Rookie Wilson Hoogendorn wins Nome-Golovin race
Going into the Nome-Golovin snowmachine race on Sunday, Wilson Hoogendorn said he was just hoping to finish because he hadn’t practiced the trail in a while. He not only completed the race for the first time but placed first overall.
Hoogendorn buzzed past the finish line just after 2 p.m. under sunny skies and subzero temperatures with a crowd of onlookers cheering around the chute. He ended the 200mile race along the Iditarod Trail from Nome to Golovin and back with a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 4 seconds.
Past champion Mike Morgan, with a red Polaris XCR 900 and a matching red racing suit, was close behind Hoogendorn, finishing second with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 15 seconds.
Both in the open class, Hoogendorn and Morgan had been duking it out on the trail throughout the race.
“He was ripping,” Morgan said. “He had an awesome run.”
Hoogendorn and Morgan got to White Mountain at the same time to refuel. Hoogendorn passed Morgan after the Topkok hills on the way back to Nome, and Morgan said he remained about 100 yards behind him for the rest of the ride.
The race, which is organized by the Bering Sea Lions Club, had originally been scheduled for Saturday but was postponed as north winds in the Topkok hills reached speeds of 70 miles per hour. From Safety looking east, there was a forbidding wall of blowing snow signaling ripping winds ahead.
There were still some windy spots on Sunday and snow kicking up across the ice on Safety Sound that impaired visibility, but the racers at the front of the pack reported fairly smooth conditions on the trail. Hoogendorn said there were a couple of “hard hits,” but the suspension held up on his well-loved Ski-Doo Renegade 900 sled that already had 5,000 miles on it. In his only previous attempt in the race, his motor gave out and he didn’t finish.
Kevin Bahnke, the Bering Sea Lions Club snowmachine race committee chairperson, said that conditions worsened throughout the day.
“With every typical race, it starts off well, and as the day goes on, the trail deteriorates very fast,” Bahnke said. “It got pretty rough and pretty bumpy pretty fast.”
Not all racers made it out of the day unscathed. There were several crashes, broken bones and fires reported after this year’s contest. Bahnke said at least three people had to be flown to Anchorage for medical treatment. There was one head-on collision at a blind spot coming around a hill between White Mountain and Golovin. Bahnke said some were hurt after a couple fires broke out at the gas pits in White Mountain.
Only six competitors in the open class finished the race while 10 scratched.
In total, Bahnke said the race had 69 participants.
In the 600-cc class, Evan Barber placed first with a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 39 seconds.
The race organizers included a new class this year for competitors over 45-years-old, which turned out to be a popular addition.
“We had several guys wanting to race but not compete with the younger kids, so we started basically an elders class,” Bahnke said.
Calvin Schaeffer won top honors in that category with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 52 seconds. Schaeffer set the race’s undefeated record time in 2000, finishing in 1 hour, 57 minutes and 11 seconds.
Bahnke said the race saw more women participate than in years past. The women race from Nome to Topkok and back. The top three finishers all completed the race within about 20 seconds of each other, with Ada Harvey taking home the top prize. She finished in 1 hour, 13 minutes and 27 seconds.
Manufacturers have stopped making fan-cooled snowmachines, and this is the last year the race had a class dedicated to fan-cooled machines, though competitors will still be able to use those sleds in the future.
“Instead of having just a fancooled machine [class], we will change the horsepower rating to open it up to more machines that people can use,” Bahnke said.
Frank Lane took home the top prize in the fan-cooled class this year, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 33 seconds.
Open class
1. Wilson Hoogendorn, 2:04:04
2. Mike Morgan, 2:06:15
3. Andrew Harrelson, 2:12:08
4. Louis Green III, 2:13:00
5. Troy Conlon, 2:15:07
6. Martin Lewis, 2:17:14
Scratched from open class: Joshua Knox, Taylor McDaniel, Cody Sherman, Nicholas Reader, Jarvis Miller, Shantah Esparza, Benjamin (Adat) Payenna, Brian Aukon, Mala Otton, Bobby Pate
0-600 class
1. Evan Barber, 2:11:39
2. Haylen O’Conner, 2:12:52
3. Steffen Booth, 2:13:47
4. Quincy Williamson, 2:17:13
5.Cody White, 2:17:30
6. Haiden Williamson, 2:18:16
7. Erik Johnson, 2:21:56
8. George Lewis, 2:23:24
9. Gerald Hughes, 2:27:07
10. Quinn Schaeffer, 2:35:15
11. Ryan Outwater, 2:36:36
12. Eric Nassuk, 2:50:59
13. Tony Haugen, Jr., 3:08:00 (Red Lantern)
Fan-cooled class
1. Frank Lane, 2:21:33
2. Andrew Peterson, 2:23:53
3. Ethan Kelso, 2:29:34
4. Kevin McDaniel-Farley, 2:29:37 Scratched from fan-cooled class: Justin Horton, Jacob Hannon
Women’s class
1. Ada Harvey, 1:13:27
2. Anikan Paniptchuk, 1:13:30
3. MarySue Hyatt, 1:13:48
4. Tricia Parker, 1:18:00
5. Rexodus Pomrenke, 1:22:41
6. Dawn Wehde, 1:23:35
7. Brandolyn Ahyakak, 1:35:08
8. Traci Karmun, 1:36:56
9. Katie Hannon, 1:43:00
10. Samantha Goodwin, 1:49:25
Scratched from women’s class: Season Haugen