Strong starts and dominating rides propelled Canada's Blair Morgan and Tucker Hibbert to huge wins at the debut Canadian Open Snocross at Winnipeg's beautiful Assiniboia Downs horse racing facility. And, three more riders earned a trip to the ESPN Winter X Games here Saturday afternoon at the second round of the World Snowmobile Association's (WSA) international series, the Snocross Worldwide Championship (SWC) presented by Ford Trucks. In that first appearance of the sport's top guns, Pro Kent Ipsen (Olah Racing/Famous Dave's Cat), back from missing the entire season last year with a basketball induced knee injury, won the top-three-take-all X Games Qualifier, and will be joined in Aspen, Colorado at the end of January by his Semi-Pro teammate Robbie Malinoski and Semi-Pro Steve Martin (Formula XPS Ski-Doo).
In the Ford Trucks Pro Stock class, a coin flip determined the top qualifier, and it was perhaps a precursor to the final as Morgan (Woody's/C&A Pro Ski-Doo) won the toss. He then nailed the start, and earned the Sportech Holeshot Award, while teammate Carl Kuster (VP Fuels/Oakley Ski-Doo) slotted into second with Finn Tomi Ahmasalo (Formula XPS Ski-Doo) third. Tucker Hibbert (Chevy Trucks/Speedwerx Cat) came off the line only fifth, but a great outside move in the first turn hairpin found him exiting in third. He then got embroiled in a wonderful duel with Kuster that lasted for most of the race.
Lap after lap, Hibbert would look for a move, but Kuster was simply brilliant in his defense, and although Morgan opened up a massive lead, the battle for second was superb. Finally, after setting up the move for a couple laps, with just over two to go, Hibbert snuck past Kuster in the first turn, and quickly opened up a big gap, in fact closing in a bit on Morgan. But, Morgan's margin was far too large, and with only two laps to go, Hibbert had to settle for second, with Kuster an excellent third, Tomi Ahmasalo (Formula XPS Ski-Doo fourth and TJ Gulla (Olah Racing/Speedwerx Cat) fifth.
The big surprise of the Bud Light Pro Open final was Morgan starting in the back row after a crash in a heat forced him into the Last Chance Qualifier. Hibbert and Japan's Yuji Nakazawa (Mlaskoch Excavating/ROX Ski-Doo) tied for top qualifier, and Hibbert finally nailed a start and earned the Sportech Holeshot Award. Nakazawa was second, Dennis Eckstrom (AMSOIL Polaris) was third, and Gulla and Kuster were up front as well. Amazingly, his back row start caught out Morgan again, and he was involved in a five-sled incident that left him upside-down and dead last. But, it also was to offer up the drive of the day.
Nakazawa and Eckstrom got into a great battle, with DJ finally getting by, and then Yuji had a huge off. Meanwhile, after not improving much in the first few laps, Morgan started flying. He moved into the top five with three laps to go, and slid into fourth with two to go, and took a big run at Gulla in the second to last corner coming up to begin the last lap, but Gulla shut the door. With Hibbert way out front and Eckstrom a lonely second, all eyes were focused on Morgan's final attack and Gulla's defense. Going into the final two corners, Morgan again attacked, but Gulla just survived to claim the final trophy. Morgan was fourth, with teammate Kuster fifth, while Hibbert finished over half a lap clear of second place!
Defending series champ Amanda Johnson (EPI/Tekvest Ski-Doo) won her second straight Parts Unlimited Pro Women final of the season, and Jesse Strege (Rev Up Polaris) claimed the US Air Force Pro Vet class. The next round of the Snocross Worldwide Championship presented by Ford Trucks will be the Arctic Cat Deadwood Shootout the weekend of Jan.4-15 2002 at the superb new location of Terry Peak Ski Area in Deadwood, South Dakota. For more information on the WSA, please go online at
www.wsaracing.com.