fourth place is not at all a bad finish when there is a competitive field of over 15+ racers in the event it is likely that Pallin’s sponsors were quite pleased with how it all turned out.
In terms of Kyle Pallin’s primary sponsorships, they include but are not limited to Team LaVallee, Polaris, Red Bull Energy Drinks, Loctite, and a host of other smaller sponsors. Racing with the bib number 324 at this event, Kyle Pallin was able to put together a decent highlight reel from the race, in addition to putting forth some substantive challenges to the lead of the top three podium finishers throughout the race. Pallin definitely gave it everything he had out on that track, and his fourth place ranking is the hard evidence of that intense effort.
One of Pallin’s mild weaknesses during the race seemed to come in the form of his turning rhythm. Pallin would be screaming through the straightaways and gaining some ground, but seemed to lose a bit of momentum in the turns and couldn’t seem to get it right in that regard. In spite of whatever difficulties he was dealing with during the race, his fourth place finish at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National Pro Open finals was a great beginning to his 2016-2017 season.
5th Place Pro Open – Kody Kamm:
Bringing up fifth place at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National Pro Open finals in Duluth, Minnesota was another Polaris racing team rider named Kody Kamm. Kody had a great race at this event, and definitely took the opportunity to solidify his membership on the coveted Polaris snowmobile racing team. Polaris is definitely a great team to be on, and it is competitive to get on that team so riders like Kody Kamm have to perform well to retain their spot over an extended period of time.
In addition to riding with and being sponsored in part by Polaris, Kody Kamm also receives a significant margin of his sponsorship from the Hentges Racing outfit. Kody is yet another Michigan native out of several within the competitive field at the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross National, and has spent a long time training up north so the track and facilities at Duluth were very similar to the conditions he has grown up training in. Racing with the bib number of fifty-three, Kody Kamm was able to put up some serious challenges to both Kyle Pallin and Tucker Hibbert during the race, although it was not nearly enough to get him into the top three podium rankings.
One of Kody Kamm’s biggest strengths out on the track is in his ramp and jump trajectories. He is one racer who is never scared or apprehensive about throttling heavy over the jumps to increase his hangtime and launch distance in the hopes of gaining a slight edge on his lap times, and the risk involved never seemed to deter him in the least during the 2016 AMSOIL Snocross Nationals. Kody represented Polaris quite well during this race, and is going to be a major contender as the 2016-2017 season progresses right along.
