The No. 57 of Zach DeWald set the pace from the get go and survived three late restarts, including a final lap dash, to put his name into the history books as World Champion at the World Championship Derby Complex (WCDC) in Eagle River.
“There ain’t no better feeling than this,” said DeWald as he exhaled following the exciting finish. “We’ve been working on this thing all weekend and it’s just been getting better and better, and our hole shots have just been really, really good.”
DeWald beat second place Joey Burch aboard the No. 29 Polaris. He podiumed for the second time in as many years. Third place went to No. 102, Blaine Stephenson, whose Wahl Bros. Polaris found the podium at Eagle River yet again, though short of a record fifth championship.
DeWald made a podium finish two years ago, then last year was part of the winning team in the Enduro World Championship. This, however, hit a bit different for him as he said there really is no comparing another championship to that of a World Championship at Eagle River.
“This is what I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid,” he said. “My dad had a couple of eagle trophies on the shelf in the garage and I always wondered what they were. Well, we figured it out today.”
DeWald set the tone early as he beat the pole sitter Stephenson to turn one and put himself ahead of the bottleneck behind him.
That bottleneck would rear its ugly head later on, but for the most part it turned into a two-sled race for the first 10 laps as DeWald stayed in front of defending two-time champion Matt Goede and his No. 28 Houle Ski-Doo.
DeWald, though, stretched the lead, getting to where he was four seconds ahead of Goede who not only had to make up time, but had to get through lap traffic in order to catch DeWald who was pulling away by nearly a half second a lap.
He then survived a near scare with four laps to go as Dustin Schwandt got loose and tangled with the race leader in turn two. DeWald drove through it, though Schwandt’s Arctic Cat turned to its side and caused the first red flag of the race with four laps to go.
As things stacked up, it was DeWald ahead of Goede, Stephenson, Reed Klinger, Burch and Burch’s teammate, Tanner Foss.
At the restart, DeWald again won the race to the first corner, but looked to slide high coming out of three into four as Goede pounced the inside but couldn’t muster the top-end speed to get by.
With two laps to go, it was the No. 14 of Foss that got loose in turns one and two, bringing out the second red flag with just two laps to go.
Bunching the field up then for a green, white, checkered finish it was DeWald, Goede, Stephenson, Klinger and Burch set ahead of Tanner Foss, who was the last sled on the lead lap.
The attention, though, turned to the race for second place, as coming out of turn two with one lap to go it was Stephenson who got into the back of Goede, getting him loose as he struggled to get back in the throttle, and both sleds ended up off the track — Stephenson overturning and Goede ending up in the pits after his sled was unable to go following the mishap.
While there was discussion as to whether DeWald had taken the checkered flag, it was determined that with one lap remaining the sleds would be lined up again and it would be one lap to the finish.
With one to go, it was DeWald who kept himself in front, outracing Burch and Stephenson, who charged from fifth to third on the last lap, to the checkered flag.
The 62nd World Championship Snowmobile Derby finishing order is as follows:
1 - Zach DeWald, Au Gres, Mich.
2 - Joey Burch, Mount Pleasant, Mich.
3 - Blaine Stephenson, Hutchinson, Minn.
4 - Reed Klinger, Athens, Wisc.
5 - Tanner Foss, Middleriver, Minn.
6 - Matt Goede, New Germany, Minn.
7 - Gunnar Sterne, Hampshire, Ill.
8 - Tyler Town - Traverse City, Mich.
9 - Dustin Schwandt., Fox Lake, Wisc.
10 - Mason Schuette, Eagle River, Wisc.
11 - Dakota Harris, Morley, Mich.
12 - Andy Shoemaker, Pinconning, Mich.
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