AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
Ryan Simons rebounded from a disastrous 2005-2006 WPSA National season with a will to win. He was re-born last season.
Simons established himself as one of the riders to beat, leading the Winter X Games final, taking wins and challenging for both WSA Pro Championships. What fans witnessed was one of the most dramatic pro snocross career turnarounds ever.
The 25-year-old from Sedgewick, Alberta, endured a dismal 2005-'06 snocross campaign, finishing 14th in Pro Stock and 17th in Pro Open points. While the humble Canadian had shown flashes of brilliance, he had also shown a propensity to crash. Many wondered if he had the consistency to win a championship.
Yet, with the support of friends, family and the newly formed HJ Racing team, Simons was determined to make a strong comeback aboard a Cat from Arctic's Thief River race shop.
A long way to the topSimons first break was in 2001 at the Indoor Super Snowcross in Fargo, N.D. He won his first major Semi-Pro snocross and caught the eye of Arctic Cat's race team. For the next 2 years, he raced Semi-Pro, racking up solid results.
Simons took a step up to the WSA Pro class for 2004-2005, racing Pro Stock and Semi-Pro Open. In his second pro race, he finished on the podium. Simons took sixth in Pro Stock points, making 9 finals. He also was 12th in Pro Open, making 7 of 10 finals.
However, what should have been Simons' breakout season, the 2005-2006 WSA Nationals, started unraveling from the very beginning.
"That year was a tough year, I struggled with everything. I had some setup problems, and I wasn't there mentally. I could either hang it up or turn it around," Simons says. He was determined to do the later and started the next season on a mission.
In November 2006 at Spirit Mountain, Duluth, Minn., Simons demonstrated a controlled racing approach, and he took two seconds, a win in his Pro Open heats and seventh in the final. He backed that up with another strong qualifying performance in Pro Stock and was sixth in the final. At the Pro double header (two Pro Stock and Pro Open nationals) at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn., Simons showed he was a new rider and the chemistry with his team was working.
The new HJ Racing team, with Crew Chief Brian "Hector" Olsen and mechanic Cory Berberich, had his sled dialed in. Simons took second behind veteran Polaris racer TJ Gulla in the first Pro Open race, and third behind phenomenon Tucker Hibbert in the second Pro Stock National.
Simons now had the consistency to match his speed.
"It's sort of calming, not trying to make the world happen in one corner," he says. Simons also had confidence in his sled. "It's having confidence that you can go into big triples and not worry that it's going to bog on you or it's going to break. You can ride the sleds as hard as you possibly can."
Success happensAboard his Pro Open sled at the X Games, Simons charged out of the gates and took control of the race. On the fifth lap, Hibbert, who dominated the first half of the snocross season, had chased down Simons, passed him and pulled away. "I knew Tucker [Hibbert] was running real fast," Simons says. "I made a couple bobbles and he got by me. I was kind of happy he did. If I would have tried to stay ahead of him, I probably would have pushed myself to crash."
Simons maintained his pace and rhythm, finishing second to take Winter X Silver. With that night's performance, Simons proved he had arrived, and soon would stand atop a podium.
In Eagle River, Wis., Simons out-dueled Ski-Doo's Mathieu Morin and Polaris' Mike Schultz to grab his first Pro win. But more importantly, Simons had developed into a much more patient and controlled rider, scoring consistent top heat finishes.
"I was very inconsistent in the past," he says. "I made a few little changes to myself and the sled, and the consistency is paying off right now. You have to stay focused and finish near the top with all your qualifiers."
At Canterbury, Shakopee, Minn., Simons' momentum and confidence continued to grow. When Polaris standout Ross Martin smoked his belt in Saturday's Pro Stock final, Simons swept into the lead and cruised to victory. But he wasn't finished. With championship points hanging in the balance, Simons attacked the Canterbury track taking third in the first Pro Open final, a fourth in Sunday's Pro Stock final and followed with a fourth in the Pro Open.
Heading into the season finale in Lake Geneva, Wis., Simons trailed Gulla in the Pro Stock class by 19 points and Ross Martin in the Pro Open by 44 points. Mathematically Simons had a chance, but only disaster would prevent Martin from taking the title. By the second Pro Open qualifying round, Martin had collected enough points to wrap up his first Pro title.
When the green flag dropped in the Pro Stock final, snocross legend Blair Morgan bolted into the lead and posted a flag-to-flag win. Simons rode an inspired race to finish second, but Gulla, riding conservatively for the championship, nailed down sixth and the title by 9 points.
Although Simons wasn't able to claim a pro championship last season, his sights are squarely focused on taking home a championship trophy this season.
"When I first came in [to snocross], I was way too inconsistent. Now that I've run up front, the goal is to win a gold at Winter X and then a championship."
Simons seems to have the machinery, talent and determination to do it.
Racer ProfileName: Ryan Simons
Age: 25
Weight: 155 lbs.
Height: 5'6"
Hometown: Sedgewich, Alberta
Other interests: Motocross and stand-up jet skiing
Started racing: 2000
Results: Last season, 16 podiums: 7 firsts, 4 seconds, 5 thirds; 2nd at X-Games
Sponsors: Arctic Cat, Action Graphics, APV Lubricants, C&A Skis, Commercial Sewing, Figgins Transport, FOX, Mitsuboshi Belts, RCS Titanium Springs, SCOTT USA, Speedwerx, Sportech, Stud Boy and V-Force Reeds
Arctic Cat Sno Pro 600Highlights: All new Sno Pro 600 uses a tubular chassis for rigidity, plus a highly tweaked 600 laydown F-series twin with 40mm TM flatslide carbs. Ground clearance improves 2 in. with new front suspension using extruded longer spindles with ball-joints. The rear suspension moves forward 2 in. to tighten turning radius, and the Slide-Action rear unit has a more aggressive rail profile for better traction. Tunnel is wider to accept a 15-in. wide Camoplast track, and running boards are wider, flatter.