crapo brothers sign with arctic cat
Amsnow
Team Arctic announced today that it has signed the highly-talented snocross duo of Kurtis and Shaun Crapo to race on the World Snowmobile Association (WSA) Snocross Worldwide Championship (SWC) circuit for the 2003-2004 season.
Kurtis Crapo is 24 years-old and lives in St. Anthony, Idaho with his wife Emily, four-year-old daughter Kaitlyn and one-year-old son Ethan. He turned Pro six years ago and has 43 starts as a Pro on the WSA SWC circuit. He took a second place finish in the Pro Open class at the WSA event in Deadwood, South Dakota in 2002 but sat out most of last season after injuring his knee in the season opener at Duluth.
"Arctic Cat has been great to us. Kirk Hibbert and Russ Ebert and all the engineering people are some of the best guys to learn from. The support of Arctic Cat is what I need to step it up another level and prove myself," Kurtis Crapo said.
Kurtis will be racing out of the Olah Racing trailer and his crew will consist of Steve Thorsen and Dean Swarzwalter of T&S Racing, located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. "I'm excited to work with Steve and Dean from T&S. I'm going to be getting a lot more support than I am used to," Kurtis said.
Shaun Crapo is 19 years-old and also hails from St. Anthony, Idaho. He turned Pro last season after winning the 2001-2002 Semi-Pro Open points title and claimed 6 wins in the Semi-Pro classes that season. Shaun also nabbed a fourth place finish in the 2002 ESPN Winter X Games snocross final as a Semi-Pro. He broke his leg in the season opener at Duluth last year after taking a third in Pro Stock earlier that day. He came back after missing the next event in Winnipeg and finished the season strong with three more third place finishes, two of them at the WSA Manufacturer's Cup race in Shakopee, Minnesota.
Shaun finished the season in 10th place in Pro Open points and in seventh place in Pro Stock points.
"I feel really good about the switch to Arctic Cat after going on the test trip with them last spring. I like the people and all the equipment they have and working with Russ Ebert and Kirk Hibbert will be awesome - I'm ready to go!" Shaun said.
Shaun Crapo will be racing out of the Team Arctic trailer and his crew will be led by Russ Ebert. Both Crapos are back to a hundred percent after their injuries last season and are looking to carry momentum into the coming season. The Crapos will be piloting a revised Sno Pro for the 2003-2004 season, one that features a rider-forward layout and has even more horsepower on tap.
"The sled really worked great and we were really impressed this spring after riding it," Kurtis Crapo said.
"The new Sno Pro felt really good to me, Arctic Cat has made a lot of improvements," Shaun said.
The Crapos will give Team Arctic a strong presence on the snocross tracks this coming season and Team Arctic is gearing up to continue its success in this racing venue.
"I've had my sights on Kurtis and Shaun for over a year and have continued to work on them to get them on board with Team Arctic. They are extremely happy with the new product and we are very excited to have them racing for Team Arctic. They're both prime candidates to fill a huge void," said Team Arctic Race Manager, Brian Sturgeon.