Snowmobile racing 2020 season underway in Maine

Episode 297

January 5, 2020

Tame the Track Snowmobile Racing Tours Season Opener

The 2020 Tame the Track Snowmobile Racing Tour Presented by NAPA Auto Parts got underway Saturday January 4 at the Border Riders Sportsman Club located in Dennysville, Maine near Jackman. Results from the double points races are listed:

Dysart’s Truck Stop, Cyr & Sons Repair, KLIM KIDS 120cc STOCK —
1) Brennan Comeau: Nashua, NH Polaris
2) Trenton Hanscom: Benton, ME Polaris
3) Oliver Spear: Sidney, ME Polaris

Recreational Motorsports & Machias Savings Bank KIDS 120cc IMPROVED/ LO 206
1) Brennan Comeau: Nashua, NH Polaris

Witham’s Paving, Daigle Oil Company KIDS 120cc MODIFIED –
1) Riley Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH, Polaris
2) Brennan Comeau: Nashua, NH Polaris
3) Emmett Walker: New Vineyard, ME Arctic Cat

Corinth Village Creamery & Willette’s Automotive KIDS 200 STOCK
1) Austin Lancaster: Skowhegan, ME Arctic Cat

Casella Waste Systems/ Pine Tree Waste WOMEN’S INVITATIONAL —
1)  Alley Ripley: Center Ossipee, NH Yamaha
2) Haley Frohlich: Auburn, ME Polaris
3) Hailey Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha

TNT Road Company & Last Chance Motorsports JUNIORS INVITATIONAL —
1) Hailey Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
2) Riley Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
3) Ben Ciampa: Mount Vernon, ME Yamaha

Workstore and Houlton Powersports & RV TEENS INVITATIONAL —
1) Asa Grace: West Ossipee, NH Yamaha
2) Kris Wheeler: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
3) Landon Collins: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha

The start of the single cylinder stock division which featured at least half of the field on Sno Jet sleds as Tame the Track Snowmobile Racing Tour kicked off its 2020 race season in Jackman, Maine. ((Last Chance Motorsports photo)

Blanchard’s Towing & VIP Tires SINGLE CYLINDER STOCK
1) Nathan Alexander: Orrington, ME Sno Jet
2) Alec Hayford: Center Ossipee, NH Yamaha
3) Ryan Sullivan: Auburn, ME Arctic Cat

Harry’s Motorsports & Equipment & UniFirst SINGLE CYLINDER MODIFIED —
1) Caleb Morris: Turner, ME Arctic Cat
2) Justin Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
3) Nick Nichols: New Sharon, ME Arctic Cat

SnowStuds, Star City Rentals & PowerMadd 340 STOCK —
1)  Mike Morris: Turner, ME Arctic Cat
2) Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
3) Christian Hanscom: Benton, ME Yamaha

Winner of two divisions, Justin Hartford,Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, center with one of his two first place trophies at awards ceremony for Tame The Track Tour Season Opener at Jackman. On left is Ronnie Weeks, Jefferson, Maine and Weeks girlfriend, Kelley Wisniewski, Jefferson, Massachusetts. Weeks the owner of Crabbie Racing co-owns the 600 sled driven by Hartford to victory. (Elizabeth Agnew Hartford photo)

Savage Paint & Body and Dead River Company 340/440 MODIFIED —
1) Justin Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
2) Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
3) Nathan Alexander: Orrington, ME Yamaha

Bangor Motorsports & J McLaughlin Construction 440 STOCK
1) Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
2) Justin Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
3) Alec Hayford: Center Ossipee, NH Yamaha

Winner of the Trail 600 division, #22 Justin Hartford, Wolfeboro, NH with a 2017 600 XPS Ski Doo co-owned by Crabbie Racing and Trell Hartford. (Elizabeth Agnew Hartford photo)

Jeff’s Catering & Mikes and Sons Trail 600 —
1) Justin Hartford: Wolfeboro, NH Yamaha
2) Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
3) Toby Caron: Fort Kent, ME Arctic Cat

1st Rate Bait and Pelletier Ford IFS 440 STOCK —
1)  Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
2) Joe Pelletier: Fort Kent, ME Arctic Cat
3) Caleb Morris: Turner, ME Polaris

Mission Trailers & Thundering Valley IFS OUTLAW —
1) Joe Pelletier: Fort Kent, ME Arctic Cat
2)  Daytona Gould: Dexter, ME Arctic Cat
3) Toby Caron: Fort Kent, ME Arctic Cat

Aroostook County had two drivers with podium finishes, Toby Caron, Fort Kent in IFS Outlaw and Trail 600. Joe Pelletier also from Fort Kent won the IFS Outlaw division and second in IFS Stock 440.

Seasoned racer Pelletier said, “I raced a 1997 Arctic Cat ZR 440. The track held up surprisingly well, even with the lack of snow. The organizers worked hard to use what snow they had.”

“Our setup wasn’t ideal for the day, but we toughed it out and still managed a 1st in IFS outlaw, and a 2nd in IFS 440. I also entered the trail 600 class with the same sled, and ended up finishing 5th against a field of mostly newer style rider forward 600s”.

The next regularly scheduled race is the doubleheader double points race “Handlebars & Heartbeats” will be held on Friday & Saturday: January 10th & 11th, during the Tame the Track Snowmobile Tour regular season event to benefit the Simon Cyr Scholarship Foundation, located at American Legion Post #47 facility, 184 Bangor Road in Houlton, Maine

For more information contact: http://www.tametracktour.com/

Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame Announces

The Eastern Snowmobile Racing Association( ESRA) recently announced their 4th Class of Inductees into their Hall of Fame. Included in the announcement is Tom Peters from Presque Isle, Maine. The event will be held at the Crane Snowmobile Museum 172 Main Street in Lancaster, New Hampshire Saturday May 16, 2020 at 1:30 pm.

Entrance to the Crane’s Snowmobile Museum in Lancaster, New Hampshire. I missed the entrance a couple of times until I realized it was off main street behind the VIP store. (HTF Motorsports photo)

To be inducted that day in addition to Peters will be George Gordon, Paul Lamontagne, Judy Rinaldi, and flagman Ted Winot. Following is the write-up about Peters in the 2020 program.

“Tom was a small town independent driver who raced mostly within the borders of the State of Maine during his five plus years of professional snowmobile racing!

He rode to a third place finish in cross-country at Mapleton aboard a 1966 370 twin cylinder Ski-doo and to a first place finish in cross-country in the Class “C” division at Island Falls in 1968.

At the Caribou Airport races in 1969. Race winner,Ronnie Thibodeau, in center with helmet and goggles. Tom Peters has the yellow helmet just behind Thibodeau. George Kelley is in the orange snowmobile suit with Leo Kieffer to his left. Others in the photo are unidentified. Contributed photo

Tom competed with the best eastern drivers at the 1970 “Paul Bunyan Open” taking second in the 650 Class and as eventual winner Cal Reynolds told later, “Tom Peters gave me the race of my life!”

Tom raced to a first in Class “A,” a first in Class “D” and a second in the Open Class, at Ellsworth in 1970!

He won both Mod III and Mod IV in the speed ovals, plus first place in the Mod IV Drag Race at Limestone, in 1971!

Tom won first place in both Mod I and Mod II at Houlton and captured the prestigious, “Buckingham Trophy” at the “Maine Maritime Snowmobile Championships,” in 1972!

Tom Peters with the Buckingham Memorial trophy in Woodstock, New Brunswick. (Photo courtesy Tom Peters Collection)

Coming out of retirement in 1976, he won another cross-country race in Presque Isle against much younger riders!

Tom Peters, in 2018, was recognized for his achievements and is the only snowmobile racer in the State of Maine’s history to be inducted into the “Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame!”‘

Tom Peters, Presque Isle, Maine at the 2018 Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Augusta Civic Center. Lorraine Chamberlain and Joe Chamberlain, Woodland, Maine had the privilege to read the Tom Peters story and award him his momento. (HTF Motorsports photo)

Northern Maine Karting Association plans for 2020

NMKA will be holding their 2020 Winter meeting to determine the interest in kart racing for the 2020 race season at Spud Speedway. Meeting will be January 18, 2020 at Haney Building Specialties beginning at 1:30 pm.

Kart racing at Spud Speedway was introduced by Caribou native, Danny Raymond and his son Tyler, in 2013. They had been racing at Thundering Valley Raceway in St. Albans, Maine. The owner/promoter of Thundering Valley, Nate Anderson, made the trip to the County to explain what he was doing at his track early in 2013.

Anderson brought examples of Kids Kart, Junior Cage Kart, and Senior Cage Kart race machines. He also distributed his rule book for those in attendance.

From that meeting, it was determined that kart races would be held at Spud Speedway as part of regular weekly show. Rules were based on Anderson’s Thundering Valley rulebook. Spud Speedway owner, Troy Haney, spent the money to build a kart track within his full size stock car track for karts to race.

When regular weekly racing at the Caribou track ended at the end of 2015, a group of kart racers got together and formed the Northern Maine Karting Association (NMKA) which was chartered as a non-profit organization with duly elected officers and a constitution.

Rules were adopted and NMKA began a ten race season at Spud Speedway in 2016 on Friday evenings. After two seasons, racers voted to move the race time to Saturday at noon. Year four of the NMKA, 2019, was a ten race season with champions crowned in September.

Several members of NMKA aged out of their race class and will not be racing in 2020. The meeting on January 18 will help determine if enough families want to race karts at Spud Speedway this race season. Please share this post with folks who might have an interest in kart racing.

Contact me at thale@reagan.com for more information.

Let’s go racing,

Tom Hale

Soli Deo Gloria (Matthew 5:16)

 

 

 

Tom Hale

About Tom Hale

Tom wrote 14 years as freelancer for the Bangor Daily Sports covering motorsports in Maine. Now blogging and concentrating on human interest stories about people and places in racing. He races Champ Karts and owns HTF Motorsports in remote Westmanland, Maine