Hibbert Sets New Wins Record With Canterbury Sweep

Tucker Hibbert rang in 2014 with a bang, sweeping the Pro Open main events at Canterbury Park Raceway in Shakopee, Minn. and passing the legendary Blair Morgan to set the all-time AMSOIL Championship Snocross wins record.

Hibbert (Monster Energy/Arctic Cat/Ram) surpassed Morgan’s 84 career wins on Friday night with a wire-to-wire victory. Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing/Monster Energy/Polaris) tried to challenge Hibbert early, but he defending champion responded by blasting off the back straight triple jump and looking back at Kamm mid-air. Hibbert would not have to look back again.

Tim Tremblay (AMSOIL/Scheuring Speed Sport/Ski-Doo) would get past Kyle Pallin (Mystic/Polaris/Team LaVallee) to secure third place early in the race. Rushing up towards the lead pack were Logan Christian (Arctic Cat/Stud Boy/Speedwerx) and Ross Martin (DuPont/Jack Links/Polaris), going bar-to-bar in a great battle before Martin fell off his sled in a wild wreck on lap six.

At the midway point of the 14-lap Pro Open main event Hibbert was clicking off methodical lap after lap, increasing his lead over Kamm and Tremblay to more than five seconds. The three had spread out and looked to represent Friday’s podium – only to have Tremblay’s sled suffer a mechanical issue and come to a stop on lap 11 (while charging to pass Kamm).

At the white flag Hibbert was up seven seconds on Kamm (second) and cruised to the record-breaking victory. Johan Lidman (Ski-Doo/NSK/Stud Boy) inherited inherit Tremblay’s third place position with Cody Thomsen (Arctic Cat/Speedwerx) and Kyle Pallin (Mystic/Polaris/Team LaVallee) rounding out the top five.

“Thanks to Blair for pushing me tonight – just like back in the day when I always tried to pass him, it felt the same way tonight,” says Hibbert. “I tried a ‘Superman’ (Morgan’s signature trick victory celebration move) over the finish line and it was horrible, but that was my salute to Blair.”

Joining Hibbert on the Pro Open class podium was Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing/Monster Energy/Polaris) in 2nd and Johan Lidman (Ski-Doo/NSK/Stud Boy) in 3rd. Winning the support Pro Lite class was Andrew Carlson of Polaris Racing/Sportech/PMC.

Hibbert would have a much tougher time of it on Saturday, but the end result was still the same – his sixth win in six races this season.

With a clean Stud Boy Holeshot and open track ahead of him, Martin took charge early, only to bounce off Hibbert in a turn – which allowed Kamm to take the early lead. Martin and Hibbert quickly regrouped and rallied their sleds only moments after the incident and Martin took off after Kamm, passing him back on lap two.

With Hibbert three seconds back of Kamm and Martin, Martin took off on a wide open track and put up a half second on Hibbert during lap four (41.334 to 41.887). The three would separate themselves from the rest of the pack in a furious chase for the lead position, with Hibbert catching and passing Kamm on lap six in a gnarly section dubbed the “Gravity Cavity.”

At the halfway point of the 14-lap contest Hibbert would cut a half second out of Martin’s lead with a risky triple/double jump move down the back stretch – a move that no other racer could manage to pull cleanly during the main event. Through the eighth lap Martin’s lead was 2.46 seconds over Hibbert. And by lap nine, when the two started to run into lapped traffic, Martin’s lead fell to 1.3 seconds.

On lap 10, using his triple/double jump to set up Martin, Hibbert caught his rival on the exit corner from the straight and passed Martin in the Gravity Cavity. Within moments Martin would be down two seconds to Hibbert – a gap he’d never be able to recover.

With Martin solidly in second place and Kamm equally strong in third, Lidman was running in fourth with Christian in fifth. Christian would falter on the final lap, allowing Tremblay to take fifth.

Pro Lite

In Friday’s Pro Lite main event, Andrew Carlson (Polaris Racing/Sportech/PMC) pulled the holeshot and led the entire race. The hometown Minnesotan led a field of Polaris sleds that would sweep the podium – another big positive for the Minnesota-based snowmobile manufacturer.

“All of us up here speaks volumes for Polaris,” says Carlson from the top of the podium that also included Leighton Motorsports/Polaris teammates Zak Mason in second and Trevor Leighton in third. “The sleds were rippin’ fast all day long.”

Pursuing Carlson off the start early in the contest were Leighton and teammate Corin Todd, along with week two winner Andrew Lieders (Mystic/Loctite/Polaris). But on lap three Todd came off his sled and Leighton and Mason moved in to second and third. Mason would then bolt past his teammate on the following lap as the white flag flew, setting up his first career podium finish and the all-Polaris podium.

In Saturday’s Pro Lite main event, James Johnstad (DuPont/Jack Links/Polaris) followed Carlson’s lead by grabbing the holeshot and never looking back in his way to victory.

Johnstad was kind of on the fence as to if he was going to even race or not. Back at the season opener in Duluth Johnstad broke his collarbone. Missing the Bessemer, Mich. round (Johnstad made two painful starts, just to secure points, but didn’t race), Johnstad decided to give ‘er a run this weekend at Canterbury.

“I can’t explain how good I feel,” said an elated Johnstad from atop the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Pro Lite podium. “I didn’t even know if I was going to even race at Canterbury. But we did and it paid off.”

Johnstad parlayed a clean holeshot on his Polaris sled into an early race lead ahead of Jordan Kraus (Relentless Racing/Polaris) and Corey Watkinson (Watkinson Motorsports/Arctic Cat). The three held position through three laps before Watkinson got past Kraus and into second place. On lap four of the nine-lap contest Todd would move past Kraus and into third, while Carlson, who started on the back row, was moving up into the top five.

As Johnstad opened up a 2.6 second lead on Watkinson, Mason (Leighton Motorsports/Polaris) was up onto Todd and eventually into third place on lap seven.

Consistency and speed would allow Johnstad to easily win the contest, with Watkinson and Mason finishing in second and third. Ski-Doo racer Maxime Taillefer earned fourth place with Carlson rounding out the top five.