On Sat., Feb. 16, at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., a double dose of Polaris Liberty power, guts and the desire to fly propelled extreme snowmobilers Paul Thacker and Delene Dippel to world record-length snowmobile jumps.
Canterbury Park was a stop on the Monster Energy/Slednecks Invasion Tour, which saw Dippel set and re-set the women's world record, while Thacker endured winds and crashes to his record-setting jump.
Dippel, a 20-year-old Californian, established the women's jumping record at a media event on Fri., Feb. 15, then stretched the distance to a new-record 180.6 ft. during the show on Saturday night.
Riding into strong head winds with gusts topping 30 mph, Thacker found himself floating up and down during his jumps, wherever the wind wanted him and his Polaris snowmobile to go. Thacker ended with a record jump of 271 ft., breaking the previous record by about 8 ft.
"We hit the ramp twice at 79 mph and jumped 255 feet," Thacker said. "Then it was time to risk it all and get that record - which I did. Hit the ramp at 82 [mph] and flew 271."
Video of the record jumps will be available on the Slednecks Web site at
www.slednecks.com.