Goede looks for historic run at 62nd Derby

Looking to become a World Champion at the World Championship Derby Track in Eagle River is only something most people dream of. Matt Goede, a native of New Germany, Minn., has done it not once, but twice, and is looking for a chance at doing something only one other person has done at the half-mile track.
Since the switch to the Formula III class in ‘22, Goede and his No. 28 Ski-Doo had swept consecutive championships in ‘23-24 to introduce themselves to a new class. He is looking for a WC three-peat this weekend, no matter the class, which only Blaine Stephenson, the No. 102 Polaris, has done in Eagle River in the 61 runnings of the event.
“If we could add a third to that, it would be unbelievable. It adds a lot of pressure, honestly,” Goede said during vintage weekend. “I’m just going to do the best I can. In ‘23, the first year we won, I feel like speed-wise and handling-wise, we were the best sled.”
Goede also dominated the weekend last year on his way to his second-straight World Championship.
After a bumpy and bare world champ race last year, over a foot of ice covers the oval this year, which makes the confidence skyrocket despite the always-changing track conditions.
“This is a good track for me. I definitely have some confidence coming here. We didn’t really struggle at the end of last year with the FIII, but we started getting beat every once in a while and then this year, too, at Ironwood,” stated Goede. “It should be a different race than the last couple of years. We’ll see; we still go through a lot of ice, so hopefully there’s enough ice. I don’t do really well when my carbides get dull and I can’t turn. The track is still going to get really rough and bumpy.”
He rarely ran his FIII sled at the opening weekend in the Canadian Power Toboggan Championships and won all of his heats in Ironwood before Stephenson beat him out in the final.
As the field grows and continues to get better, there are more racers hungry for the title of World Champion. The Minnesota racer will have a distinct advantage heading into this weekend as he’ll be plenty of race laps ahead of the field as he raced in the Vintage Championships last weekend on his Super Mod 440.
“I know everyone’s been working hard and it’s not going to be easy by any means,” he said. “Having some experience on the track before anyone else is going to help for sure. We’re going to have a lot more laps going into the weekend.”
It’s sort of a devil in disguise as most WC racers last weekend were working on their sleds for this week, while Geode was focused on his vintage sleds.
“The one thing that they’re doing though, right now, is testing and working on their sleds. We’re here running the vintage sled when we should be probably working on our champ and FIII.”
Action for the World Champ racers will get underway Friday, Jan. 17, with time trials starting at 10:30 a.m. The Sweet 16 race, for the chance at the preferred line heading into the WC Sunday, Jan. 19, will be during the Friday Night Thunder festivities.