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The 2017 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series continues on with a tour stop at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, where the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National took place. This snocross race was a massive success, and was hosted at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. This competition was especially fun to watch given that the snocross racing course that was constructed at Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort was a really intense and challenging layout for the snocross athletes, involving some especially hard turns and large jumps.
Given that the primary Pro Open ISOC racing is passed the halfway point, we have been seeing some increases in terms of the track difficulty and also increases in race intensity. One of the common themes so far throughout the 2017 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series has been familiar names and faces landing on the podium, and this race was no different in terms of Tucker Hibbert continuing to dominate the top spots. This race was also interesting for the reason that the top five included some snocross athletes from different countries besides just the United States, with both Canada and Norway being represented on the podium at the conclusion of the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
One of the competitive aspects of the current layout in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series is that there are three primary sponsorships in terms of snowmobile brands and manufacturers. The top snowmobile manufacturers included into the Pro Open division of the ISOC Racing series involve Arctic Cat, Ski-Doo, and Polaris. At this race, Ski-Doo sponsored racers managed to dominate the podium with two of their athletes securing spots in the top three.
With only a handful of primary season AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series competitions left in the 2017 schedule, things are definitely heating up in terms of athletes vying for the top league rankings. In this way, this is a great point in the season to start following the progression of the remaining competitions for those fans that are a bit more passive in terms of following the stats. For the benefit of all snocross fans and snowmobile enthusiasts out there, we have included below a detailed summary along with final round results from the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
1st Place – Tucker Hibbert – United States:
One snocross athlete who has definitely established himself as a dominant force within the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series is Tucker Hibbert, and as a continuation of that trend he managed to secure the first place finish at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National event. Tucker was racing in his typical no-holds-barred style that seems to be winning him so many competitions this year, and he is so effective on the track that it is almost like there is no contest between himself and the other athletes.
Tucker Hibbert is racing out of his hometown of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, where he grew up and trained on a snowmobile since he was a young person. His prowess on the snocross track is undeniable, and it is clear that he is one of the true superstars of this sport. Racing with the bib number of sixty-eight at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, Tucker Hibbert was expertly racing his Arctic Cat sled with a remarkable intensity. Although challengers like Tim Tremblay were doing everything possible to offset Tucker Hibbert’s towering lead, nobody was able to significantly challenge Tucker for the first place dominance.
Tucker Hibbert brought in a major win for his racing teams at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, which currently stand as Team Monster Energy and the Arctic Cat Team as well. With how well Tucker is racing in the 2017 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, he is accruing even more sponsorships to his already broad portfolio of major sponsors. In addition to Monster Energy Drinks, Arctic Cat, Ram Trucks, and Arcticwear, Tucker also has a profile of smaller sponsors including C-TEC2, TekVest, Digital Ink Design & Graphics, CTI, Stud Boy Traction, and several others.
When analyzing Tucker Hibbert’s phenomenal success throughout his career in the ISOC Racing class, one thing that stands out is the fact that Tucker actually has some of his family members in on his crew team. Having two of his family members on his crew, including Mandi Hibbert and Kirk Hibbert, could have something to do with the sheer amount of heart and determination that Tucker races with at every event. Whatever the reasons are, Tucker Hibbert continues to dominate the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series in 2017 with his first place win at the most recent event, the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
2nd Place – Tim Tremblay – Quebec, Canada:
Another high profile snocross racer is Canadian born Tim Tremblay, and Tim is another athlete in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series who has been making a lot of strides in terms of rankings and league standing in the 2017 season. Tremblay was able to take the second place runner-up podium spot at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, although his second place finish was nowhere near as clean or dominant as Tucker Hibbert’s victory was. Tim Tremblay had to battle it out with Norwegian professional sled racer Elias Ishoel for who would secure the second place podium spot at this competition.
That isolated competition between Tremblay and Ishoel was probably one of the most exciting aspects of the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National event at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, with both of these snowmobile racing titans aggressively challenging each other for the second place spot. Tim Tremblay ended up making an expert pass toward the end of the race to overtake Elias Ishoel in order to take second place, and it was definitely quite close between those two. Tremblay was racing with the bib number of eleven at this competition, and racing out of his hometown of St. Jeanne D’Arc in Quebec, Canada.
Tim’s upbringing disposed him to sled racing, since snowmobiling is a very commonplace element of life in the far north where sometimes traveling can only be achieved by driving a sled. Tremblay races for Ski-Doo right now, and they serve as one of his most massive sponsorships for his successful career. At 6’1’’ and close to two-hundred pounds, Tim Tremblay is one of the largest snocross athletes currently competing in the 2017 AMSOIL Championship Snocross National where many of the athletes are smaller and with a lower center of gravity for racing.
This certainly has not held back Tremblay’s meteoric success in the ISOC Racing league, and his sponsorship portfolio definitely reflects that success he has experienced thus far. Some of his biggest sponsorships include AMSOIL, U.S. Air Force, Ford Motor Company, Ski-Doo Snowmobiles, Milwaukee Tools, KLIM, 50 Below, and some smaller sponsors as well. As long as Tremblay continues to race with the precision and intensity that secured him the second place finish at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, we can expect him to stay on top within the Pro Open division of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series.
3rd Place – Elias Ishoel – Norway:
Norwegian snocross athlete Elias Ishoel was able to secure for himself the third place podium rounding spot at the conclusion of the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, after a really intense competition that mainly centered on his struggle against the second place finisher, Tim Tremblay. Tremblay was probably the primary challenge that Elias Ishoel faced in this competition held at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, considering that Tucker Hibbert was basically in a league of his own at this race and was more or less untouchable.
This left Elias Ishoel and Tim Tremblay to battle it out at the awesome track used for the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, and it definitely was a battle. Elias Ishoel is yet one more Ski-Doo sponsored snocross racer, and in this way him and Tremblay actually share a primary sponsor, making their rivalry at this race even more interesting since they were both racing highly similar sled designs. Ishoel maintains a very balanced snocross racing style, balancing the need to be aggressive and make risky passes, with the ability to stay conservative and read the pack movements when it is necessary to do so.
He is one of the smartest racers in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, and although he isn’t often the one taking first place, he is very frequently seen in the higher ranks of major race results. Riding out of Oppdal, Norway, Elias Ishoel was racing with a bib number of two-hundred a the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National competition at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Currently, Elias Ishoel is racing with a high profile snocross racing team known as Warnert Racing, and this seems to be a great fit for Elias as far as team affiliations go.
Aside from Ski-Doo Snowmobiles, Elias Ishoel has a unique profile of sponsors that includes several companies that are exclusively sponsoring Ishoel’s career. Some of these sponsors include Makita Tools, NSK, GMC, XPS, Hayes, Quadna Mountain Park, Mechanix Wear, and a variety of other great sponsors. Elias has been having a lot of success during his career in the Pro Open division of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, and as long as he continues racing like he has been, we can probably expect more podium finishes from him before the 2017 ISOC Racing season is over for the year.
4th Place – Kody Kamm – United States:
Helping to get Polaris Snowmobiles into the top five at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National, American snocross professional Kody Kamm was able to race his way into the fourth place spot at this competition. Kody Kamm races out of his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is yet another location where snowmobiling is truly a way of life. This is a trend we tend to see a lot in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, with the best competitors all coming from much more polar locations on the planet where winter conditions and snowmobiling is so commonplace that these athletes get an automatic introduction to the sport.
Watching Kody race, he is clearly a natural at the sport of snocross racing, and he is a great example of someone who has profound talent but also the work ethic and training background to match it. Racing with the bib number of fifty-three at the 2017 Ram Trucks Snocross National event, Kody Kamm brought in a great top five finish for his current racing team of Hentges Racing. This is a snocross racing team that has also been having a lot of success through the 2017 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, and Kody Kamm is truly one of their most important team assets.
In addition to being sponsored by Polaris, Kody also has one of the largest secondary sponsorship profiles of any athlete in the ISOC Racing league to date. Some of these additional sponsors for Kody Kamm’s snocross career include Pirtek, Walker Evans Shocks, Royal Enterprises, VForce 3, Ergodyne, FXR, Wells Fargo, and more. Kody is definitely one of the stars in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series right now, and considering how frequently he has been making podiums and top five rankings, it is reasonable to suggest that he probably has a lot of longevity left in his professional sled racing career.
