ISOC roars into Bemidji

Cory Davidson riding Polaris machine takes first to get $20,000 prize

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Feb. 5, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Six minutes and 40 seconds was all that separated GMC 10-Star 500 winner Cory Davidson of Holt, Minn., and second-place finisher Kirk Hibbert of Goodridge, Minn., Tuesday. But that span was a good enough time in the 500-mile snowmobile race to earn Davidson $20,000 in prize money.

Known as the premier snowmobiling race in the United States, the race started Sunday in Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada, and ended Tuesday in Bemidji after winding its way through Roseau, Thief River Falls and other Minnesota towns along the way.

Mother Nature provided a less-than-picturesque race day for the third leg that ran from Thief River Falls and ended on Lake Bemidji, delaying the start of the race because of fog by 90 minutes.

Davidson, who started the day in first place, kept the lead position throughout the last 2 1/2 hours and 170 miles of the race to win his second ISOC-sanctioned race of the season. Riding a Polaris model snowmobile, he led the second-place Arctic Cat driven by Hibbert and third-place finisher Toni Haikonen of Duluth on a Ski-Doo.

Four other Polaris sleds also finished in the top 10, with three other Ski-Doo snowmobiles and one Arctic Cat rounding it out.

ISOC 500 Race Director Robert Johnson said the three-day race was overshadowed by cloudy weather the entire time, making visibility difficult for the racers, but course conditions were otherwise good.

Of the 195 sleds that started the race Sunday, 119 crossed the finish line near the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Race officials had expected upwards of 250 sleds to start this year, and Johnson said that 195 racers was low compared to previous years.

Some of the 76 racers who didn't finish had mechanical failures, but others were knocked out of the race due to injuries.

Johnson wouldn't comment on the number or seriousness of the injuries, saying snowmobiling has received enough bad publicity because of the near-record number of snowmobile-related fatalities recorded in Minnesota this winter.

"There were very few injuries," he said. "But there's always going to be some injuries."

Beginning in Canada Sunday, racers made a 60-mile loop around Beausejour, Manitoba, refueled and headed south toward Roseau, just across the Minnesota-Canadian border.

On Day Two, the racers made a 60-mile loop around Roseau, refueled and headed south to Thief River Falls, where they spent the night.

And on Day Three, racers headed east from Thief River Falls along Highway 1, refueled near Fourtown and continued east along the upper edge of Red Lake. They traveled through Waskish and Blackduck, then followed Highway 71 to Beltrami County Road 22 and headed to Lake Bemidji, finishing near Paul and Babe.

Davidson, who has been racing on the ISOC series since its beginning in 1993, said the course was "pretty chewed up for the first 60 miles," but the poor visibility did not affect his racing much.

"If you didn't know where you were going it (could be) tough for people," he said.

The ISOC 500 was Davidson's second win of the year, the first being Detroit Lakes at another ISOC event. He also finished second in a race in Albertville. He said with the points he earned in this weekend's race he should be in the top three in the season ISOC points standings.

"It's just a great feeling," he said of the $20,000 prize. "It's kind of a dream."

Davidson also will receive a two-year lease on a GMC vehicle from ISOC for finishing first.

John Sandberg of Grand Rapids, Minn., finished first in the Semi-Pro 440 Fan class on an Arctic Cat, winning a personal watercraft of the same model of snowmobile he was riding for his efforts.

Deborah Revering of Fergus Falls, Minn., won the women's class, earning her a two-place snowmobile trailer. And Doug Luke of Cicero, N.Y., took home first prize in the Legends category consisting of racers 40 years or older. It was unreported what Luke's prize was.

Bemidji racer John Port failed to finish the race.