5,000 expected Vasa weekend...for Snowcross

Fri, Sep  28, 2012 - By Mike Muha

Traverse City’s Turtle Creek Casino and Hotel will host the U.S. 27 Motorsports Snocross National on Feb. 8-9, an event that is expected to bring 5,000 snowmobile riders and spectators to the area. It’ll be a big weekend in Traverse City, since the race coincides with a major national ski race – the North American Vasa Festival of Races – as well as the Traverse City Winter Microbrew and Music Festival.
 
The event is part of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, which begins in Duluth in late November and includes eight stops. (Traverse City is the fifth, and one of only two sites on the tour that will feature freestyle competition.) The ACSS, which will be aired on the CBS Sports Network, is considered the world's premier snocross tour. Among those riders expected to attend: Levi LaVallee, the X Games gold medalist and snowmobile distance jumping record holder; Tucker Hibbert, the all-time winningest snocross racer and a five-time gold medalist at Winter X Snocross; and Canada's Tim Tremblay, the defending ACSS overall Pro Open class champion.

Turtle Creek hosted Michigan snocross races in 2010 and 2011, but the event had to be canceled in 2012 for lack of snow.

Could be a competition for hotel rooms...and restaurants?