The new National Snow Bike MX Series kicked off with round 1 at the McCall Winter Carnival on Saturday, January 30, 2016, and was sponsored by: Timbersled, Tarantula Tequila, Moto Trax, Fox Suspension, Red Bull, Rekluse, Raptor, HMK, Fly Racing, Western Power Sports, Rockwell Watches, Pro Moto Billet, Fastway Performance, Interstate Battery, Mile High Powersports, Mickey Ray’s BBQ, Carl’s Cycle, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Grizzly Motorsports, CMX, Ride McCall, Pole Position Raceway, Life’s Too Short, and DSG, who provided cool, goody bags for women racers.

There seems to be more anticipation for the event every year, and with over 30,000 people were in town for the 50th annual McCall Winter Carnival, it was no surprise when a record 1,130 spectators assembled to watch the race at the McCall Golf Course. This year’s huge snowfall (almost five feet) insured no bare spots on the course, but also reduced the amount of available parking spaces for the pit area, and staff and vendor parking.

Snow bikes have now been around for about eight years, and there continues to be an increasing number of different manufacturers of snow bike kits, which fit most, modern dirt bikes with a front ski and small track, allowing them to zip along on snow with incredible speed and agility. Almost every brand of kit was on hand racing including: Timbersled, Moto Trax, CMX, (whose machines were fitted with the wild, new, Raptor, twin-ski front end) 2Moto, Yeti, and Snow Tech MX.

The 2016 event featured mostly good, wind-free, 30 degree weather, although low clouds and flurries dropped in for a brief visit just prior to the main events. Not only were there a record number of spectators on hand, there were a record number of 57 racers, traveling from as far away as New Hampshire, Minnesota and various parts of Canada to compete. One fellow, Shannon Mason, even flew in from Australia and raced (and did quite well) As expected, snow bike racers are getting faster and faster every year as they continue to refine their riding skills, and companies such as Fox and Raptor, tweak and improve suspension components. The revised, 7/8 mile, twisty track, featured more rolling jumps and banked turns, as well as the new Red Bull Double, which allowed for excellent spectator viewing from a number of points around the track.

Saturday’s competition consisted of a series of heat and semi-races to determine who would race in the A, B, C and D mains later in the day. At this point in time, it has to be stated that unbeaten, untested, Canadian hotshot Brock Hoyer, (Yamaha, FXR, Devol, Scot Concepts, Line Nine, Fastway Fox, FMR, Fourtna Posts, VP Fuel) IS the fastest snow bike racer in the world, as he won the A Main for the third year in a row. It is also accurate to state that Canadian Reagan Sieg (Slednecks, 509, Rider Z, FMF, Riders Edge, Line Nine, Fastway, High Mark, VP, Cyclops, Interstate, Brewster West) and American Jimmy Jarrett, are neck and neck for the title of second fastest snow bike racer on earth, as both have shown great consistency and speed and swapped top three A Main finishes over the last three years. Impressive speed was also turned in by world-famous, Southern California freestyler Ronnie Renner, (Red Bull, KTM, Timbersled, Fox, Go-Pro, Fastway and BTO) who looked scary fast all until he ended up on the wrong end of a first turn pile up.

As the sport of snow-biking continues to mature and develop, more young riders are continuing to show up to compete, and part of that equation was to add a women’s class. Idaho’s Shayla Fulfer is a world class desert racer, and she is now the world’s fastest female on a snow bike, cruising to wins in both her heat and main events, and she gave the guys fits too, finishing 7th in the C Main, sliding right in behind the legendary Damon Bradshaw’s young son, Dalton, who made his first ever appearance on a snow bike and looked pretty fast. Once again, although there were a number of crashes, there were no serious injuries. Clearly snow is much better to crash on than dirt, and snowbiking is proving to be a pretty safe sport.

Special thanks are in order to the City of McCall, and the McCall Chamber, Greg Lawley, (track groomer) and Eric McCormick and his staff at the McCall Golf Course, as well as Ken Faught, Mike and Ray Robinette, Jeff Riechmann, and Destry Haslett. Round 2 of the National Snow Bike MX Series will be held in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota on February 13. For more information on it and to check on points standings visit: www.flashpointsnowbike.com.