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Lakewood, WI - Chase Rosemeyer from
Gilman, WI walked away with over $1600 for his efforts at round 1
and 2 of the King of the Hill Snocross 4 race mini series.
Midwest snocross racers where treated to an
unusually large track by regional snocross standards as many
Wisconsin racers, as well as a large contingency of Winter
Thunder Challenge racers from Illinois, made the trip north for
some early season seat time.
The first weekend of racing in Wisconsin
started with an optional practice on Friday. Things got off to a
shaky start as the freshly blown snow had yet to settle into place.
Although the majority of the track had between 18-24 inches of snow,
there were a few places that were a bit thin. Promoters left the
snow move where it may from the sleds pounding on it throughout the
day and went to work immediately following the three- hour practice
session. The groomer stayed busy for nearly four hours after
practice and the snow machines blasted full throttle through the
night to prepare for the opening round on Saturday.
With improved track conditions, the group of
eager racers put on an impressive Saturday show for the many
spectators that came out to witness the first racing event that had
taken place at the former Paul Bunyan Ski Hill in more than 20
years. Chase Rosemeyer started off with a win in heat 1 of the Semi
Pro Stock and never looked back the entire day going a perfect 6 for
6 on the day with wins in both heats and mains for the Semi Pro
Stock and Semi Pro Open classes. Saturday’s effort would gross
Chase a cool $975 – paid on the spot just minutes after the finals.
Consistent holeshots, a smooth riding style and an aggressive
throttle hand resulted in only one kind of “Chase” – and that was
for second place for the other 39 Semi Pro entries on the day.
Fantasy Moto and Little Wing Productions went
to work instantly following Saturdays program to once again improve
track conditions, blowing snow throughout the night and grooming
every inch of the track. The track improved 200% from Friday’s
practice and racers seemed to appreciate the efforts as compliments
flew around the pits. By leaving the track alone on Friday we
really learned where we needed to concentrate our efforts. As the
natural racing lines developed from the traffic it made our job
pretty easy to determine where we needed more snow. You could see
the difference just by witnessing the amount of air racers where
getting up and down the 40 foot headwall.
Rosemeyer picked up Sunday where he left off on
Saturday, with another win in his first heat of Semi Pro Stock. A
smaller field of racers took to the track on Sunday for round 2 but
that definitely had no effect on the racing. Kurt Heiser and Mike
Kieper both picked up the pace on Sunday to keep Rosemeyer honest
with Kieper taking wins in both of his heats of Semi Pro Open
opposite Rosemeyer. To no avail; however, as Chase again went 6 for
6 on the day and pocketed another $700 for his performance. About
the only thing Rosemeyer didn’t win was the title of “Commander” of
the Fantasy Moto Snocross Air force. The man that currently wear’s
those wings is Mikey Kieper of Kieper Sleddin’. Mike’s willingness
to “go big” paid off as he started launching down the headwall in
the afternoon finals – clearing the first of several breaking bumps
caused from other racers throughout the day. The “Commander” title
goes to the racer that “goes the biggest” over the 4 race series and
comes with a large trailer sticker declaring him as such. So far,
Kieper is the undisputed leader with his courageous leaps down the
headwall. The move wasn’t necessarily the longest jump of the
weekend but it was just so impressive since no one else was able to
duplicate the move lap after lap.
With three weeks between rounds, Fantasy Moto
and Little Wing Productions plan to blow snow and make an already
big track even bigger. Moving the corner back at the bottom of the
headwall should be a huge improvement. Other than that, we’re just
going to make more snow everywhere for the racers to enjoy.
In all,
over $4000 was paid to Semi Pro racers throughout the weekend. With
rounds 3 and 4 falling on the weekend between Christmas and New
Years, maybe we’ll see more Semi Pro racers make their way to
Lakewood, Wisconsin for a big payday – paid on the spot! Rounds 3
and 4 are scheduled for December 29th and 30th,
2007. For more information please visit
www.fantasymoto.com |