6th Flashpoint Snowbike Race Returns To McCall

McCall, ID - Flashpoint, the world’s premier snowbike event returned to the McCall Winter Carnival for the sixth time late in January and this year was sponsored by: Timbersled, The Battery Exchange, Rhino Rush Energy Shots, Radix, Mile High Powersports, Volt 2, Fly Racing, Mickey Ray’s, Carl’s Cycle, ProMoto Billet, Fastway Performance, Tarantula Tequila, ATV Tracks.Net, Red Bull and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.

As always, anticipation for the event was huge and more than 30,000 people were in town for the 50th annual McCall Winter Carnival, guaranteeing a great turnout to watch the race. Snowbikes have now been around for about eight years and there are a number of different manufacturers of the kits which fit most modern dirt bikes with a front ski and small track, allowing them to zip along on snow with incredible speed and agility.

2Moto, a company out of Nampa, ID, was the first to create kits, with Timbersled, from Sandpoint, ID, following suit, followed by Frozen Moto. Interestingly, all three of these manufacturers are based in Idaho.

Since Flashpoint is the largest snowbike event in the world, it continues to answer the question each year as to who is the fastest and which brand is the best. This year the majority of racers were riding motorcycles equipped with Timbersled kits, but 2Moto kits (now known as Radix) were also out in force and looked solid on the track.

The 2015 event featured perfect, sunny, 35 degrees F weather and more than 1,100 spectators poured into the venue, which is located on the McCall public golf course. A lack of snow was a concern leading right up to the event but 18 inches of snow, cool temperatures and careful grooming provided a track that worked well and showed that snowbike racers are getting faster and faster every year.

A record 32 racers from across the United States and Canada showed up to take a shot at snowbike racing glory. The revised, 7/8-mile twisty track featured some rolling jumps and banked turns, which allowed for excellent spectator viewing from almost all the way around the track.

Saturday’s competition consisted of a series of heat and semi-races to determine who would race in the A, B, C and D mains later in the day. Canadian hotshot Brock Hoyer, who won the A Main last year, once again raged unbeaten and untested all day and looked scary fast. It can be stated that Hoyer is currently the fastest snowbike racer in the world. Other impressive rides were turned in by well-known off-road racer, Jimmy Jarrett, who just moved to Idaho from Oklahoma, practiced for one day and hammered out a well-deserved third in the A Main behind Hoyer and another Canadian hotshot, Reagan Sieg while legendary Red Bull freestyler Ronnie Renner, who flew in from southern California, grabbed second in the C Main. 

As the sport of snowbiking continues to mature and develop, more young riders are continuing to show up to compete and this year marked the first-ever appearance by a female racer. Boise, Idaho’s Leslie Atkinson rode smooth and smart as she fought her way to a sixth place finish in the C Main. In the future, more and more women will enter this cool sport, but forever Atkinson will be known as the first. Also of note, although there were a number of crashes, there were no reported injuries. Clearly snow is much better to crash on than dirt and snowbiking is proving to be a pretty safe sport.

The event promoter, Ron Dillon, who also hosts Idaho largest motorcycle event, the Big Nasty Hillclimb, said that he remains committed to the Flashpoint event and will continue to hold it each year during the opening weekend of the Winter Carnival, which will be Jan. 30, 2016, next year.

Special thanks are in order to the City of McCall, McKenzie and the McCall Chamber, Greg Lawley, (track groomer) and Eric McCormick and his staff at the McCall Golf Course, as well as Mike Robinette, Jeff Riechmann, and Destry Haslett.

For more information on snowbiking and snowbike racing visit www.flashpointsnowbike.com.

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