Rickie Antworth grew nervous when he and a friend came down to the Bangor area late last week, to watch hundreds of snowmobilers zip, fly and muscle their way around Speedway 95 in Hermon over the weekend.
Antworth, who lives in the northern town of Mars Hill, saw grass coming through the snow in parts of Penobscot County, a likely result of all the rain that fell on Thursday. He questioned whether the fifth annual Dysart’s Snowcross would go forward.
But after organizers made a focused effort to haul snow in from around Bangor late last week and groom it into a course with banks, bumps and a large tabletop jump, Antworth was satisfied with the results.
“They did a good job,” he said Saturday afternoon, as he sat in bleachers on one side of the speedway and sipped a blue bottle of Bud Light.
[Snocross event planner says ‘rain won’t bother us’ ahead of weekend event]
The event’s organizers, including East Coast Snocross and Eastern Maine Community College, were also happy with the course they were able to build and the sunny weather that lasted through much of Saturday and Sunday.
“The quality of the snow is perfect,” said Josh Little, director of marketing and promotions for East Coast Snocross, which every winter holds about 10 such snocross competitions across the northeastern U.S. “It’s a sugary, loose snow that provides soft landings and good traction.”
More than 300 riders were registered to participate on Saturday. They ranged in age from 4 years old to in their 40s, Little said.
There were different groups of riders with varying levels of experience, including a professional class for riders with sponsors, a professional class for women and a pro-lite class. Some of them would receive trophies based on the speed with which they completed multiple heats, and their scores would count in a running competition for East Coast Snocross’ seasonal championship.
The audience appeared to be relatively small on Saturday, with bleachers not close to full. Organizers said that may have been related to the fact that there were several other snowmobile events happening around Maine on that day.
The event is partly a fundraiser for the EMCC Foundation, a nonprofit entity that supports the community college, and its representatives were optimistic the crowd would swell on Sunday.
They hadn’t counted attendance as of Saturday afternoon, said Jenn Khavari, EMCC’s director of advancement. Approximately 3,000 fans attended the snocross last year.
“We’re looking to blow the roof off” on Sunday, Khavari said Saturday.
After three seasons at Bass Park in Bangor, the snocross was moved to Speedway 95 this year, partly as a result of poor attendance and a steep fee at the Bangor venue.
[Speedway 95 new venue for this year’s Dysart’s snocross racing]
Even with attendance down, the audience on Saturday was enthusiastic about the racing happening before them.
They let out whoops when drivers made particularly stunning jumps over the tabletop of snow that had been built right in front of the bleachers. They gasped when riders occasionally flew off their sleds and had to re-mount.
At one point in the afternoon, a couple of the most accomplished riders were busy signing autographs on small, glossy posters that included photos of them riding and a list of their sponsors.
One young woman wearing a pink snowmobiling coat asked Mike Pilotte, a professional rider from Northwood, New Hampshire, to sign its upper sleeve. Pilotte entered the Dysart’s Snocross a favorite, after winning the previous weekend’s East Coast Snocross event in Rochester, New Hampshire.
By Saturday afternoon, Pilotte had won his first heat and taken second in the next, with more to come.
At 28 years old, Pilotte said that he was “far and away the oldest” rider in the pro class. Although he’s been doing snocross for less than a decade, he previously competed in pro ATV motocross. He now has a slew of sponsors, including the snowmobile maker Polaris and Southside Sales and Service, a western Massachusetts business that has its own snocross team.
Pilotte said that the racing conditions were solid Saturday, but that the snow was becoming more “granulated” and difficult-to-navigate throughout the day.
If organizers of the Dysart’s Snocross are again short of snow next year, they may look up north to The County, according to Antworth, the audience member who came from Mars Hill to watch the event.
“We have an overabundance of snow,” he said.