It was anybody’s race in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series Pro-Super Stock final Saturday afternoon at the Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack facility. With the domination factor known as Tucker Hibbert out of the picture, a talented field of the 
world’s best snocross riders was hungry to prove their mettle on the national stage.
world’s best snocross riders was hungry to prove their mettle on the national stage.Under fading sun and a track worn from a day’s worth of qualifying, Polaris rider TJ Gulla set the early pace, grabbing the holeshot at the onset of the 18-lap Pro-Super Stock final. Close in tow was AMSOIL/Scheuring SpeedSports rider Shaun Crapo and New York native Brett Bender, fresh off his first pro podium from a week ago.
Setting a blistering pace, Gulla and Crapo edged out to a comfortable margin early and began to 
encounter lap traffic on lap six. While Gulla and Crapo proceeded to edge away from the rest of the pack, a battle for third played out behind them as Bender, Garth Kaufman and Levi LaVallee rode nose to tail in search of a clean pass. Past the halfway point it appeared Bender might hold on for a second straight podium, but suddenly patience paid off for Kaufman as he hammered the massive back straight triple to overtake Bender. Four laps later, LaVallee mirrored the pass and shuffled Bender back to fifth with only four laps to go.
encounter lap traffic on lap six. While Gulla and Crapo proceeded to edge away from the rest of the pack, a battle for third played out behind them as Bender, Garth Kaufman and Levi LaVallee rode nose to tail in search of a clean pass. Past the halfway point it appeared Bender might hold on for a second straight podium, but suddenly patience paid off for Kaufman as he hammered the massive back straight triple to overtake Bender. Four laps later, LaVallee mirrored the pass and shuffled Bender back to fifth with only four laps to go. With less than three laps to go, it appeared Gulla was a shoe-in for his first pro win of the season but suddenly his lead vanished as he got tangled up with the lapped sled of Matt Judnick. Gullas mistake opened the door for Crapo, who took 
home his first ACSS win of the year (Crapo also won the Pro race at the AMSOIL Eagle River World Championship race in January).
home his first ACSS win of the year (Crapo also won the Pro race at the AMSOIL Eagle River World Championship race in January).“I feel bad for TJ,” said Crapo as he stood atop the podium during post race ceremonies. “He deserves to be here. But our team has been working so hard for this, and this weekend we finally were in a position to take advantage of other riders mistakes and it paid off.”
Kaufman picked up his third straight podium with a second place finish while LeValle took home third. AMSOIL pro DJ Eckstrom was able to take starts on Saturday after injuring his knee and hip in Brainerd the week before. He made it into the final through the LCQ and only took the start for valuable class points.
"The knee is pretty sore and with the track having a lot of icy spots, one wrong turn could keep me out all year," said Eckstrom. "We'll do the same formula on Sunday for the mod class and rest it up so we are good to go in Valcourt."
The AMSOIL Pro Open class and both Semi-Pro classes will finish up the weekend on Sunday.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
