Robbie Malinoski made history this Sunday when he won the Pro Open final at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn. The win at the WPSA PowerSports Snowmobile Tour Polaris BIR Championship was the fledgling Yamaha Snocross team's first victory. For a program that wasn't even announced until August of this year, the fact that they have already taken a top podium spot is a huge accomplishment.
After securing the holeshot, Malinoski staved off his competitors for 20 grueling laps. Polaris' Shaun Crapo could not catch Malinoski, as the defending WPSA points champion won by several sled lengths. Ski-Doo's Steve Martin finished third.
Malinoski, a native Canadian, was also a little surprised by his first podium finish of the year. "It feels good to get Yamaha up here and give a 4-stroke snowmobile its first victory," said Malinoski. "I never counted out a win. I knew it would be tough, but anything is possible with hard work." With such an impressive start to the season, others will certainly have to start taking notice of the hard charging Yamaha team. "It's great to make history," added Malinoski. "It feels really good, but now we have to put our heads down and improve upon it."
AmSnow spoke with Rob Powers of Yamaha about the new Snocross sled. "We have an advantage in that our sled simply has a ton of torque," said Powers. One thing is for sure, we are all excited to see what the Boss Team and Robbie Malinoski can accomplish this year on their 4-stroke Yamaha.
In the Pro Stock finals, Tucker Hibbert made his comeback more than noteworthy as the Arctic Cat rider from Goodridge, Minn. was No. 1 on the podium not once, but twice. This weekend was a full double round of competition, and after 3 years, Hibbert proved to still be one of the best racers in Snocross. In the first final, Hibbert took the lead from Polaris' T.J. Gulla early in the race and went on to win. Gulla finished second and Dave Allard finished third.
Hibbert lead on the third lap of the 20-lap final and didn't look back. Second and third place finishes went to Cat as well as Garth Kaufman, and Ryan Simons rounded out the top riders. "On the parade lap, I found some lines I really liked," said Hibbert. "It took me a few laps to get into the groove, but once I got into that line, I broke free. I just want to go out there and charge as hard as I can every lap.
"I feel really good right now; I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and having fun," added Hibbert. "We're getting our equipment off of the line really quickly and that's paying off. I felt really strong. Arctic Cat has done a great job on the sleds. I really can't ask for anything more. I just go out there, ride the sled and come out on top."
In the Semi-Pro Open final, Brett Bender won on his Polaris racer and gave fans plenty to cheer about.
This race weekend will be telecast on SPEED on Feb. 3, 2007 at 2 p.m. EST, and will re-air on Feb. 7, 2007 at 3 a.m. Sunday's event will be telecast on Feb. 7, 2007 at noon EST, followed by the re-air Feb. 15, 2007 at 2 p.m.
Full race results are available at
www.powersportstour.com.