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Ottertail 100 Race Recap

Posted: 1/15/2025

Ottertail 100 Recap

Ottertail, Minnesota

Cor PowerSports kicked off the 2025 season in Ottertail, Minnesota for the Ottertail 100! This is the second year of this event with the inaugural race being held in January of 2023. Wes Selby (Pro Stock) and Zach Herfindahl (Pro Open) were the big winners in 2023. In 2024, the race was cancelled due to warm weather conditions. This year, we had more than enough ice to go racing! The race course was a plowed 9.6 mile course with long straights and an ample amount of corners. This made this race not only focus on speed but technique as well.

Saturday morning started off at about 10 degrees above zero with a light snowfall. Those conditions last throughout the day with overcast skies. The first race of the 2025 season was the Pro Open (17 entries) and Semi Pro Improved (21 entries) qualifier. These sleds ran two laps based on time with the top six starting on the front row of their finals. In the Pro Open class the top six sleds after two laps were Paul Brown (Arctic Cat), Ross Erdman (Polaris), Jesse Hallstrom (Ski-Doo), Taylor Bunke (Polaris), Zach Herfindahl (Arctic Cat), and Alex Hetteen (Polaris). The second row would consist of B. Bunke, Christensen, Langaas, C. Revering, D. Revering, and Busse. The final row had Tate, Dohrn, Feil, Peppel, and Olson. In the Semi Pro Improved class, Vince Van Slyke (Polaris) was top qualifier with Luke Van Lyssel (Polaris), O’Ryan Bosek (Polaris), Craig Ritzinger (Ski-Doo), Derek Kloety (Arctic Cat), and Cooper Kangas (Ski-Doo) joining him in the front row.

Race two of the day was the Sport Improved Qualifier with 21 entries. After two qualifying laps, Sullivan LaVoie was top qualifier on his Polaris with Marcus Moldaschel (Arctic Cat), Dylon Tollefson (Polaris), Reese Novacek (Polaris), Anakin Bosek (Arctic Cat). and Braden Sillerud (Arctic Cat) also starting on the front row.

The next few races were classes that ran a two-day combined time format. Some key battles that were close after day one were in the Junior 10-13 class. The Diesen siblings, Bryden and Kynsie were only 1.4 seconds apart! Reese Novacek had a 12 second lead over Unity Gausen in the Pro Women’s class and Luke Fredman was leading the Expert 600 Limited class by only 0.812 seconds!

With the snow still falling, race seven took the starting line. The Sport Improved final was a four lap heads up race. Lavoie, Moldaschel, Tollefson, Bosek, Sillerud, and Gausen took the front row with Novacek not making the call to staging in time. The green flag dropped and Bosek took the early race lead! After four fast laps, Marcus Moldaschel took the race win on his Arctic Cat with a total time of 31 minutes and 57 seconds. Anakin Bosek (Arctic Cat) came in second 25.940 seconds back and Sullivan LaVoie (Polaris) -30.083 second back to round out the podium. In fourth was Dylon Tollefson (Polaris) -36.666 seconds and Elliott Clark (Arctic Cat) in fifth -47.765 seconds back.

Race eight was the next race to the line; the Semi Pro Improved final. Five laps, heads-up racing. Van Slyke, VanLyssel, Bosek, Ritzinger, Kloety, and Kangas took the front row with three more rows lined up behind them. After five laps of tight racing up front, O’Ryan Bosek took the race win with a total time of 39 minutes 15 seconds on his Polaris. Vince Van Slyke (Polaris) took second 12.636 seconds back and Derek Kloety (Arctic Cat) took third 16.172 seconds back. In fourth was Oliver Olson (Polaris) -33.571 seconds and in fifth was Brady Wadena (Arctic Cat) -39.018 seconds.

The last race of opening day was the Pro Open 10 laps heads up final. This race was just shy of 100 miles and scored based on finishing position not time. All racers had to complete a mandatory fuel stop taking a minimum of two gallons of fuel before the white flag. The green flag dropped and Taylor Bunke got the early race holeshot on his Polaris Mod. After one completed lap, Ross Erdman had the early race lead with Paul Brown and Alex Hetteen in tow. After two laps, Hetteen took the lead with Erdman sitting 0.369 seconds behind and Brown only 1.137 seconds back in third. After three laps, Hetteen began to stretch out his lead to 5.148 seconds over Erdman and 12.540 over Brown in third. After five laps Hetteen started to run away with the lead stretching it to 17.333 seconds over Brown in second and Boe Bunke now in third 19.612 seconds back after Erdman stopped for fuel. After six laps, Hetteens lead was 20.742 seconds over Brown and another 4 seconds back was B. Bunke. Seven laps in Hetteen had a 22.344 second lead with Brown in second and now T. Bunke in third 1:09.510 after his younger brother Boe stopped for fuel and now sat 4th. Hetteen and Brown both pulled into fuel on lap eight which tightened the gap for the lead and Boe got around his brother Taylor for 3rd. After ten laps of racing, Alex Hetteen was victorious on his Polaris twin pipe mod with a total time of 1 hour 16 minutes and 6 seconds. In second was Paul Brown on his four stroke Arctic Cat only 8.921 seconds behind Hetteen. Rounding out the podium was Boe Bunke on his single pipe Polaris mod -43.065 seconds. Taylor Bunke finished fourth on his single pipe Polaris mod -1:10.945 and Dan Revering finished fifth on his stock Polaris sled -2:34.51.

Sunday morning brough 30+ mph winds, 0 degree temperatures and real feels conditions reaching -25 degrees. After a few test laps from the Pros and some discussion it was decided that we were going racing! The crew along with the help of the Pros decided the best decision would be to have no qualifiers just timed finals. All classes except the Pro class would run one less lap just so that we could get through the day faster and get people out of the cold and on the road! It was very important to let all the racers have a chance to race their second day which is why we decided to just cut down laps and not just race the premier classes. After everyone got a look at the track on the parade lap, racing got started after 10 AM.

The first race of day two was the Junior 14-17 classes, Masters 50+, and Vet 30+. In the Classics class, Kyle Grover took the win on his Polaris with a total time of 41 minutes 22 seconds with Kellin Geisler (Polaris) in second and Paul Votava (Polaris) in third. In the Junior 14-17 class, Rielly Clark (Arctic Cat) won with a time of 42 minutes 1.305 seconds. Luke Fredman (Polaris) finished second and Brady Wimpfheimer (Arctic Cat) in third. Taylor Cloose took the win in the Junior 14-17 Girls class on her Polaris with a time of 44 minutes 25 seconds. Rachel Wimpfheimer (Arctic Cat) in second and Charlie Kangas (Ski-Doo) in third. In Masters 50+ Todd Severson won with a time of 44 minutes 25 seconds on his Arctic Cat and Shane Boyer took second on his Polaris. In Vet 30+, Adam Longtin (Arctic Cat) took the win with a time of 41:49 with Jared Christensen finishing second on his Polaris.

Race two consisted of the Junior 10-13 classes and the Junior 8-10 Transition class. These racers only got one lap on day two due to weather conditions. After day one the Junior 10-13 class was tight between the Diesen siblings but Bryden had a stellar day two and took the win with a total time of 27 minutes 54 seconds on his Arctic Cat. Cole Prusak (Polaris) was able to make up time on day two and take over the second spot finishing 20 seconds behind the lead. Taking third and the win in the Junior 10-13 Girls class was Kynsie Diesen on her Arctic Cat.

Next the Pro Women, Trail, and Vintage classes took the track. In the Pro Factory Women’s class, Reese Novacek extended her lead and earned her first Pro Factory Women’s race win! Her total time was 41 minutes 22 seconds. In second was Unity Gausen -33.672 seconds and in third was Kenna Cloose -1:06 minutes making it a Polaris podium sweep. In the Trail class, Paul Votava took the win with a time of 43:40 with John Parker taking second only 6.1 seconds back and Paul Sillerud in third. In the Vintage class there was one brave entry, Nick Gustafson who finished his two laps in 19 minutes 53 seconds.

Race four were the remaining classes that were placed based on combined two-day time; Expert 600 Limited, Masters 40+, and Pro Vet 30+. In the Expert 600 Limited class, Rielly Clark took the win on his Arctic Cat with a total time of 42 minutes 7 seconds. In second was Luke Fredman (Polaris) only 1.1 seconds behind Clark! Rounding out the podium was Brady Wimpfheimer on his Arctic Cat. In Masters 40+, Todd Severson (Arctic Cat) took the win over two Polaris’ with a time of 24 minutes 34 seconds with Jacob Felerabend and Tommie Quam taking second and third. In Pro Vet 35+, Aaron Christensen took the win on his Polaris with a time of 39 minutes 5 seconds over Jon Arneson (Arctic Cat) and Justin Tate (Polaris).

The last three classes of the day were all timed finals. Sleds took off one at a time due to visibility and conditions on the race course. The Sport Stock final was first running three laps. After three laps of close battles, Sullivan LaVoie was victorious on his Polaris with a total time of 25 minutes 34 seconds. Only 2.5 seconds out of the lead was Kenna Cloose on her Polaris and Kyle Quesenberry (Arctic Cat) rounded out the podium only 5.5 seconds back! Finishing fourth was Marcus Moldaschel (Arctic Cat) -6.6 seconds and Braden Sillerud (Arctic Cat) in fifths 9.5 seconds back. The top five were all within 10 seconds of each other!

The Semi Pro Factory final was next on the starting line. This race was a four lap timed final. After another very close race, Brandon Wolter took the win on his Polaris with a total time of 32 minutes 33 seconds. Oliver Olson came in second -4.794 seconds back and Luke VanLyssel in third -9.351 seconds back. In fourth was Lucas Vaadi -10.690 seconds and O’Ryan Bosek in fifth -19.646 seconds all on Polaris making it a top five sweep for the red machines. Another key point in these results are that the top 11 were all under 1 minute of each other making it a very close battle after 40 miles.

The last race of the weekend was the Pro Factory Stock final. These racers competed in 10 laps, with a mandatory fuel stop before lap nine. At the start of the race the temperature was 2 degrees above 0 with gusts up to 31 mph and a real feel of -22 below. After one lap Evan Peppel earned the early race lead with a lap time of 7 minutes 58 seconds. Sitting second was Busse (8:00.584), third was D. Revering (8:00.768), fourth was B. Bunke (8:01.278) and fifth was Christensen (08:01.557). Places two through seven were all within 2 seconds of each other. On lap three, the race leader Peppel ran a lap time of 7:58.4 and on lap four ran his best lap thus far at a 7:54.4

On lap seven, race leader took fuel dropping him back to fourth. This put B. Bunke into the lead with Hetteen in second, and Hallstrom in third. After the rest of the leaders fueled, Peppel was back in the lead after lap nine running his best lap of the race thus far with a 7:50.420 lap time! Boe Bunke also ran his fastest lap on the ninth lap running a 7:53.742 in second and Alex Hetten ran his fastest lap was well running a 7:54.581. After ten laps of racing, Evan Peppel was able to secure his first Pro Factory Stock win on his Polaris with a total time of 1 hour 19 minutes 33 seconds. Coming in second was Boe Bunke -39.392 seconds. Rounding out the podium was Alex Hetteen -42.727 seconds. This made it a Polaris sweep with all three racers being from the home of Polaris Roseau, Minnesota! Marshall Busse (Polaris) came in fourth -44.663 seconds and fifth was Taylor Bunke (Polaris) -46.148 seconds. After 100 miles, the top six racers were all within a minute of each other!

Cor PowerSports will be back in action on January 25-26, 2025 in Park Rapids, Minnesota for a lake race on Fish Hook Lake!

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