Round 5, 2017 Nitro Lubricants AMA Championship Snow Bike Series, February 19, 2017
Hill City, MN

Round five of the 2017 AMA Championship Snow Bike Series rolled out the first snow bike race ever held at the legendary Quadna Mountain Snow Park near Hill City, Minnesota and was rewarded with warm, 45F temperatures, a good-sized, fired up crowd, and plenty of snow due to Quadna’s snowmaking and grooming abilities.

Quadna, (with input from racers) modified their snowmobile snocross track for snow bikes, resulting in a jumpy, rolling track with 35-second lap times and plenty of action for racers and spectators alike. Five or six of the ten fastest snow bikers in the world were present and they put on a great show. X Games alum Cody Thomsen (Yam, Camso ) from Nisswa, Minnesota, won his heat going away, followed by North Dakota’s Harris Huizenga, (Kaw, Timbersled , another X Gamer) who took his heat, and former pro Montana motocrosser Keaton Ward (KTM, Timbersled also won his heat.

This set the stage for the 10-lap, rip-roaring A main. Huizenga blasted his Full Throttle Motorsports Kawasaki off the line and into the lead on lap one, followed closed by Thomsen, but then Ward suddenly found another gear and started closing rapidly, passing Thomsen and nipping at Huizenga, it was a war and all three were riding at a torrid pace when both Huizenga and Ward went down, handing Thomsen a sizeable lead. Ward struggled to get going again, but Huizenga fared better, restarting a quarter lap down in about fifth. Meanwhile, Thomsen cruised out front, alone and uncontested. Suddenly Huizenga found a whole new pace and starting gaining on the entire field by 2 or 3 seconds per lap, and amazingly, he caught and then passed Thomsen on lap 7, going on to win. It was a really impressive performance and proved that Huizenga’s round 4 win was no fluke. At least for now, Huizenga seems to be raising the bar for the other athletes. It will be really interesting to see what happens at round 6 in West Yellowstone, Montana next month, especially when the legendary Jimmy Jarrett rejoins the fray.

As usual, the A Main wasn’t the only part of the show; fast guy, Colton Sturm (Yam, Camso) suffered some bad luck in his qualifier, so he made a rare appearance in the B Main in which he lapped most of the field to win. South Dakota’s Shayna Lier (Hon, Timbersled) rode stronger than ever to win the women’s class. She also grabbed an 8th place finish in the A Main, making only the second appearance ever by a woman in the A Main (Lier was also the first, making her first A Main appearance last year at West Yellowstone).

Round 6 of the AMA Championship Snow Bike Series will be held at West Yellowstone, Montana during the legendary Expo Weekend on Sunday, March 12, 2017, and will feature plenty of snow and plenty of things to see and do.

The series partners are: Nitro Lubricants, Moto Trax, Camso, Arctiva Clothing, Fox Suspension, Snomoto.com, Timbersled, CMX, Cyclops, Pro-Moto Billet, Snow Tech MX, HMK, Rekluse, and Excel Fabrication, and Fresh Moto who create the custom event trophies for each event.

Special thanks to: George the Groomer, Woodie’s Racing, Little John, and the North Woods ATV Club who helped with scoring, flagging and teardown.