USXC Grafton 100 Report

After the first two lake lemans events, snowmobile terrain racing returned this past weekend with the Grafton 100 in Grafton, ND.

It was typical USXC cross country racing, with eight miles of tight river and 13 miles of rough ditch. The day started out with heavy, wet snow and poor visibility, with the sun coming out at noon. Drivers hadn’t seen this rough of a course for quite some time.

Zach Herfindahl drove his #313 Arctic Cat ZR to another Pro class win, followed by #28 Justin Tate on a Polaris Axys who kept the heat on the entire 100 miles and finished just 45 second later. Bobby Menne was a close third on his #131 Polaris Axys.

The top female driver the sport has ever seen, #22 Jolene Bute, was back at the top of her game, dominating the rough course on her Arctic Cat ZR. Polaris riders, #4J Jill Tangen and #144 Anne Pladson, were second and third, respectively.

Semi-Pro was dominated by Polaris. Alex Hetteen won the large Semi-Pro class by over one minute on his #154 Polaris Axys. Hetteen is the grandson of the founder of Polaris. Other top riders were plagued by various issues, with Yamaha’s top rider, #52 Re Wadena, having the flu. His teammate, #51 Matt Piche, had one of his best runs of the year putting his Viper in the top 10 with a sixth place finish. Ski-Doo had a best finish in Pro with, #5 Dillon Dohrn, finishing in fourth place.

Due to low snow conditions, USXC will head to Park Rapids, Minn. for another lemans ice race on January 31 and February 1. Over the last two years, drivers have been getting much better at setting up their sleds for ice. The Park Rapids promoters have added an additional $7000 to the purse in the top seven USXC classes! Racing is set to begin at 9am both days.