jackson hole world championship snowmobile hillclimb

Jackson, Wyo. - The 33rd Annual World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb finals were held March 27-30 on Snow King Mountain just outside downtown Jackson.

All day long the sounds of snowmobiles rang throughout the city and the racers enjoyed the best snow they had seen in years. After dozens of racers tried their best to reach the top, the trenches became deep, rocks grew taller and the carnage increased.

King of the Mountain
In his second year of racing, Polaris RMK rider Keith Curtis won the Stock 600cc, 700cc and 800cc classes. He then went on to win the Stock King of the Hill title and finally the incredible honor of the King of Kings title on his Dragon 800 RMK. Competitors Les Keller and Kyle Tapio could not out-do Curtis' charge to the top. Curtis' time of 1 minute and 8.26 seconds was impressive, but not nearly as impressive as his Polaris teammate Parker Brown, who set a new record for the fastest run to the top of the mountain in 56.41 seconds. Polaris rider Trent Backus also won the improved 700cc Stock class.

Cats claw up the steeps
From the Arctic Cat camp, Les Keller won the 1000cc Improved class and then went on to win the 1000cc Improved King title. Even though Keller did not win the King of Kings he was still smiling ear to ear. "I am so happy with my climbs," said Les Keller after conquering the mountain, winning a King Title. "I'm on cloud nine."

Kyle Tapio won the Open Mod class on his Boondocker Turbo equipped M8 and beat out a solid group of riders that included his brother Russ Tapio. Kyle went on to win the Mod King title as well. "I really liked the snow this year, it was deep," Kyle Tapio said after winning the Mod King title. "My sled ran really good, and overall I am really happy with my performance." In his Mod King run Kyle was pulled into a hole and he had to push his snowmobile with his feet while holding onto the throttle. He managed to get it out of the hole and still win the King title. "I figure I lost about 5 seconds in that hole, so I knew I had a lot of time to make up," said Tapio, "I was a little surprised that my time was 1 minute 11 seconds," still it was fast enough to win it.

Other Cat riders who claimed class titles at Jackson were David McClure, Nels Tapio and Tony Ottobre.

*These results are preliminary results, as final standings have not been issued. For more info, visit www.rmsha.com.

Watch a video on the Jackson Hole World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb here.