Wausau 525 Snowmobile Championship played host to some of best racing the TLR Cup Pro Championship Series has seen all season. At the purpose built ice oval racing facility, fans flanked in record numbers to watch the fastest drivers in the sport fly around one of the safest tracks around in competition for TLR Cup points.
Saturday
The man to beat in Saturday’s TLR Cup vintage classes was Mitchel Pankratz. The Glidden, Wisconsin native got his #10 Polaris Starfire out front right away in the TLR Cup #2 Super Mod 440 FA/LQ final and maintained the lead for all seven laps. Sean Smith, all the way from Wasilla, Alaska ran a close second for the entirety of the race and his teammate Steve Smith was running third until John Starnes got around him for the final podium position with two laps to go.
Repeating his earlier performance, Mitchel Pankratz once again got a great start to put his sled in the front of the pack in the TLR Cup #4 Super Mod 340 FA/LQ final. Tom Olson challenged on his Arctic Cat but was not able to catch the #10 sled of Pankratz. Colton Neiwonlny was a close third.
The last race of the day was the 15-lap Pro Champ feature. In a field of current and past world champions, spectators were truly in for a show that anyone of the 12 drivers who lined up could win. With unseasonably warm temperatures making the track slightly soft and bumpy, drivers had their work cut out for them. It was Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Joey Fjerstad who got the holeshot and came out of the corner in first on his Polaris. He continued to lead until lap eight, when his track derailed coming out of corner four. Using a tricky maneuver, Fjerstad was able to jerk his track back into alignment on the front straightway but not before the Ski-Doo’s of Cardell Potter and Malcolm Chartier got around him. As the laps grew fewer, Fjerstad was unable to regain position and finished in third behind Potter, earning his first 525 win, and Chartier, respectively.
Sunday
In the first TLR Cup vintage final of the day, it was vintage new-comer (but no stranger to the oval) Shane Peterson who stole the show in TLR Cup #5 Super Stock 340 FA/LQ. Leading the race on his Polaris TLX from start to finish, he stretched the gap between him and second place finisher Jay Nieuwenhuis to six seconds. Justin Ernst rounded out the top three.
TLR Cup #1 Sno Pro 340 X/IFS featured a battle between Canadian Russell Liba and Brent Miller. With Liba out front, Miller tried a fast and high-line to get around him but ran out of laps to do so. Josh Pecha ran the entire race in third and finished in that position.
Matt Bennett piloted his Yamaha to his first series win in TLR Cup #3 Super Stock Fan 440 class and increased his TLR Cup points. Justin Ernst finished the final in second, followed by Ryan Berghammer.
As the green flag left the ice in the Pro Champ final, it was the Ski-Doo’s who were fast off the line. Chartier, winner of the 2013 and 2014 Sunday 525 finals, was able to put some space between him and the field as Wausau’s own Matt Schulz and current World Champion Potter fought hard for second place. Coming out of the final corner it looked like Schulz had a second place finish secured until he blew a drive belt right before the finish line. In a photo finish, Potter had the edge and claimed the number two spot, leaving Schulz with third.
After four rounds of the TLR Cup Pro Championship Series, the tour will head to the Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Minnesota Friday, January 30 – Saturday, January 31. For current points standings and more information visit www.tlrcup.com.