Huckfest 2010 was all time. With the location being so rider friendly and all kinds of terrain avaliable it made for one amazing snowmobile weekend. Saturday morning kicked off with some DJ action and the Alpine Assassins ripping up the jump track that Ken Evans and Duncan Lee built the week before. With the money booter at 80 ft, and a rythem section of two 50 footers and a 60 footer, the boys were flying all over the place. This year we put in a hip jump that looked like it was around 60 plus and there were sleds sideways all day off that thing. Around mid afternoon the sled count was over 100 and people were enjoying the spring Sierra sun and sledding. The first day was great and only a few wrecked sleds and broken bones. We heard there was a broken collor bone, and dislocated knuckle. Not bad for an open track of jumps these size. Once the day got going it was non stop action. There were a few boondock contests, which Luke Stephens out of Bear Vally CA won on his Ski Doo 154 race machine. As well as some killer hucking and even some drag racing. Charles was holding the drags with his Polaris dragon turbo, and nobody could step to his speed. At one point Randy Sugihara towed a skier into one of the gap jumps, that was awsome, with out injury they both made the gap and people were fired up.

Once the Assassins got comfortable on the money booter they were killing it. It had the longest ramp take off ever seen and the boys were making it looke easy. A.V. was throwing some killer seat grabs and they were all hucking.

Saturday was a big day and everyone had a blast, the Java Sushi crew came out with a keg and had most of the truckee heads in their corner. It was a long hot day and everyone went home tired and a little beat up. But the turn out was awsome, and the vibe was amazing. Sunday started around noon with everyone moving pretty slow. The snow was wet and slushy and getting intresting on the jumps. Ken Evans and Shane Kelley did some work on the money booter and then started hitting it a few times. Shane turned to me and said “yo D, my timing is a little off today……” which I took lightly. Then after a few minutes he came into the money booter, the day before he was making that jump look like a cake walk, he launched and was imedeitely sideways and didn’t look good. He came up just a little short and all jacked up. He was flung from his sled and both cartwheeled down the landing. The crowed was silent. Shane broke some ribs, had a contusion on his chest, brusied his kidney, and poped out his shoulder. He walked away and even got on the mike

 before he rode himslef out. After that the tone was a little diffrent, but then A.V. and Ken brought it back up and were hitting the money booter again. We all walk the line between absloute disaster and amazing stunts when we ride, and that is what we love. With that wreck Shane earned himslef “Sickest wreck of Huckfest” and got himslef a trophy for it. <

Sunday afternoon was awsome with mutiple races. There was a drag race finals that John Muckavitz won with a Artic Cat Turbo. A flat track race, where Mike Griffin showed all the younger boys how to ride. A girls race where the compition was feirce and Brandon’s (from Thin Air) wife rode away with the podium. There was also a doubles race, the crew from Bear Valley was intense and they really wanted a doubles race, so it went down and ofcourse Luke Stephens won that! What a great day to end the weekend of Huckfest! See you all next year!

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Thanks to all the people that made the Non-Event possible. Expecially the sponsors, Full Throttle Tahoe, Alpine Assassins, Thin Air Motorsports, Porters, SS Auto Brokers, HMK USA, Smith optics, Scott USA, AVI Vest, The Spencer family, D Troy and Jamie, Ryan Oddo, The Evans, Shane Kelley, and expecially the land owner Charles. Thank you all and hope to make it bigger and better for next year!!

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It was two o’clock on Saturday March 27th when Shane Kelly and myself (D. Lee) finally rolled into Ken Evans culdesac. We were only 4 hours late which, giving the errands we had to run and parts we had to build to even get on the road, I thought wasn’t too bad. Shanes two place enclosed trailer had his sled, a 600 ski doo race sled for Randy to buy (or spare parts) that we picked up that morning 1hour out of the way, and all of Ken, D. Lee, Shane, and Siigs gear for a long road trip. To top it off we put Ken’s 154 xp in there too. Towing a two place enclosed with 3 sleds, a sled deck with a 146 xp and a 162 M7, all the gear and whatever else we had was a moving carnival. After loading all Kens Gear we were on the road to Jackson. We had 15 hours till the finals started and three of us to split the driving. Your thinking 3? “what about the 5 sleds?” Well Siig was in Vegas, he managed to book a flight into Salt Lake City, which was the closest he could get flying South West Airlines, on Sunday where Fuzzy Hall would pic him up and drive up to Wyoming to meet us. Randy was already there at the hill climbs capturing the action, and with Alpine Assassins Team rider Nate Zollinger having a shot at the King of Kings tittle, we were all fired up to see it go down.We had slept in Pocatello and got an early start to make the drive and arrive in Jackson in the mid morning.   In route there we saw a sign that said “no trailers over pass” which was tetton pass.  With a full load we decided that we should go for it and maby the sign was posted for big rigs.  It turned out not bad at all and was nothing we weren’t used to at home.  We did get a chuckle about it tho and glad we didn’t see any 5-O.  So we pulled into Jackson and it was jamming.  Day of finals and people were everywhere. Looking up at the course we saw it was mostly dirt, rocks, and tree stumps.  Wow, looked like some sleds would be taken out just from running the course.  We contacted Randy, who was at the top of the run on the film platform. He saw us driving around town from up there and directed us to a sweet front row parking spot, and we didn’t have to pay which was a bonus.  Shane, Ken, and I got our media passes and went to work.  Seeing how it was finals we went straight to the hill and stationed ourselves to capture the run.  It was carnage, with many racers not even making the finish due to the gigantic holes with rocks and boulders there to stop a sled instantly.  Nate Zollinger was looking awesome and riding well until one of these big rocks stopped his sled and he was done.  His last run of the day and no tittle.  He put up a hard charge for it though and made it look easy.  Good Job Nate, there is always next year.  Another Alpine Assassin,  Steve Martin, was racing and ready to lay down a fast time.  He was coming up and hauling looking real good and steady in his final run.  Then some sled failure threw him into his bars and that was it.  He was pushing his machine so hard that he wore the teeth off the spline of his drive shaft.  He was not happy with that but had made a valiant effort.  With Steve out and Nate done, the Tapio brothers were looking real good at taking the tittle.  Thats when Shad Free stepped to the line and layed down the fastest time of the day!  He came through all the gnarly rocks, holes, stumps, and dirt flying.  Through the last gates in a wheelie and parked it on top with the tittle for open class! With this win he would be in the King of Kings run and was looking confident that he would walk away with bragging rights!

The day was coming to an end and the temp was dropping.  The King of Kings was about to go down.  The course was ripped up and looking gnarly, but when it came to it Shad Free took to it like just another hill and slaughtered it with confidence and speed.  Not only did he win the open class but also the King of Kings and was the last rider of the day.  A great way to end the Championships, congratulations Shad. 

With the hill climbs over we went to help our friends at HMK pack up their displays.  It was a long day and we were all tired.  Then it dawned on us that Siig and Fuzzy had not made it there yet.  We were wondering where they could be?  At that point I got a call to find out they were in Alpine WY at a local bar.  So they were good and close to meeting up with us.  After watching all this riding we were jonesing to get some ourselves.  Our plan was to head to Pinedale to ride with Steve Martin and Taylor Dyess the next day.  So we loaded up after some grub and made the drive.  Coming from the Sierra, where this season dumped a ton of snow, we noticed that there was a lot of dirt here in Wyoming without snow on it.  We were very sceptical of the conditions for the next few days of riding. 

When we rolled into Pinedale we met up with Fuzzy and Siig at  motel, they seemed like they had been having a good time and a good drive.  It was nice to have the Team together and on to the next stop of the trip.  Which meant we got to do some riding.  Pinedale is a snowmobile town, everyone owns one and there are tracks everywhere.  This year there wasn’t much snow but Steve and Taylor know the area and were going to take us to horse creek.  So we crashed out so we could be rested for a good day.  That morning Ken had to find someone to sodder a relay for his 154, which to our surprise happened in only a few minutes.  Some lawnmower shop hooked him up and did it proper.  Then it was on to horse creek.  We drove down the road and parked it in the middle.  Taylor and Steve said no one would be coming this way so no big deal to take up the road with our rigs.  The weather was nasty, a storm was blowing in and the light was super flat making it hard to see anything.  Steve found a roller that looked super flat to the rest of us, but he seemed to like it and his xrs with an 800 was floating  over it with ease.  He sessioned it for a bit and then we went on to find some better terrain.  The weather was getting worse and harder to see.  Riding somewhere new is one thing, but riding somewhere  new with out  being able to see the terrain makes for some slow going.  We were riding along a wind lipped ridge and Siig found a wall that put him into his bars pretty hard.  Then there was a ravine/ creek that we had to navigate, again hard to tell what the snow does when it is all blank and no definition.  After a few fun wheelies and finding the correct route we made it to a back bowl and Steve and Taylor were jumping their shorty’s over a small table top.  The snow was somewhat soft and we all were just riding around due to the weather being so funky.  But Steve threw some killer seat grabs and then Taylor decided to try to pull this small climb that was nothing but trees.  I mean you couldn’t even see through them, but Taylor was all about it.  He pinned his race sled and went for it.  It was classic, he ended up vertical with trees everywhere.  Steve and their other buddy hiked up to help him.  They did some slight limbing and then rolled Taylors sled back down the hill.  Taylor wouldn’t give up tho. He talked Siig into letting him ride his 162 M7 to try it again.  Which ended up in a very similar spot.  While trying for this climb Taylor somehow worked his shoulder and was not doing good.  We then decided that it would be a better idea to ride out and stop at the warming hut.  It was fun to ride Horse Creek, but we wished it was better weather.  It seemed like there could be lots to do their and some fun areas.  Since it was a funky day and we had stopped at the fireworks store in Battle Mountain NV we thought we should go back to the trailers and have a fireworks war.  So after a little warm up, we headed back.  Ken and Shane had pinned it the whole way aback and set up an ambush.  It was awesome and Shane was the only one who received any injuries due to fireworks.  A great way to end a day of riding.  The first day of riding on the trip was not what we were looking for so we decided to move on and try to stay in front of the storm that was about to hit the entire area.  It was late  so we went back to the motel we stayed at the night before to make a plan and be ready for the next day.  We still had a week ahead of us and could end up anywhere………

To get to Huckfest 2010, stage at the Little Truckee Summit OHV parking area (make sure you have your Cali registration or out of state sticker) Ride out the main Jackson Meadows road toward the reservoir. You will see the extravaganza on the right.

 The festivities will begin Saturday May 1st around 9:00 am. There will be various unorganized events, including but not limited to, circle track racing, obstacle race, freestyle jumping, trail riding, mountain riding, boondocking, and anything you can think of on a snowmobile. There is lots of snow in the Sierra this year and the riding is awesome right now.

Team rider, Alpine Assassins co-founder, Snowmobile enthusiast, outdoors man, top notch extreme athlete, Grant Korgan sustained a major back injury march 5th. Alpine Assassins Ken Evans, Duncan Lee, Ryan Oddo, and Korgan were riding Sonora pass on that interesting Friday. There was about two foot of fresh, some big kickers that we had built, and it was game on. The day started at 8 a.m. leaving the trail head, the firstjump was a big one with Ken Evans sending a bomb hole about 130 ft. Grant took the second turn and Oddo on third, my self (D. Lee) got fourths, but it was still good and unreal how much hang time was had.

Once everyone got the first jump out of the way the vibe was amazing! We were all so pumped up on life and the living in the now. We moved on to the second jump which was a smaller 60ft. to 80ft. roller without any rocks to clear. A fun jump that is easy and good. We all worked that thing until it was bombed out. Grant was fired up since he hadn’t been on his sled in a few weeks. He is a natural and you couldn’t even tell that he missed a few days of riding. Grants approach to life is what everybody talks about “live life to the fullest” “if your going to go, go prepared and go big” “no regrets, why worry about what you should have done”. There is an essence that we call this and it is called “Korg”. He attacks everything in frontof him with 110%. And not only is he an amazing athlete, but his overall attitude is one that radiates to those around him. You just feel better and awesome when you are around Korg. He can make any day better just by being there, its almost unexplainable how he carries this amazing energy of life. Hanging with Korg is addictive, especially when sending big jumps, droppingbig cliffs, carving phat powder lines down mountains, or anything with a snowmobile. The energy that Friday was through the roof.

After our session was done on the second jump it was time to rally a few ridges over to this gap that I found a few days earlier. The light was getting worse, with high clouds filtering the sun, making it grey out. We were all so fired up, ripping the snow as we rode across the mountains. We came into a zone where Standard Films builds a snowboard jump every year, a massive looking cheesewedge that points over a small tree and then a steep pocket landing, about 70ft away. We have looked at this jump many times, usually withthe run out pointing at a tree wall after the landing about 50 yards. This year they have built it with a better angle so the run out is down the fall line and no trees will be an issue. It looked like the snowboarders had hit it the day before, or earlier that day. Our energy was booming, the jump was clean, and no snowboarders were there. Ken Evans and myself weren’t feeling the jump, mainly due to poor filming conditions (flat light). Grant was standing on the lip and said “when do we get the chance to hit this one, its never this good…. We have been looking at it for years”

With that I did what any good friend would “word Korg, let me set up the camera. If your gonna hit it I’m gonna get it” At the time I didn’t think about it too much, but he did say something about overshooting the landing, which I replied “no way just don’t go too fast” I set up the HD video camera, Ken set up the still shot, and Oddo set up the second angle. Korg turned around and took a quick look at the run in. Then he went for it, carrying a good amount of speed he launched himself and sled into the air, it looked good. He was above the roller coming into the pocket landing. His speed was a little too fast and he was going big to the bottom of the landing passed all the snowboard tracks. When he hit it sounded weird, a loud crunch, the kind when ever you land flat. We heard him grumble when he hit, at first I thought he was just pissed off that he went a little too big, then I heard him in pain and knew right away something was wrong. I couldn’t see him from my location but knew he needed help. I quickly rode to him, Oddo had him and we quickly with the least movement possible layed him in the snow to immobilize him off his snowmobile, which he rode to a stop. He knew right away that he had broken his back and needed care flight. At this point my brain clicked into survival mode and we went to work. I radioed Ken the info. Since there is no cell phone reception way out there nobody had a phone on them. The Marine base is about 10 miles from the location, we decided Ken should ride there to call care flight. He would ride the fastest and be able to handle the road there at those speeds, with out thinking twice off he went. Oddo and myself were in charge of keeping Korg stable and out of shock. We assessed Grant and confirmed that he was only dealing withthe one injury to his back, not knowing how bad it was we had to keep him still as possible. He was in massive amounts of pain and kept a good dialog with what he was feeling. He couldn’t feel his legs or move his feet, we kept him focused on breathing and staying calm. Which he was a champ about. Most people would be freaking out in this situation, but Korg was calm collective and hurting bad. Oddo and myself were taking turns talking with Grant while the other was setting up for the care flight chopper. Oddo cut some tree limbs to make a big X in the meadow below us where the bird would land, then I stomped out the LZ to make sure they could land on the snow without sinking into it. I also made a good track to Grant so we could double up the paramedics. By this point it had been about 45 min from the hit and Ken showed back up, he made the ride to the base in about 15min or less, which means his average speed was over 50 mph. He told us he asked other snowmobilers for a sat phone at the trail head, which nobody had. So he rode onto the Marine base and they got him to the fire house where they called in the care flight, told them what colors we were wearing and the approximate location. The Marines also drove one of their snow cats out, but they only go so fast and with the fresh snow they wouldn’t be able to make it to us. So Ken was back and the help was on the way, we were ready to get Korg out of there and to the hospital asap. Right about at an hour after the hit, I heard rotor blades, Ken was on the upper ridge above our location and I was in the meadow below riding around waving arms at the Helli, once they spotted us they did two circles assessing the landing zone, I guided them into our LZ which worked out perfect, they landed and unloaded their gear. We wasted no time and got the two paramedics to Korg, we all loaded him on the back board and stabilized him with a collar. The Light was getting worse and the Care Flight was worried about visibility, time was our enemy. Ken, Oddo, myself and one paramedic carried Korg down to the bird on the backboard, attached that board to a bigger gearnie type board and loaded him into the care flight. They were out of there.

21 minutes, I was later told by the flight nurse, was the time from touch down to take off with Korg aboard. A great turn around time for a major injury like that. Later that evening the flight nurse called us and thanked us for setting everything up, making sure they had a stable LZ, easy access to the patient (Korg) and helping them load and stabilize Grant. She said “if only every call was that on top of it, we would have a higher success rate”. I thanked her and her crew for doing such a top notch professional job. They were really on top of their game and didn’t wast any time, it was an unfortunate way to experience such a great example of perfect back country rescue. Thank you South Shore Lake Tahoe Cal Star.

The funny thing about all this is that the Cal Star Helli had a ride along, I’m not sure why they had an extra person but he got the boot when we loaded Korg. This actually made an easy ride out for us. We had a guy that had never ridden a snowmobile before, but we also had to get Grants sled and gear out. So it kind of worked out for us that he was there. Oddo doubled him to the road and then we have him Grants sled and pack, it was getting dark, cold and late. He was wearing dockers, running shoes, and a light jacket. Lucky for him the ride out was groomed. We told him how to operate the sled, and off we went. He had a blast and I think he is a lucky guy to get to ride Korgs sled. We loaded up and drove to the closest phone to call Grants wife Shawana, she was already at the hospital and Grant was getting an MRI. Oddo drove the guy to Gardnerville where Cal Star sent a car to pic him up. We then all met at Ken’s house in Reno, and awaited news of how Korg was doing.

Grant exploded his L1 vertebrate, and it sent shrapnel into his spinal Cord. He went into a 8 hour surgery that was actually two different surgery’s in one sitting. They gave him a new titanium rod and a cage in his spine. The good news is that he has been told by the therapist that he will walk again but has a long challenging road ahead of him. Grant is such a fighter and so committed to what he does that I see him setting new records to recovery and joining us again in the pow. Until then we will be in full support of him and his family. Alpine Assassins will be having some freestyle exhibitions and fundraising for the Korgans to help them pay for the large bills that are adding up. Mad love to Korg!

This date is TBA check back soon for confrimed date.

WOW! What an incredible few weekends of racing we have had this year. My apologies for not sending out this update earlier, but we have had a crazy busy month of January already. As most of you know, Taylor made the cover of the January issue of Whiteout Magazine and that was huge for Taylor. As parents, we could not have been prouder. I, Heidi, a.k.a. Mom, have taken over the updates and press releases. It seems Clark has too many irons in the fire with handling other projects associated with khaox.com Snowfire Racing, so I am taking over this project for now. Just a quick note to our sponsors, family and friends: We dearly appreciate everything you have done for us this year. Taylor is a talented young man and you are helping him to realize his dream of becoming a National Pro snocross racer. Thank you.

Our first weekend of racing in the XMR circuit out of Colorado began with a trip to Grand Lake, CO. Taylor took home three 1st Place trophies, 2 in the Sport Class and one in the Junior 14-17 Class. The XMR circuit is a regional circuit, based out of Craig, CO. It has grown from a small local circuit over the past few years to the largest regional circuit in the Northwest. We are proud to be apart of this circuit and there are a lot of great racers coming out of this circuit right now. Which leads me to our National Race in Sandy, UT two weeks ago.

Taylor had the best of weekends for racing and a weekend that will forever be imprinted in our memories as one of the best. There are weekends during a race season that we wished would never have happened, but this one is not one of those. This was a first for ISOC Nationals to be in Sandy, UT, and Taylor raced his finals in front of one of the largest crowds in ISOC’s history. The race took place in Rio Tinto Stadium and racers from 3 circuits met to compete during this one-day race. Racing started at 8:45 a.m. and lasted until 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. Taylor raced in 2 Sport Classes, Super Stock and Combo. Racing against other racers from 3 different circuits, Taylor finished 1st in all of his heats. As I mentioned before, there are moments in racing when, as parents, we couldn’t be prouder and happier, but Taylor’s 3rd heat of the day brought tears to my eyes. Taylor had the holeshot in this heat and hit the rhythm section 1st. He ran into some trouble about half way through this section and caught a large foam barricade block (a tuff block) stuck between his skis and under the belly pan of the sled. He tried to get it out, but had to pull of the track to get it dislodged. By the time the block had finally come out, Taylor was in last place. Although our team prides itself on good sportsmanship, Taylor still doesn’t like to lose and last place is even less fun. Taylor caught up to the rear of the race pack and picked them off (a total of 8 racers) one by one until he was the first to take the checkered flag in the heat!! We were so excited, yelling and screaming, and that is what racing is all about. Taylor has had many races when he gets out in front and doesn’t have to pass anyone but lap traffic, but not this race. It takes a lot of skill, planning and preparing to be able to pass during a race and it all has to happen within a few laps.

Taylor went on to win both of his finals in the Sport Classes and was so excited to be standing up on the National Podium being interviewed. Taylor thanked all of his sponsors and talked about the track with the announcer. He gave a special thanks to local sponsors, Alpine Assassins and SS Auto Brokers, for coming to the race and providing the Sky Suites for the whole race team and all the XMR circuit racers. A special thanks as well to Nate Blaylock with Klim for bringing Taylor’s Klim Anniversary helmet by; to Clare and Steve Martin for help in the pits and staging; to Tri-County Sanitation for traveling from Pinedale to support us at the races; to Wayne, with Martin Senour Paints, and his family for coming by to meet Taylor and watch the races; and to Moose Creek Catering for sponsoring the weekend’s entry fees. And finally, a big thank you to Jeff Goodwin, Race Director for Ski-Doo, for his interest in Taylor and our race team and for being at the podium when Taylor accepted his 1st Place Trophies. Having Ski-Doo represented at the podium meant a lot to Taylor and he was very proud to be on the podium after winning with his Ski-Doo race sled.

After the race, Taylor autographed copies of Whiteout Magazine and had his picture taken with lots of kids and adults alike. The friends and family and sponsors that showed up gave Taylor an extra boost and we are very grateful for their generosity during that weekend. We are so thankful that all of you were there to share in this awesome moment! It just wouldn’t have been the same!

This past weekend we traveled to another XMR race in Eagle, CO. We had never been to a race in Eagle before and it was adventure just getting there. As in most places this winter, there was very little snow on the ground in Eagle. However, the fine folks in Eagle and the XMR race circuit were able to pull it off with the help of lots of dump truck loads of snow. The track was longer than most and not as wide either. This sort of track makes it very difficult to pass other racers and so getting the holeshot is key. Taylor’s first heat out was a crazy one. He, along with 5 other riders, all took a tumble off their sleds with various injuries and one trip to the hospital in an ambulance. Taylor’s wreck threw him over the handlebars and had his sled rolling and end over end. Taylor jumped right back up and was able to get back on the track and finish 3rd in his heat. Whew, crisis averted. Taylor’s ended up with two first place trophies in the Sport I and II Classes and a 3rd Place in the Junior 14-17 Class. Taylor’s final Sport race on Sunday was a nail biter and he fought off two other racers until the very end. The 3 top racers, including Taylor, were all celebrating and giving high 5s after the race. That’s sportsmanship and another proud moment for his parents.

I hope this didn’t get too long, but I had 3 weekends to cover in this email. Please take a moment and check out the couple of photos of Taylor from the ISOC Western Nationals attached to this email. We will be racing again this weekend and will have a brand new update for you next week. Until then, wish us luck and have a great week.