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Ingles Performance riders cap stellar season on the podium in Malone
MALONE, N.Y. (Mar. 25, 2014) – In one of the most dominant overall team performances witnessed in nearly a decade, the snowmobile snocross athletes of Ingles Performance/Ski-doo landed on the podium again last weekend at the 2014 East Coast Snocross (ECS) season finale.
The event was held on Friday night and Saturday at the beautiful Titus Mountain Family Ski Center. This was the tenth round of what has been a grueling, yet very rewarding winter for everyone involved with the veteran snocross squad based in Phoenix, New York.
On Friday night, Ingles-sponsored rider Leo Patenaude, of Hartland, VT, competed in Pro Open after winning Pro Lite and finished an impressive second behind Lincoln Lemieux. Ingles rider Kevin Wallenstein, of Cadillac, MI, was also on hand after his successful campaign in ISOC and filled out the podium in third.
Quebec native Danny Poirier capped one of the best seasons in his lengthy career with second place in Saturday’s final. That locked up Poirier’s fourth Pro title (2004, 2009, 2012, and now 2014) and gives Ingles/Ski-doo reason to brag. Poirier, 34, is like a fine wine – he keeps getting better with age. Ingles rider Mathieu Morin capped a strong 2014 season (five wins) with a third-place run on Saturday.
In Pro Lite action Friday evening, Patenaude led his younger brother Hunter across the stripe with longtime veteran Jason Boron a solid third. On Saturday, Leo was leading the final but cased a jump and came off his sled. Boron snuck past to claim the victory, with Hunter and Leo second and third. Hunter had a simply incredible rookie season, earning the championship against all odds.
All in all, it was one of the most successful seasons in recent memory for the Ingles squad. In a winter where clean sweeps were almost the norm, these results are both gratifying and satisfying. For team co-owner Robin Ingles, the effort and energy put forth has yielded an almost unimaginable return.
“To go out and claim both the Pro Open and Pro Lite championships in the same season is absolutely amazing,” Ingles said. “Mike and I are so proud of the whole team. It was an amazing year where everything just clicked. We all worked hard, but we also had a lot of fun. We couldn’t have asked for a better effort from the entire team.”
Adding to the strong finishes the team enjoyed all season was a solid third place finish by Chris Ingles in the Sport class. Chris matured a great deal on track this season, no doubt learning from his veteran teammates at every opportunity.
