The National Snow Bike MX Series sailed into round 2 at the Polar Fest winter celebration on Saturday, February 13, 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, CMX, Detroit Mountain Resort, Hough Construction, We Fest, Tintmasters, and Pole Position Raceway.

There were a lot of questions surrounding this event; it was the first snow bike race ever held in Minnesota. Would anyone come to watch? Would anyone come to race? The answers were “yes” and “yes” respectively, as 31 racers and 321 paying spectators assembled to watch the race at the Becker County Fairgrounds. There would have been two, or perhaps three times as many on hand, but unseasonably cold temperatures of 5F and gusty winds, produced a teeth chattering wind chill factor and kept a lot of people indoors and away from the track.

Building a track was challenging as well, as there was only about 10 inches of snow on the ground. The solution was to haul in several thousand yards of snow, which was then dumped and manicured by Hough Construction and the Detroit Mountain Ski Resort. The resulting track proved to be awesome. It was about half a mile long, with tall banked turns and rolling bumps and jumps, with a nice, powdery surface. Fast riders turned lap times of around 40 seconds and praise for the track was universal as it allowed multiple lines and easy passing in most spots and no injuries of any kind occurred, although there were plenty of crashes. This venue provided superb spectator viewing as well, with grandstands in a number of areas around the track.

Saturday’s competition consisted of a series of heats, semis and last chance qualifiers to determine who would race in the A, B, and C mains, (there weren’t quite enough racers to run a D main) later in the day. Unfortunately, the two speedy Canadians, Brock Hoyer and Reagan Sieg, did not attend, nor did the always fast, off road legend, Jimmy Jarrett make it, but young motocrosser Colton Davis performed admirably, easily winning the A Main. He just started riding a snow bike and indicated that he will be at round 3 in West Yellowstone in a few weeks. That will give fans a chance to see if he has what it takes to run with the current crop of big boys out West.

Davis wasn’t the only fast, young, new rider. Harris Huizenger and Dustin Traxel also showed impressive speed, coping second and third in the A Main, and the Jelinek brothers from North Dakota also had a great weekend: Jay took 4th in the A Main, Lee won the B Main and Chad won the C Main. Mick Olson should also be mentioned. He was arguably the fastest guy on the track, and he was on a roll, coming off of a stellar 4th place in the A Main at the opening round of the series in Idaho. But he just couldn’t get a rhythm going and crashed multiple times, finally salvaging 12 points in the C Main. Clearly he needs to work on consistency, and when that happens, he will be a strong contender for a national championship title, because he’s really fast.

Another question loomed large over the weekend as to the speed of the women in this new, young sport. Shayla Fulfer dominated round 1, but did not attend round 2. She was replaced by South Dakota’s Shayna Lier , also known as No Fear Lier, who was every bit as fast as Shayla. Too short to even touch the ground, she simply gave the guys fits all day, finally finishing 5th in the B Main. It would be awesome to see a Shayla versus Shayna contest later in the season. Are you listening ladies?

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 snow-biking is proving to be a pretty safe sport.

Special thanks are in order to the City of Detroit Lakes, the Detroit Lakes Jaycees, and the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Matt Halseth, Matt Arola (the track groomer), Bryce Moen, (front loader operator) Roger Pinckney, Natalia Cooke, Lovisa Holm, David Martinson and Mike Hough. Round 3 of the National Snow Bike MX Series will be held in West Yellowstone, Montana on March 13. For more information on it and to check on points standings visit: www.flashpointsnowbike.com.