When the going got rough in the first cross-country snowmobile race of the season, a proven pro, Corey Davidson, surged to the front on his Polaris race sled to win the Pro 600 class. Davidson’s win came in the United States Cross Country Snowmobile Racing (USCC) season opener on January 2 in Grafton, North Dakota.
Davidson, who has built one of the sport’s most impressive cross-country resumes, also won the Vet 30+ and Masters 40+ classes at Grafton, and Polaris racer Paul Anderson won the Masters 50+ class.
Bobby Menne IV won the Semi-Pro 600 race on a 600 RUSH Pro-R in the first Semi-Pro race of his career and his first race on a Polaris.
Davidson used a fast yet steady pace to win the Pro 600 class on the brutally rough 14.5-mile race course outside Grafton. Multiple blizzards in the days before the race blanketed the region in deep snow and led to numerous road closures. Since some racers couldn’t reach the race site, the USCC declared it a non-points race.
The storms also left the race course with deep, drifted snow cover, and numerous racers had get-offs from hitting snow ridges or landing hard after catching air.
Davidson was in third place as the Pro 600 leaders began the third and final lap of their race, but the two racers ahead of him both crashed. Davidson took advantage, surging past to win by 14 seconds ahead of the runner-up and 19 seconds over Polaris racer Aaron Christensen in third. Polaris racer Justin Tate was sixth.
In the Semi-Pro 600 race, Menne won by more than half-minute and was the first of five Polaris racers to finish in the top 10. Ken Christensen was fifth, Travis Faust was seventh, Mike Hedlund was eighth and Korey Wenzel finished 10th.
"This is my first win as a Semi-Pro and it feels really good," said Menne. "Our test time with the Polaris 600 RUSH Pro-R really showed in the race. The sled was working great. I feel more comfortable on this sled than anything I’ve raced in the past."
Experienced Polaris racers swept the podium spots in the Masters 40+ class, with Davidson winning, Ken Christensen finishing second and Paul Anderson taking third.
The next race on the USCC schedule is the Grand Cities 100 in Grand Forks, N.D., January 15.
