Ice Blast from NSSR in Forest Lake, MN

National Straightline Snowmobile Racing held its first race of the 2019 Super Series on Forest Lake in Forest Lake, MN for the “Fastest Show on Ice.” Forest Lake has a long History of hosting NSSR for Speed Running and it is always a great race at this location. Ten World Records set and Top Speed at 186 mph in 1000 feet!

Temperatures ranged from a -12 degrees F in the early morning to 11 degrees F in the afternoon with only a slight breeze varying at 5 to 10 mph from the southwest to southeast during the day. The 1000-foot shaved ice track, 4000 feet shaved with shutdown, was aimed to the northeast. Temperatures were good to make the needed ice prior to the event. With mostly cloudy skies holding for the day and some sun during the mid to later afternoon. It was great that Ol’ Man Winter showed up this year to make some great ice!

Racer entries included nearly 80 entries on the Pro track and 100 on the Radar Run track making a great number of entries at 180 hot rods and just over 750 safe passes between the two shaved ice tracks. These snowmobile race enthusiasts had a blast running their sleds, vintage rides, kid’s minis and ATVs on the Radar Run Track. There were nearly 40 classes on the Radar Run track that had trophies presented for first, second, and third places.

It was great weather to get the spectators out to watch some fast passes on the ice and the track held up well for racing action all day. The Radar Run track had some great hot rods including vintage sleds, many running near or above 100 mph. Twenty-one of the Pro Entries ran at speeds of 130 mph or better. Competitors came from throughout the Midwest and included racers for North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.

NSSR is the only ISR Affiliated Speed Run Organization where you can set World Records on the 1000 foot shaved ice competition and all require a backup speed within 2%. NSSR Racers posted 10 World Records at this race due to the great weather and a nice track on good black ice.

The Improved Stock Classes were running amazingly well on this day in Forest Lake! Starting with the Improved Stock 500 Class with Patty Olson of Competition Sports posting a new record at 113.35 mph on her Artic Cat F5. Rod Spindler bumped the Improved Stock 600 record to an amazing 120.57 mph on his hot rod Polaris. Rod Spindler then went and bumped his World Record in the Improved Stock 700 class on his Polaris to 126.58 mph. Tia VanGuilder posted an amazing pass at 131.27 mph on her Mach Z Ski-Doo to bump her record in this class that she set in 2018. Mark Jensen continued to tune on his Improved Stock 800 Twin Polaris and bumped his record to 120.54 mph taking a win in this class, and he saw some tough competition to beat here! Mike Golaski driving the Slingshot Pro Stock 600 Ski-Doo Mach Z posted a new record at 127.98 mph. Scott Kostman set a new World Record in the Improved Stock Turbo Class posting a new speed of 143.72 mph, with a battle for the top speed in this class posted by Doyle Swift running a 144.04 mph, but not being able to back it up – Watch for this battle to continue in Green Bay! Flyin’ Ryan Ensor bumped the Pro Max Record to an even faster pass record speed of 186.18 mph on his Hypersports HRC 2 machine and backed it up with a 185.33 mph pass. Brice Konsela ran an amazing 75.12 mph on his Polaris Starfire in Vintage Stock E class, and then ran an amazing 68.60 mph record on his Vintage Stock F class Polaris TX 250.

Vintage sleds continued to bring excitement in the Pro Classes and in the Radar Run. Even better, they were all having a blast! NSSR is seeing more and more vintage sleds coming out of the garage to race and spend a day with the family on the ice.

Winner of the Top Gun Class was captured by none other than Flyin’ Ryan Ensor out of Sheridan, Illinois on the new Hypersports HRC 4 machine that made its maiden debut at Forest Lake posting a winning speed of 182.62 mph in the Top Gun Class. Chris Baynes also posted a fast pass of 168.72 mph to take the second place position in Top Gun with his Bikeman/Shilts built machine. Kyle Shilts ran his Blood Money Bikeman Sled to an amazing 172.61 mph and Jason Houle of Straightline Performance posted an even faster 175.43 mph pass in the Pro Max class. Keep an eye on these sleds as they will tune to bump these numbers up in our upcoming event for Green Bay.

Keep in mind, the official record for NSSR set in 1989 in the quarter mile by Marv Jorgenson in International Falls is 190.308 mph and then in 2018 the Flyin’ Ryan Hypersports HRC 2 on Methanol posted the new 1000-foot record at 191.574mph! Stay tuned as the new goal to beat is the 200 mph mark in 1000 feet, is it possible? Be in Green Bay, WI at Battle on the Bay February 9th and in Chetek, WI for their Winterfest Celebration on February 23rd!

This NSSR Super Series event in Forest Lake, MN was hosted by Vannellis by the Lake, Woody’s Traction Products, Hypersports, Straightline Performance, PowerMadd, Castle Clothing, ProLine Performance, Lano Equipment, Wahl Bros Racing, Flat Rate Repair, McDonalds’s Liquors, B&L Trailers of Princeton, T&T Lawn and Sports out of Rush City, and Bellman Oil of Bremen, Indiana. A special thanks to Lano Equipment out of Ramsey, Shakopee, and Loretto, MN for the use of the bobcat with a power broom. Also, a big thanks to the City of Forest Lake, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Minnesota DNR for their support and cooperation to make this event happen.

Ron and Stacy Bray of NSSR welcome you to our next event on Saturday, February 9, 2019 in Green Bay, Wisconsin as part of their Battle on the Bay. We would like to thank all our sponsors who make these races possible! See www.racenssr.com and Facebook for more information on results and upcoming events.