I enjoy the race reports Pro racer, Zach Herfindahl, sends me. Hopefully you do to! – Kale
Team Arctic XC headed to the World Championship Oval race for the biggest sprint race on ice! Months of planning and work done at the Arctic Cat race shop would result in a purpose-built factory Arctic Cat ZR FIII, which would be piloted by Zach Herfindahl. With minimal oval experience, the team knew it would be a tall task but were up for the challenge in competing against the best sprint racers in the world. Arctic Cat’s presence at the World championship came with large crowds and incredible feedback as they loved seeing Factory Arctic Cat in the pits, and competing against the other manufacturers.
FRIDAY NIGHT THUNDER SWEET 16 – #312 FINISHES P6
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
30 racers attempted to make the twelve sled field. Zach and the #312 ZR qualified in his heat and quarter which moved him into the semi-final, but fell one position short, and had to race the LCQ.
SUNDAY (WC DAY)
Sunday started with a 5 lap LCQ, ten sleds with the top two making it to the 25 lap main event. Zach jumped into the second position early and held a transfer spot to the checkered. The 312 sled would line up for the 60th running of the World Championship race later that day. The green flag flew at 1:30pm as racers charged through 25 laps of deteriorating track and limited traction. Zach started in the twelfth position and raced his way forward moving through the field to fifth when a late red flag flew. On the restart Zach gained another position as they came to the white flag lap, Zach closed in on third but fell 1/10 of a second short of the podium and ended fourth in his first World Championship at Eagle River!
“To show up as a team at our first oval race and walk away with a fourth against the best in the world is an accomplishment only this team could pull off! It was incredible how many Arctic Cat fans poured in to watch Team Arctic compete at the World Championship. I want to thank my crew for working endless days to make this happen!” – Zach Herfindahl
Whatever the state of oval racing has been in recent years, the combo of Zach, factory Arctic backing, and Eagle River has some serious rock and roll to it! Awesome results guys, and thanks for the recap, AI!
Thanks Kale for recognizing a great Arctic Cat racer that is multi talented and can jump on a F-lll and run with the best of them. His team will also be a contender in the I-500.
Where on earth did those spindles come from?