By François Cominardi. Photo Claude Prud’homme / Studio-017
SABRINA BLANCHET AND JORDAN LEBEL SET THE PLACE ON FIRE!
This GPSV 2024 took place under a temperature that was a little too mild. Snowmobiles, on ovals or snocross, do not like ice or melting snow. Fortunately, the organizing team, under the general direction of Guillaume Cayer-Richard, worked hard to keep the base. Valcourt is a competition that brings American champions to the various classes of snowmobile racing, including the US Amsoil Snocross Championship. And even Americans recognize that GSPV is the world’s largest event! It welcomes more than thirty thousand people on average for the weekend. We had to make sure that the races ran smoothly. Challenge accepted!
We were also hot because the 2024 edition was the occasion for some great battles. The adrenaline was very much present, because a podium in Valcourt is a great victory to be pinned on his sporting record.
Proper site preparation.
The team worked hard to operate the snow cannons supplying snow to the snocross track, which saw the arrival of the pilots of the American snocross championship Amsoil Isoc, not to mention the best elements of the SCMX.
The ice in the oval was scraped regularly to remove excess water and plan the surface. The track is built every year on gravel. As soon as the ground freezes, hectolitres of water are patiently poured out, day after day, layer after layer, to solidify the ice and give sufficient thickness to the three intensive days of racing.
Like every year, Friday was an open house with free admission to the Yvon Duhamel circuit. The paddock was accessible throughout the weekend. This is a great advantage of the event compared to races of this caliber, where drivers and facilities are not affordable to the public.
Big names at the rendezvous!
There were several Quebec champions to watch in the headliners. The first was Sabrina Blanchet, world champion in SuperMod 440 in Eagle River last year. Danick Lambert was the hope in Pro Champ and Alicia Robitaille brought a feminine touch to Sabrina.
Jordan Lebel, Francis Pelletier and Théo Poirier represented the Quebec pros of Amsoil Snocross. Naeli Lebel as well as Élie Beaulieu and Frédérique Parent were entered in the Pro Women’s category. Among the Pro-Lite, there were many Quebecers. Jeremy Beaulieu and Emeric Legendre were the best placed, but there were also Max Taillefer, Maxime Pépin, Charles-Antoine Arés, Nathan Mailloux and Justin Bolduc, Marc-Hugo Lavoie and William Saint-Laurent.
This was without counting the usual drivers of the SCMX snocross series in the other snocross classes.
OVAL
On Sunday, the Pro Champ final was won by Matt Goede of Minnesota ahead of Gunnar Sterne of Illinois, followed in third place by Danick Lambert of Sorel Tracy. This one was credited with the highest speed of the Pro Champ with 140.027 km/h!
Sabrina Blanchet competed in the premier class of the oval, but she couldn’t reach the podium. In the second qualifying, she was delayed by an orange cone that she received in the face. For the final, she had a bad start, she managed to make up a few positions, but she finished in a disappointing seventh place, for the one who had won both qualifications on Saturday, without being able to finish, following a retirement in the final.
Luckily, she was more successful in SuperMod 340 and 440. In both classes, she won the qualifications and the final, as she did on Saturday, in front of her grandfather Gaston Ferland, a legend of oval snowmobiling.
In the Formula III class, it was the return of 2023 winner Matt Goede, but he could not regain the top position this year. He left it to Tom Olson first, ahead of him and Blaine Stevenson in third.
In the Pro Formula 500 class, Spencer Landry took first place. He had better luck than in the final of the 440 Super Mod, as a broken belt had kept him away from the podium. Behind Landry were Anthony Pettinelli and Jonathan Major.
SNOCROSS
In the Pro class, there was the absence of five-time defending champion Elias Ishoel after a crash at Deadwood. But all eyes were on the two best Quebec snocross drivers in the field: Francis Pelletier and Jordan Lebel. Both have been Amsoil Pro-Lite Champions in the past. Francis is not in his first season as a Pro. He is now with the Thene Motorsports team. This year, in the American Amsoil Championship, he finished second twice. Jordan Lebel is the reigning Pro-Lite champion, and a new rookie in Pro. He is still with the Warnert Racing Makita team. He hit hard by winning a Pro round at Deadwood recently. It was with this roadmap that they arrived home in Quebec, and even better, in Valcourt, the birthplace of snowmobiling and Ski-Doo, their brand of sled.
Emil Harr (Polaris) arrived in Valcourt with the red plate of the number one Amsoil championship. He was the man to watch as well.
The GPSV three-race format
For GPSV, the race format was a triple crown, on Saturday and Sunday. Three races, the best of which at the end of the day on Sunday would receive the title of winner of the Grand Prix.
Saturday’s Race
On Saturday, Francis Pelletier was in good form, he won the third round of the Triple Crown and finished second in the Triple at the end of the day. For his part, Jordan Lebel started well with a second place in the first run. In the second race, Jordan made contact with another rider. The Ski-Doo couldn’t walk away with a broken triangle arm. Warnert mechanics worked hard into the evening to get Jordan back on track the next day.
Sunday races
On Sunday, in the first bunch, Adam Peterson took the holeshot. But Francis Pelletier quickly pulled away, ahead of four chasers including Émile Harr, Jordan Lebel and Daniel Benham. Pelletier flew over the race and took the win, ahead of Emil Harr who had lost time off-track. He managed to hold off Daniel Benham who came back and took third position. Jordan Lebel finished just off the podium in fourth place, but he didn’t seem to be tested. “I’m just trying to find my rhythm,” he said. “I try to get to know everyone in the class and learn when to push, or not… It’s quite difficult, but I’m starting to understand.”
In the second race, Jordan put his words into action. Emile Harr was also recovering and wanted to score points. He won the round. Behind him, the Warnert pilot from Chicoutimi was pressing the throttle, cheered on by his home crowd. Lebel took second place ahead of Daniel Benham. For his part, Francis Pelletier was less fortunate and had to settle for a sixth-place finish that ruined his chances of winning the Triple Crown.
For the third and final race, Jordan Lebel rolled up his sleeves and showed who was boss. His former teammate Francis Pelletier also wanted to shine in front of the Quebec public. Jordan gave it his all in the heavy, sticky snow and won the heat, followed by Francis Pelletier. Two Quebecers in first place for a delighted public! Jacob Yurk took his Arctic Cat to the third step of the podium.
Final result of Sunday
The final result of Sunday’s Triple Crown gave Jordan Lebel the win, a tremendous victory for a 19-year-old rider in his first year in the Pro class. Emile Harr took second place ahead of Francis Pelletier who still made the podium despite his sixth position in the second moto. Théo Poirier finished in tenth place on his Ski-Doo.
Pro-Lite Class
In the Pro-Lite class, Crayden Dillon was the favorite. In his first year in this class, the Ontarian has shown his full potential. There were nine Quebecers entered, with Jeremy Beaulieu and Emeric Legendre being the only ones to reach the final. There were also Max Taillefer, Maxime Pépin, Charles-Antoine Arés, Nathan Mailloux, not to mention Justin Bolduc, Marc-Hugo Lavoie and William Saint-Laurent. Trent Wittwer led the Pro Lite group into the first corner and took the holeshot. But Crayden Dillon didn’t falter and with a good control of the lines, he took the victory ahead of Wittwer and Kenny Mandryk, another Ontarian.
Pro-AM Women’s Class
In the Women’s Pro-AM category, reigning U.S. Women’s Series champion Malene Cottew continued to dominate the division, as did Megan Brodeur not too long ago. On Sunday, it didn’t start at the front but managed to squeeze between the fastest riders. She then took the lead of the race and increased her lead. Luckily because it was delayed by an inconsequential off-runway. She didn’t let victory pass her by. Inanna Hauger fought hard to take second place on the podium ahead of Tausha Lange.
Two Quebecers were present in the competition, Naëli Lebel and Frédérique Parent.
Naëli, 16, from Chicoutimi, is the sister of Jordan and Dylan Lebel. She is in fourth place in the Amsoil Isoc Championship.
During Sunday’s final, Naëli was fighting for third place in the race. With two laps to go, Naëli swerved on a triple jump, and she found herself on the ground, fortunately without injuries. The Ski-Doo was badly damaged and she couldn’t leave. She was forced to give up. Naeli could console herself with her results on Saturday. She won two qualifying races and finished on the podium in third place.
Frédérique Parent, from the town of Ski-Doo, is also a regular at the SCMX. She finished second in the Amateur women’s event on Friday. Then in the Pro Women class, she had a top 5 finish on Saturday and finished ninth on Sunday.
GPSV 2024 is a success!
This forty-first edition of the GPSV kept its promises. The drivers and spectators were there. Quebecers have headliners with Sabrina Blanchet and Jordan Lebel. The snocross industry is full of good riders thanks to the work of the SCMX series which offers a quality championship. It’s more difficult to find a new generation of oval snowmobiles, because there are fewer competitions on Quebec territory. We are counting on the likes of Danick Lambert, Yan Tremblay, Alicia Robitaille, Alexandre Bernaquez, and the others, to preserve the future of the oval.
