SnoCross Breakdown

Wednesday, January 26th, 2005 at 5:41 pm, filed under Latest News.

Vince Castellanos for EXPN.com

You know about Winter X SnoCross, right? Of course you do. Dudes in body armor atop 450-pound snowmobiles fighting other sledheads on a half-mile course filled with huge holes and the biggest air of any X sport. It’s the outdoor motocross of the snow scene. Introduced to Winter X in 1998, SnoCross was the first motorized sport at either X or WX (Freestyle Moto X was not introduced to summer X until 1999), and the machines certainly don’t lack impressive stats. With around 175 horsepower, SnoCross snowmobiles can go from 0 to 70 mph in less than 4 seconds. Wow. Those kinds of numbers will rev any speed freak’s motor. Although capable of topping 110, SnoCross sleds rarely hit 55 because tight, twisty courses place a premium on driver skill and quick bursts of power instead of high speed.

Back from the back surgery that kept him out of WX ‘04, Shaun Crapo should be a podium threat if his equipment holds together.

With a language all its own, understanding the action can be difficult. Lucky for you, we’ve assembled this handy guide to a few key SnoCross terms:

  • Clutching—Encompasses the drive and driven clutches. Perfect clutching allows a snowmobile to be faster off the starting line and out of corners.
  • Displacement—Piston volume, commonly thought of as engine size, measured in cubic centimeters (cc). Engines used at Winter X usually have an 800cc displacement. The higher the displacement, the more power.
  • Double—A series of two jumps placed close enough together so a rider can clear both as one jump. The biggest double on the Winter X SnoCross course will cover a whopping 110 feet.
  • Holeshot—Grabbing the lead at the start of the race. Because snocross courses can be so narrow and have few good lines, the holeshot often decides who wins the race. In fact, the winner of the holeshot in 4 of the 7 WX SnoCross events has gone on to win the race. The only person to win a WX final without grabbing the holeshot? Blair Morgan, who came from behind to win all three of his gold medals.
  • Line—A way around the track chosen by the rider. The fastest lines are usually hard to spot, and they continually change as snow conditions vary.
  • Open—A racing class where the rules allow for heavy modifications to the sled. Open is the racing class for WX SnoCross.
  • Setup—Encompasses all mechanical aspects of sled preparation: clutching, jetting, engine tuning, suspension, etc. and how they are adjusted for various conditions like weather, track layout, snow consistency and rider preference.
  • Studs—Razor-sharp metal protrusions, similar to screws, attached to a snowmobile track to improve traction. Crucial in SnoCross, studs can be extremely dangerous to a downed rider (just ask semi-pro rider Dusty McMillan, who had nearly half his face ripped off by studs a few years ago). SnoCross rules allow for 96 studs in a track, and they must be centered.

    Don’t count out Tucker Hibbert even though Winter X 2005 will be just his second snocross since March 2003.

    Now that you have the jargon down, it’s time to meet the drivers. Say hello to those most likely to wear gold when the snow dust settles. (You can read about medal hopefuls D.J. Eckstrom, Steve Martin, Robbie Malinoski and WX 2004 champ Mike Island elsewhere on EXPN.com.) Blair Morgan The best snocross racer in the history of the sport—by far—is the easy pick for Winter X gold. Morgan owns 12 of the last 16 National points championships, and he’s won a jaw-dropping 76 National races since the start of the 1997-98 campaign (by contrast, Tucker Hibbert, who is second on the all-time list, has just 25). Want more? The man’s got six straight SnoCross medals at WX, and that’s the longest consecutive podium streak in one discipline in Winter X history. After winning the title from 2001-2003, there’s no doubt Air Blair wants his crown back and isn’t likely to settle for a second-straight bronze. Tucker Hibbert Back in the day, the super duo of Tucker Hibbert and Blair Morgan dueled tooth-and-nail on snocross courses across the continent. Just a teen at the time, Hibbert played Boy Wonder and struck at Morgan’s Superman rep with a pocketful of kryptonite. But that was then. Now 20, Hibbert left the sport of snocross at the end of the 2002-03 season to pursue his first love, motocross, full-time, so WX will be just his second snocross in nearly two years. But with four WX medals—including the 2000 gold as a 15-year-old—in five tries, he’s definitely got the skills to come up large at the sport’s biggest event. Shaun Crapo At WX 2002, Shaun Crapo finished a surprising fourth as a 17-year-old semi-pro. The youngest of three racing brothers who have more than 10 Winter X SnoCross appearances between them, Shaun got off to a blazing start last year. The Idaho native captured three Nationals through the first 10 events and was an obvious WX favorite. But burgeoning back pain forced a doctor’s visit a week before Aspen, and a herniated disc that necessitated season-ending surgery was discovered. “I really wanted to race at Winter X, but the doctors said I could rupture the disc,” Crapo says. “Missing the rest of the season sucked; I mean it really sucked.” If Crapo’s crew can solve the equipment problems that have plagued him to start 2004-05, he should be a factor in the final.

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