Written and Photos By: Bruce Gaspardi Jr
The Snowcross season wasn't quite over yet when the ISOC series ended April 1st. The second annual Bacher Ski Doo - Metal Summercross presented by Scott was held on top of the WildKogel Mountain in Austria on June 8th. Twenty-one of the top riders from around Europe were invited to participate in this year's incredible event. It was held on Thursday the 8th which is the Corpus Christi holiday celebrated in Germany & Austria.
Arial view from the Livesports drone looking over the track on top of WildKogel.
The track was at an elevation of over 2,100 meters (6,889ft), sleds were transported 40 minutes from the base of the mountain to the summit via the mountain road. Racers and spectators would take a 15-minute gondola ride to the summit, surrounded by peaks and taking in the incredible views of the valley below.
View from the gondola ride looking over the valley below.
The race was comprised of two classes, Pro Open and Pro Women's. There would be three rounds of qualifying in both classes with all the Pro Women transferring directly to the final. In the Pro Open class, the top 6 would transfer directly to the A main, and the remaining ten racers would battle it out for the last two places in the A main.
Hampus Höglund and Elias Bacher battling it out.
After practice, it was the Pro Women up for their first round of qualifying. On the line were Tilde Karelius, Team Southside Polaris' Ida Rosell, Martina Invernizzi, Samantha Gilliéron, and Davina Backteman. Backteman would grab the holeshot from Karelius and would go on to lead flag to flag. Karelius would go on to finish second and Rosell would finish third.
Davina Backteman takes the round 1 win.
Pro Open would have the class split into two groups of eight. Round one group A would see Federico Amadei from Italy grab the holeshot. Right behind him would be rookie Hampus Höglund, Martin Johansson, and Ole-Herman Sjørgen three wide as they jumped down the hill. Sjørgen would snatch second away as they made their way across the bottom of the hill. Amadei would stretch his lead out a little bit as the battle raged on behind him. Johansson would move into second place by the halfway point in the race. Amadei would go on to win the first round of the day, Johansson would be second, Elias Bacher would be third, with Sjørgen and Höglund rounding out the top five.
Italian Federico Amadei wins his first qualifier of the day.
Pro Open round one group B would see Robert Lunden with the holeshot with Gustav Sahlsten and John Stenberg behind him. Sahlsten would go to the inside and make his way quickly to the lead and begin growing the gap. Lap four would see Sahlsten jump off the track and slide back to third place, giving the lead back to Lunden. Lunden would go on to take the round win, Stenberg would finish second, Sahlsten recovered to hold onto third. Linus Åberg and Marco Galli came home fourth and fifth.
Norwegian Robert Lunden started the day off with a win.
After a bit of track maintenance, we headed into round two of Pro Women’s action. This time we saw Tilde Karelius followed by Martina Invernizzi and Backteman. Rosell would go from fifth to third through the rhythm section on the first lap. Lap three would see Rosell pass Invernizzi for second. Karelius would go on to take the win, Rosell would finish second, and Italian Invernizzi third.
Tilde Karelius picked up the round two win in Pro Women’s.
Pro Open round two group A would have Lunden grabbing another holeshot followed by Kevin Empl and Galli. Höglund who got out fourth would make quick work of Empl and Galli to move into second place. Amadei after getting out seventh would quickly make his way past Empl and Jacopo Mussa and slide into fifth place. He would then begin battling for fourth with Finnish racer Jusso Ylipahkala and take that position away from him. Lunden would go to take his second win, Höglund would finish second, Galli would be third, and Amadei and Ylipahkala would complete the top five.
Marco Galli finishes third in round two of Pro Open.
Group B would have Bacher grabbing the holeshot with Michele Donazzan and Stenberg behind him. Johansson would end up on his side in the first turn and be last. Stenberg would battle with Donazzan for a couple laps. In the meantime, Sahlsten would make his way from sixth fourth. Stenberg and Sahlsten would both make their way past Donazzan. Hometown Austrian Elias Bacher would take the win, Stenberg and Sahlsten would finish second and third, with Donazzan and Sjørgen round out the top five.
The Legend John Stenberg kept the pressure on finishing second in round two.
Pro Women’s would then come back to the line for their third and final round of qualifying. Team Southside Polaris’ Ida Rosell would get the holeshot with Backteman and Karelius behind her. Invernizzi would make the pass on Karelius for third. Rosell and Backteman would begin to gap the rest of the field. Rosell would go on to lead the entire qualifier and take the win. Backteman and Invernizzi would round out the podium.
Team Southside Polaris’ Ida Rosell claimed her first win of the season in round three of Pro Women’s.
Pro Open round three group A would see Empl with the holeshot, but Lunden would make a quick pass to take the lead away from him. Sahlsten would move into second by the end of the first lap. Johansson had another tough start and had to make his way through the field from last. Lunden would go on to sweep all his qualifiers to be top qualifier. Sahlsten would finish second, Johansson after being last would make his way up to third. Sjørgen would be fourth and Galli would complete the top five.
Gustav Sahlsten was working hard all day long and finished second in round three of Pro Open.
Group B would see Bacher grabbing the start with Amadei, Höglund and Stenberg in tow. Stenberg would get past Höglund quickly into second place. He would then begin working on Amadei. Bacher would build out a comfortable lead, as Stenberg moved into second. Bacher would go on to take the win, Stenberg finishing a close second, Amadei third. Åberg came home fourth and Ylipahkala fifth.
Elias Bacher would pick up his second win of the day in round three.
They then took a break for the awards ceremony from this past winter’s Central European Snowcross Tour and worked on the track to get it ready for the finals to come.
Up first was the Pro Open B main, where the top two would move onto the A main. The B main would be made up of Höglund, Sjørgen, Galli, Åberg, Donazzan, Ylipahkala, Empl, Peter Gurndin, Mussa, and Noé Hostettmann. It would be Höglund with the holeshot with Galli and Sjørgen right behind him. Sjørgen would make the pass for the lead at the bottom of the hill. Höglund and Galli would battle through the rhythm section with Galli on the inside, he would get into Höglund and tip him over. Åberg would make his way though the field and would battle with Galli for the final transfer spot. Sjørgen would go on to take the win and punch his ticket to the A main. Åberg would make a late race pass on Galli to take second and the final spot in the A main. Galli would finish third, Donazzan fourth and Ylipahkala fifth.
Ole-Herman Sjørgen would win the B main.
The Pro Women lined up for their final next. Rosell was the top qualifier, but Backteman and Karelius all won a qualifier so it was anyone’s guess who would get the win. It would be Backteman and Karelius side by side over the line for the holeshot, Rosell would be there in third. Rosell would make the pass on Karelius on the outside going down the hill into the corner to take second place. Backteman would start to grow her lead over Rosell in second. Karelius would settle into third, Samantha Gilliéron in fourth and Invernizzi fifth. Davina Backteman would go on to take the win with Team Southside Polaris’ Ida Rosell in second and Tilde Karelius rounding out the podium.
Davina Backteman would lead flag to flag to claim the Pro Women’s final.
The last race of the day would be the Pro Open A main. Lunden came in as the top qualifier winning all three of his qualifying rounds in the morning. The start would see them all funnel into the corner when Sahlsten would get turned from behind and thrown from his sled. He would be hit by two other racers and the race would be red flagged. Miraculously after a long stoppage, he was okay but not good enough to get back on the sled. When the race was restarted Lunden would jump the start, which meant that he would have to stand there with the sled off and tether in his hand. It would be Bacher with holeshot, Amadei and Stenberg behind him. Stenberg would start attacking Amadei for second place. After a few laps Stenberg would make the pass for second and start trying to reel in Bacher who was out front. Rain had moved in during the red flag break which was affecting visibility in traffic. Johansson would make the pass on Amadei for third about halfway through the final. Stenberg was having trouble reeling in Bacher. Bacher would go on to take the win by just over three seconds. Stenberg would finish second and Johansson rounding out the podium. Fourth would go to Amadei and fifth to Åberg.
What an event this was and there are already discussions about next summers event here at the beautiful WildKogel Mountain and Resorts. A big thank you to Bacher Ski-Doo/Metals and Scott.
One last shot of the gorgeous landscape in Austria
