Strong Pro Lineup Returns Virtually Intact, Focused on WPSA Titles

Fresh off a successful season that included three WPSA Pro points titles, the Polaris snocross racing teams head into the 2007-’08 season with high hopes of maintaining their winning momentum.

Polaris Racing Manager Tom Rager, Sr., called least season’s lineup “without a doubt the deepest team ever assembled at the WPSA level,” and those racers delivered on their potential by dominating WPSA podiums and winning the Pro Open (Ross Martin; Judnick Motorsports), Pro Stock (TJ Gulla; Hentges Racing) and Pro Women (Kylie Abrahamson; Avalanche Racing) titles. Plus, Hentges Racing was named 2007 WPSA National Team of the Year as its Pro and Semi-Pro racers won 13 races – an impressive 35% of their races.

“Our racers got a really good taste of winning last year and they want to do it again,” Rager said. “It’s one thing to go racing and be competitive, but it’s another to go racing and win races and watch your teammates win. They did that and I think it really caught on last year. Now we’ve got to come back and do it again.”

Rager said competitive teams recruited several Polaris racers after last winter’s strong showing, but virtually all the Pro racers returned to their Polaris teams, as did the Semi-Pro racers who are hungry for wins and point titles this season.

Among the few but significant changes to team rosters this season are:

• The Avalanche Racing team added WPSA Pro Women’s Champion Kylie Abrahamson, who won her title last winter on a Polaris race sled.
• Joining the Scheuring Speed Sports staff are two former racers who are highly regarded snowmobile technicians, Steve Thorsen and Rich Felegy. Thorsen had a tremendous racing career on ice ovals, where he won World Championships aboard Polaris race sleds in 1977 and 1978. In recent years he has owned and operated a performance shop and has fabricated winning snocross race sleds. Felegy also enjoyed a successful racing career and has been engaged in building race sleds and doing engine development work for Polaris. He has served as crew chief for his son, Polaris ice oval racer Shane Felegy, who won two Pro class titles and the overall Pro points title in Pro Ice racing last season. The addition of Thorsen and Felegy gives the Scheuring team a strong 1-2 punch in chassis and engine development.
• Massachusetts-based Team Southside Racing has added Alaskan Robert Graeber to its roster. He will race in Rock Maple Racing Semi-Pro classes, as will returning Southside racers Derek Graham, Bradford Davis and David Livingston. Melanie Acker will race in Pro Women’s classes and Bruce Gaspardi, Jr., and Chris Ackerman will race in Sport classes.