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Martin, Mich. – Jeff Kerridge broke the ¼-mile asphalt world record four times in two days at
American Snowmobiler’s Super Sled Shootout here over the weekend.
Kerridge out of Greenville, Mich., was already the world record holder aboard the Kenneth Smith Inc. owned Mott Motorsports prepared 2006 Yamaha Apex. He had established the record on a run in Georgia late last fall, clipping off ¼-mile in just 7.59 seconds. Many will recall that before Kerridge’s record run last fall we also had a world record run at our Super Sled Shootout. That previous record was set by Jeremy Hannen on a fantastic custom built sled by Jim Rodgers with a time of 7.80 seconds at 170.44 mph.
But Kerridge, 43, eclipsed both records with a 7.565 run in the first round eliminations of the Outlaw Class at the
AmSnow Super Sled Shootout on Saturday at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. There Kerridge snuck past Maine’s Keith Wood who had been the No. 1 qualifier in the Outlaw class on his Yamaha Apex. Wood posted an amazing 7.67 second mark in the race with Kerridge. Yes, you heard that right, two sleds, side-by side, pulled sub-eight-second runs!
“Who’d think I’d get knocked out with a 7.67,” Wood shrugged after the race.
Again, just year ago Jeremy Hannen aboard Canadian Jim Rogers’ custom-built sled had thrown down what was thought to be a nearly impossible 7.80 second run which had edged the old mark of 7.84.
Kerridge and the Smith / Mott crew then proceeded to again crush all the records again in a grudge match with Wood on Sunday afternoon. Kerridge ran a 7.492 at 182.8 mph and won the Outlaw Class on Saturday. As if that wasn’t enough he came back on Sunday and ran two heats side-by-side with Wood and posted a time of 7.443 seconds at 182.88 mph! Then, just for good measure, in mid-afternoon on an overcast 55-60-degree day, set Kerridge set the new highest mark at 7.399 second at 183.59 mph. The crowd became more electric with each additional run Sunday. Wood who posted a solid 8 second run in the first matchup that day, unfortunately cracked his block after 500 feet in the second run, otherwise we might have seen even more magic.
Kerridge was all grins and his team was ecstatic after five years of working toward the record and setbacks at each of the last several
AmSnow Super Sled Shootouts.
Kerridge said the team made some key chassis adjustments after the sled pulled toward the wall in his first practice runs of the day, and in his qualifying run. “It was a cold track and we were spinning too much with too much power,” he said after his win. But the Smith and Mott guys tuned back the power to get more traction.
“This exceeded our expectations by far,” Kerridge said as he accepted congratulations from the team.
Other winners: Certainly the record-setting Outlaw runs stole the show, but there were other great runs and close-fought wins at
AmSnow’s 21st Annual Shootout. The Shootout this year was presented by Eaton Corp.’s Aeroquip division and the Michigan Snowmobile Association hosted a swap meet on Saturday.
Races were run in four other classes, two each on Saturday and Sunday, plus separate bracket races each day with a record number of participants from as far away as Newfoundland and Maine to Wyoming.
Saturday’s winners were:
Pro Stock Class: Rich Daly (DynoPort’s owner, and known as the Mad Scientist), Union Springs, N.Y.; 8.36 sec., 157.4 mph, Ski-Doo Mach Z
Pro 9.0 Class: Brian Werner, Hubbard, Ohio; 9.03, Yamaha
Bracket: David Alberson, Crown Point, Ind.; Arctic Cat ZR
Sunday’s winners were:
All Motor Class: Tiina Duncanson, Acton, Ont.; 8.16 sec. 155 mph, 1000cc MRE motor
Big Twin Class: Glenn Hall, Gordon, Wis.; 8.55 sec., 145.29 mph, 2011 Arctic Cat Z1
Bracket: Daniel Kuntz, Green Bay, Wis.; 1996 Ski-Doo Mach Z, 10.24 (10.20 dial-in)
Other awards:
Best Appearing Sled: Scott Krueger’s Pro Power Motorsports prepared white and blue custom-built racer with an Apex motor.
See more details and photos in the December issue of
American Snowmobiler, coming to subscribers in late October and on the newsstands Nov. 16. We’ll also post more Super Sled Shootout photos on our website.
View more photos in our special
photo gallery.