ROUND 5 & 6 Shakopee, MN
Deadwood is a favorite on the tour due to mother nature not being on our side we got gifted with a wild, windy, wide open weekend back at Canterbury Park. This time Snocross stepped up the bar made a track everyone have been about since the All Finish Racing days. Daytona of Snocross is back baby!! we did get intel someone forgot to turn the snow guns off(by accident or on purpose) whatever the reason who cares give us more of this action. Very very minimal smash fest, triple triple section that turned into a a few different lines(Triple double, double double double or double triple, or triple triple), corners would insane lines developed nicely a lot of riders found the outside faster, come night show inside could have been faster. One rider in the junior classes we watch very closely found a hidden line through the rhythm section heading towards the finish. Red plate holder Ryan Shimanski was hugging the inside line doubling through making quick distance between himself and the rest of the field, great job Ryan!
Now back to the premiere class, Friday’s stage was set for any one of these riders to win, back in the off season we talked to one rider specifically he stated “this isn’t a learning year, I'm going out to battle with the big boys” No.96 did just that grabbing the “fastest qualifier” (PSA there wasn’t a qualifying session just second practice). I get it though throw that in there for the fans. Those Thene sleds are rocket ships, if history has shown us anything they know how to win or maybe it’s that sparkly new semi owner Cory Thene had built LOL. We did step in that rig man she is beautiful. Okay enough drooling over here back to racing, Crayden was inching his way up that ladder each weekend doing the much needed homework. Taking his first pro win in his rookie year, what a spectacle it was. We bumped elbows with Crayden’s dad giving congrats, simple few words from Luke “we are going to do it again tomorrow”. Wasn’t far off either landed on the box Saturday night after making a strong push towards the front battling with Daniel Benham, making a small mistake on the triple triple section getting sucked off the sled having enough time to get back and salvage a third. What a ride that was. The man to beat would be Jordan Lebel on that Makita sled grabbing his second career win of 2026 and now holding the red plates as we go into Canadian territory. Notable rides we have to mention Hunter Patenaude kicking off round 6 strong putting those studboy studs to work right behind Lebel and Benham. We would love to see Hunter get a win here soon. What the heck happened to Benham was that red plate getting heavy???? Still right there in the title fight 10 points, be careful Dan 2x champ is 1 point behind you. Gustav Sahlsten had a quick taste of the red before his sled went bye by Saturday night, This championship Is getting GOOOOD!
Moving next to Pro-lite division. Podium looked very very different this go around not seeing points leader Cameron Cole at all, we did notice Arctic Cat had a great showing, first time winner Eric Downs taking notes from team mate Daniel Benham on those patented holeshots, man those cats are dangerous on the start. Big success for Frattalone Racing really showing their progression and wanted to deliver for Arctic Cat, if you remember they were a full fledge cat team before switching to Polaris. Can say this making the move back to green wow. Tony you got it going on man! Second would be handed out to SRT rider Drew Freeland being on a great ride second podium thus far. Third would be the new energized Green Mountain Racing team rider Linus Pettersson one of the younger riders in the class, talking to team owner Nate Tatro he said this track really suited Linus as all they ride is right handers in Europe. Saturday came another shift but on a smaller scale. Back to those Makita sleds, Jordan Lebel’s lil brother clicked off his first win of the season, did Jordan give some tips back at the trailer sure seems like it, two brothers taking overalls Saturday night big night for Lebel family. Naeli you're up to bat! Eric Downs putting on another stellar performance securing second inching closer to points leader Cole who again didn’t see on the podium. One thing we did see after the checkers Cam looked very frustrated, once you have the taste of winning it's a hard pill to swallow to not win over and over again, the name of the game here is consistency folks. Last but not least Evan Christian rounding out the podium. Three podiums one win under his belt what did we just say about consistency, Evan is playing that very well, looking back at the points 3 behind Downs and 19 behind Cole. This championship is getting good too! Freeland waiting for anyone of these guys to make a mistake and pounce.
What will we see come Valcourt??? Bring the popcorn cause its going to get dicey!!
