"It was an epic day for sure. It started out at -25F in the morning, and I think it got up to a balmy -12F throughout the day. There were 32 vintage sleds entered. I was the 134th sled to start the day, so about half way into the vintage class at the end.
Here’s the 347 Night Train at the staging area before the race:
The 1st leg was 20 miles of river running, and the rest ditch banging. I passed a number of JD guys in the first 20 miles, I recall seeing Jon Carlson’s 58 Liquifire pulled over, found out later he lost all the coolant. The river was okay, but the pro guys busted it open so there was a lot of slush and ice chunks, and open water. The steam coming off the water was impressive, complete whiteout conditions for some stretches of the river. At the end of the river, I hit a big dip and almost got thrown over the bars. The tone of the motor changed and got louder instantly, I thought I popped the springs off the pipe and it separated from the y-pipe. Pulled off to the side, but all looked okay under the hood. Took off from there and could only pull 6500 RPM and 30MPH. Rode that way to the 1st fuel stop. Topped off oil and fuel, and it actually ran decent again past the fuel stop. I passed 3 or 4 sleds in the 1st 10 miles of the 2nd leg, and then it went back to 6500RPM and 30MPH. What a bummer, we fought that the whole rest of the race. I recall a 5 mile stretch of dirt road, flat, and all I could do was 30MPH! Not sure what the issue was, but either a baffle got knocked loose in the pipe or a weld broke somewhere.
I made it to the 2nd fuel stop in barely enough time. When I got there, the begin walk sign was down already, and the officials were packing up the course. They let me fuel up and keep going though. We couldn’t get it started then. Pulled 100 times and nothing, took plugs out, bone dry. The official gave us 1 more minute. An innocent bystander stepped in and started pulling. No start. Within seconds of cutting us off, we got it fired. I took off like a bat out of hell again.
The 3rd leg was all ditches back to the Casino. I recall many bystanders along the way taking pictures and giving big thumbs up. It was a boost for me. I made it to the finish line in 5hrs and 12 minutes or so. What a day. I think I would’ve been near those Arctic Cats, it would be tough to beat them however, if the performance of my Liquifire would’ve held. I physically felt good the whole race, no issues with cold at all. Today is a different story, I could barely crawl out of bed, or lift my 6 month old! My wife still thinks I’m nuts, and my 3 other kids are happy that Dad came home in one piece. This was for sure the hardest 173 miles I’ve ever ridden in one time, and the coldest as well.
I believe there were 8 JD’s total in the race, all Liquifires. I was the only JD to finish the race, so I made a lot of JD fans very proud on Saturday. I had a few drinks that evening with Jon Carlson, Tom Otte, and many others, all the old JD Enduro Team guys. Talked to Brian Nelson for a bit too.
Here’s the 8 guys that finished (out of 32 that started….lot of carnage!):
Pos No. Name Class Laps Total Tm Diff R1. R2...............
1 131 Joey Hallstrom vintage 1 3:51:18.000 1:22:58.000 - 1 [3:51:18.843]cat
2 9 Brian Nelson vintage 1 3:56:00.000 1:27:39.000 - 1 [3:56:00.357]cat
3 33x Joey Potucek vintage 1 4:09:32.000 1:41:11.000 - 1 [4:09:32.591]cat
4 88s Dylan Slominski vintage 1 4:10:00.000 1:41:39.000 - 1 [4:10:00.100]pol
5 167 Mike Fugleberg vintage 1 4:35:41.000 2:07:20.000 - 1 [4:35:41.161]pol
6 163 Steve Wosick vintage 1 4:44:31.000 2:16:10.000 - 1 [4:44:31.221]pol
7 347 Brian Hitt vintage 1 5:12:04.000 2:43:43.000 - 1 [5:12:04.401]deere
8 42 Marcus Wetterlund vintage 1 5:29:03.000 3:00:43.000 - 1 [5:29:03.759]pol
And proof that I did cross the finish line!
-Brian"
ME