Kris' Blog #10

November 23, 2012

I wake up multiple times during the night because I can’t caccoon myself properly in the sleeping bag I have. Turned out it’s just a wee bit short for me…which is amazing since I’m not anywhere near 6ft. Top off the night with the genset running out of fuel about 3-4hrs into the night and it turned out to be the roughest night without drinking I’ve had in awhile.

I woke up and braved the cold to get dressed and fire up the Dodge. I jumped outside to see two guys snowblowing and shoveling the pathway around the Visitor Center. These men were hardcore and it looked like they were seasoned vets of braving the cold.

As for the truck, she started no problem, after filling up the generator with fuel, I realized it was frozen stiff. The engine oil has frozen into sludge and therefore we were getting no heat into the trailer until the generator thawed out. I should mention that the snow off our boots from the night before, hadn’t thawed at all. I’m surprised we lasted the full night.

Once the truck was warm and I had brushed my teeth inside the Visitors Center, I got Shawn up and he jumped into the warm truck and into his heated seat. I used to hate leather seats, but HEATED leather seats are the bomb!

We decide that since it’s Friday morning and we don’t have to be at the track to set-up until later, we drive into Duluth and proceed to find a Hotel. After getting turned down at a few places we find luck at the EdgeWater Hotel and Waterpark. 

Shawn bats his eyes at the counter girls and they drop their pants, I mean their prices and give us free passes into the waterpark. We check-in and immediately crash into our respective beds. 

A few hours of WARM sleep we decide to hit the track and get our sled together and ready for Saturday morning.

 Not only that but I was chomping at the bit to get the sled done so we could watch the Amsoil Dominator Race that happens Friday nights before the Season Opener. This would be the second annual.

We arrive at the track and get into the pits. It’s exactly how I remember the pits at a Sno-X race. Except the transports are EVERYWHERE and some of them do nothing but house 120 teams! Seriously, one of the biggest rigs in the pits had nothing but 120’s in it! And there are more than a few! I thought I'd only see that at Amateur Motocross races but boy was I mistaken. 

We hit the Lodge and check out some Junior and Sport class racing, sign in and get our transponder.

It’s go time, we tag team the sled and get everything ready, new skis, the suspension, transponder gets mounted, I double check suspension settings and pull the Primary off and take it apart. 

A little technical info here, the sled makes max horsepower at 8500RPM. 

As it is set up, we run Clicker 5 to achieve 8500RPM. I’ve personally never been a big fan of the higher clicker #’s so I adjust accordingly and turn the clickers down to #2. Engagement is @5450RPM and everything looks good. 

Shawn finishes with the DEcals and skis and we head out to enjoy the nighttime races.

We watch the Amsoil Dominator Races and guess who will win the ‘Winner take all” $10,000 prize. 

I thought the race between Martin and Malinoski was good….Hibbert and Lavalle topped it no question. Levi absolutely had no regard for the course and flew into the 3^rd corner WFO. He bailed off the side of the sled as it catapulted into the side of Tucker’s Monster Energy Arctic-Cat. There was absolutely no way Levi or the sled would have made that corner under any circumstance. Duluth is always a little rough for Levi, maybe a little too excited after the opening ceremonies backflip?

With both guys scrambling to get back on their sleds and get them re-started, the crowd was in a frenzy! Hibbert took 2 pulls, Levi 3, Tucker then pulled the #68 off the side of the berm it was hung up on and got out front of Levi but not without a fight. Levi took the high road and tried going around the topside of Tucker but being a little steamed at the take-out move, Tucker ran Levi way wide and brake checked him almost off the course, before racing back down the hill and to the Checkered flag. And that was just a Semi-Final race!

The final was anti-climatic with Ross Martin taking the $10,000 and the easy win. With that, we decide to head back to the Hotel and order us some food. 

My first experience at a US National is well under way and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I know Shawn has put the work in, I just hope I can hold up my end and the machine stays together and maybe even rips a Holeshot.