The best gets better
Polaris snocross racing teams form alliances and add racers
High speed action: Sled racing is an integral Canadian winter sport—photo courtesy of Polaris Industries
Polaris Racing, proven to be the best snocross race team in the circuit, continues to get better. Polaris is proud to announce the alliance between Hentges Racing and Judnick Motorsports teams, along with the signing of pro racers Robbie Malinoski and Andrew Johnstad by Scheuring Speed Sports.
“These moves strengthen the Polaris racing program and position us to maintain our winning momentum heading into next winter,” said Polaris Racing manager Tom Rager, Sr. “The alliance between Hentges and Judnick should improve both teams, and the Scheuring team has signed two racers with bright futures.”
Hentges & Judnick team up
The Hentges and Judnick teams, whose racers have dominated Pro-class points titles in recent seasons, have announced that they will share research and development, component manufacturing and in-season technical. This is all part of a continuous effort to stay on top and over-deliver this upcoming season.
“We have formed an alliance where we’re independent teams under one roof – Polaris Racing – and we’re committed to putting Team Polaris on the podium week in and week out,” said Scott Judnick, co-owner with his wife Colleen of Judnick Motorsports. “We feel that sharing technical information will give us the edge to do that.”
Nate Hentges, co-owner of Hentges Racing, called the alliance “a win-win all round. We’ve been working side by side with them for a while now. This will basically be a technical alliance to help advance our open sleds for the greatest performance. This will result in a huge savings from the research and development standpoint, especially for dyno time. Instead of each of us working in different directions on motor packages, we’ll have one dyno session that hopefully will save a tremendous amount right away.”
A key resource the teams will share is the experience and expertise of Tim Bender, a former racer whose success has put him in the Hall of Fame. Bender is a long-time team manager for Hentges Racing who will now oversee the technical development of both teams.
“He’s in charge of our sleds and the Hentges sleds,” Scott Judnick said.
“Tim is obviously one of the key pieces of this alliance,” Hentges said. “He has built all our motors and done all of our R&D work, and now both teams will benefit from Bender’s know-how.”
The teams share a racing facility in Wausau, Wisconsin.
Malinoski & Johnstad join Scheuring Speed Sports
Scheuring Speed Sports Owner Steve Scheuring announced the signing of Pro racers Robbie Malinoski and Andrew Johnstad for the upcoming season.
“This is a very exciting time for Scheuring Speed Sports and our sponsors,” said Scheuring. “Robbie has multiple championships in both Pro and Semi-Pro, and will be in the hunt for the championships this year on our 2010 Polaris IQ snocross sleds.
“Andrew Johnstad has also won multiple championships in Semi-Pro and cut his teeth in the Pro ranks last year. Watch for great results from Andrew this season and don’t be surprised if he makes a run for the championship as well.”
In his first season as a Pro-class racer, Johnstad finished 12th in Super Stock points last winter and 14th in the Pro Open.
“I’m excited to be part of one of the premier teams on the circuit and look forward to an incredible season,” Malinoski said.
Johnstad said joining the team “is an incredible opportunity for me with the resources Steve has available. And working with Robbie will be a great adventure as well.”
Among the Scheuring team’s major sponsors are Amsoil, Makita and the U.S. Air Force. The team is based in Aurora, Minnesota.
Multiple champions on allied teams
The Hentges and Judnick rosters feature racers who have dominated the podium in recent seasons and have won several Pro and Semi-Pro points titles.
The Hentges roster includes:
- Pro racer TJ Gulla, the defending ISOC Pro Open points champion who finished third in Pro Super Stock points.
- Pro racer Levi LaVallee, the defending ISOC Pro Super Stock champion who was third in Pro Open points and who has won multiple Winter X Games gold medals. He was also last season’s Woody’s Athlete of the Year.
- Pro racer Brett Bender, the ISOC Pro Rookie of the Year and Woody’s Stud of the Year who finished second in Pro Open points.
- Semi-Pro Chris Kafka, seventh in Open points and ninth in Super Stock points.
The Judnick roster includes:
- Pro racer Ross Martin, the 2007 and 2008 Pro Open points champion who was injured mid-season last winter. In just three races last season, he earned enough points to finish in the top 20 in Pro Open and Pro Super Stock points.
- Pro racer Matt Judnick, who was eighth in ISOC Pro Open points and 11th in Super Stock points.
- Semi-Pro Mike Bauer, ninth in Open points and 10th in Super Stock points.
Scott Judnick said Ross Martin, who broke his hip at the 2009 Winter X Games, has recovered fully and has been cleared to begin motocross riding and racing.
“We’ll have Ross back. He’s our anchor,” Judnick said. “After his accident, he ended up having surgery done at the Mayo Clinic and had all his follow-up done there as well. They have just worked miracles and they couldn’t be happier with the way it went.”
Teams retain their individual sponsors
While the Hentges and Judnick teams share shop facilities and technical expertise, they will operate independently in terms of business and sponsors. Both teams will return for the 2009-2010 season with the primary sponsors they had last season.
Judnick Motorsports’ primary sponsors include DuPont, Amsoil and Jack Link’s, while Hentges Racing’s main sponsors include National Guard and Pirtek.
Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories, is available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime from the Polaris homepage at www.polarisindustries.com.
