Ohlins aids winning Iron Dog team

In the race of races, the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race, the winning team was once again supported by the suspension products of Öhlins USA. Riders Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad, of Wasilla, Alaska, rode their Polaris sleds through the cold, snow, and ice before taking victory in the 26th annual Tesoro Iron Dog race.

Setting up the suspension for the winning team in the world’s longest snowmobile race, officially 1,971 miles, was taken care of by Mike Carver of Carver Performance, which is an authorized Öhlins Service Center, located in Thief River Falls, Minn. Carver has had winners in the Iron Dog before, such as this year’s sixth-place finishers Scott Davis and Todd Palin, who won the 2007 event.

“Teams have told me they insist on Öhlins suspension components because they cannot take a chance with a product that might fail,” says Carver. “This year the temperature during a portion of the nine-day long race went down to 50-below zero.”

The annual race takes place in February and is run in Alaska from Big Lake, northwest to Nome, and then east to Fairbanks.

The Iron Dog race is run partially on the Iditarod course and follows many of its safety rules due to the many life-threatening conditions of the event. Each team has two riders and two snowmobiles so that no racer is ever stranded alone. Additionally, the teams must carry a required amount of spare fuel and parts, tools, food and survival gear, so the sleds carry a high amount of weight. To lean more about the Iron Dog, visit http://www.irondog.com/.

The four Öhlins Shocks supplied to Minnick and Olstad by Carver Performance are fully adjustable with high- and low-speed compression adjustability. Öhlins makes shocks for all brands of snowmobiles and for all uses, racing or trail riding. Carver says that about 80 percent of his business is snowmobiles, and he has been providing Öhlins service for over four years for the Iron Dog race. Carver’s website is, http://www.carverperformance.com/.

Öhlins USA distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension for automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles. Öhlins develops its proprietary and innovative suspension components at the highest levels of racing from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers and dealers. Visit http://www.ohlinsusa.com/ for more information.