Davidson takes another I-500 crown (7 photos)

Corey Davidson captured his record sixth International 500 Snowmobile race on Saturday in the Michigan Sault.

Driving in his first year on a Yamaha, Davidson captured a 29 second victory over another veteran in Todd Krikke. Troy Dewald finished third.

Ontario Sault drivers Cory and Chris Furkey teamed with John Hoos for an eighth place finish while Kraig Karalash and Terry Wright finished 10th.

George Wilson, with Shawn Ritchie, led the race for a stretch but were forced pit side with mechanical problems on lap 255. Wilson ended in 20th position in the 29-sled field.

*** RACE NOTES:

* George Wilson (#77) led the race for most of the first 100 laps. * Kraig Karalash (#1) was injured down in corners 3 & 4. No other sled was involved. Karalash has quite a few stitches and staples in his leg just above his knee. The local driver got into a rut between corners 3 & 4, the sled tipped and a stud in the track caught the inner side of his leg. Karalash is fine but it'll take some time to recover from the stitches.

* Antero Tarvudd (#18) developed problems with their sled after only 26 laps.

* The #67 Team consisted of Chris & Cory Furkey (from the Sault) and Matt Hoos (from Spruce, MI)

* Joel Diamond (#02) from Lapeer, MI will be at the MIRA race at Runway Park this coming weekend.

*** FINAL RESULTS:

(place - laps completed - driver - time)

1 - 500 - 3 Corey Davidson 7:56:25.187 2 - 500- 60 Todd Krikke 7:56:54.134 3 - 496 - 21 Troy Dewald 7:57:20.346 4 - 495 - 63 Justin Winter 7:57:13.425 5 - 489 - 14 Mike Gentz 7:56:58.087 6 - 483 - 02 Joel Diamond 7:56:43.036 7 - 481- 26 Michael Haynes 7:57:16.296 8 - 472 - 67 John Hoos 7:56:28.193 9 - 472 - 31 Brent Vermeersch 7:56:43.493 10 - 471 - 1 Kraig Karalash 7:57:07.474 11 - 471 - 10 Doug Kammeraad 7:57:15.328 12 - 467 - 66 Joel St. John 7:57:17.663 13 - 455 - 20 Tyler Nickels 7:56:56.900 14 - 433 - 29 Chris Ryan 7:56:57.982 15 - 369 - 135 Jason Komarnizki 7:56:41.226 16 - 387 - 7 Jeramie Piippo 6:39:18.379 17 - 340 - 42 Grant Vermeersch 6:12:10.685 18 - 337 - 46 Robert Walker 5:56:39.152 19 - 322 - 9 Anthony Mayer 6:00:08.517 20 - 255 - 77 George Wilson 4:08:27.747 21 - 253 - 11 John Bosek 5:59:33.565 22 - 219 - 19 William Long III 3:43:48.365 23 - 133 - 17 Dan Rogers 3:17:22.267 24 - 95 - 85 Paul Vanderploug 1:36:55.840 25 - 73 - 27 Robert Mitchell 1:16:36.445 26 - 55 - 8 Jim Kirts 1:16:16.321 27 - 37 - 16 Gabe Bunke 51:35.967 28 - 26 - 18 Billy Skea 24:30.304 29 - 14 - 35 Walter Komarnzki 29:22.384

***

(With files and photos from Rod Aubertin of www.saultracers.com)