Polaris Race Report: ISOC Duluth National

Polaris Terrain Domination was on full display at the ISOC snocross season opener in Duluth, Minn., where Polaris racers won one of the two Pro finals, earned three Pro podium spots and Ross Martin (Judnick Motorsports) won the first-ever AMSOIL Dominator, a head-to-head Friday night elimination competition among Pros worth $10,000 to the winner.

Martin also won the weekend’s second Pro final on Sunday, and was joined atop the podium by these Polaris racers who won class finals in Nov. 25-27 racing at Duluth: Justin Tate in Pro Am Plus 30; Jennifer Pare (JFP Racing) in Pro-Am Women; Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing) in Pro-Lite 2; and Mike Pilotte in both Sport 1 and Sport 2.

Pro Classes: Martin Cashes In; Polaris Racers Surge

The top 16 Pro racers went through four rounds of head-to-head competition on Friday night, Nov. 25 in the first-ever Dominator. They ran 2.5-lap races on the demanding Spirit Mountain snocross track under the lights in a battle for the $10,000 first prize. Martin won all four rounds to earn the season’s first big payday.

The next day, Martin finished second in the first Pro final of the weekend, and was joined in the top 10 by four more Polaris racers: Iain Hayden (Rockstar Energy Polaris) in fifth; TJ Gulla (Hentges Racing) in sixth; Levi LaVallee (Team LaVallee) in eighth; and Mike Bauer (Judnick Motorsports) in 10th. Brett Bender (Hentges Racing) finished 13th.

In the weekend’s second Pro final, run Nov. 27, Martin capped off his outstanding weekend by winning and leading a 1-2 Polaris finish as Gulla finished second. LaVallee finished eighth, Justin Tate was 12th and Bender was 14th.

Martin finished the weekend with 83 points, which gave him an 11-point lead over second place. Gulla was third in points, LaVallee was eighth and Hayden was 11th.

Tate won the Pro Am Plus 30 final which saw four Polaris racers in the top eight: Marcus Evensson was fourth, Michael Berghorn (Sierra Motorsports) was seventh and Ted Lindborg was eighth.

Jennifer Pare won the Pro-Am Women final and was joined on the podium by Polaris racer Kendra Dallmann (LePage Racing), who finished third. Stephanie Schmidt (Schmidt Racing) finished fourth, Tabitha Bode (Fort Fremont Marine Racing) was sixth and Melanie Acker (Team Southside) was 13th.

Pro Lite & Sport Classes: Polaris Packs the Top 10s

In Pro Lite, which ISOC previously called Semi-Pro, James Johnstad (Judnick Motorsports) finished second in Pro Lite 1, where Polaris racers took five of the top eight spots. Jake Scott (Team LaVallee) finished fourth, Andrew Carlson (Carlson Motorsports) was fifth, Andrew Lieders (Lieders Racing) was sixth and Marcus Johansson (Carlson Motorsports) was eighth.

Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing) finished 12th in Pro Lite 1, but came back to win the Pro Lite 2 final while Lieders was fifth, Carlson was eighth and Brett Nastala (Redline Racing) was 10th.

In the weekend’s two Sport-class finals, Polaris racers grabbed three of six podium spots, led by Mike Pilotte, who won both the Sport 1 and Sport 2 finals. Polaris racers took six of the top 10 spots in Sport 1 as Luke Wollenberg (BLR Motorsports) took third, JB Dennis (Team OTSSF/Advanced Motorsports) took sixth, Edward Bandel (Team Southside Polaris) was seventh, Espen Kjellmann (Kjellmann Racing) was eighth and David Fradette (Bristow’s Racing) was 10th. Andrew Lindholm (Lindholm Racing) took 12th and Trevor Leighton (Leighton Motorsports) finished 13th.

Polaris racer Nickolas Lorenz (Lorenz Racing) won the Junior Novice 10-13 final and Jordan Wolfe (Wolfe Racing) finished third.

The next ISOC race will be run Dec. 9-11 at Blackjack Resort near Ironwood, Mich.