Moorhead, Minn. (January 17, 2012) – The Bunke Racing team kicked off its season at the USCC National Guard Cross-Country Snowmobile Championship race held on Pine Lake near Gonvick. Minn., this past Sunday, January 15. Not only was the race the first on the Bunke Racing team’s schedule, it was also the first cross-country lake race in over a decade. It posed a challenge for the team to come up with a competitive race setup for the twisty course set up on the icy surface of Pine Lake, but the team put in over a week of testing and was able to get their Polaris snowmobiles more than ready for the event.

Gabe Bunke put his sled on podium with a third place finish to start the day in Pro Open. Bobby Menne had a good day in that class as well with both riders feeling more than comfortable on the 10-mile ice course that consisted of right- and left-hand turns and featured two, 1-mile straightaways. Pro Women rider Jen Fuller was totally new to ice racing but took third place in the Womens class, less than a minute behind the winner.

Spencer Kadlec, Jeff Klein and Matt Burkhardt finished 5-6-7 in the five-lap Semi-Pro 600 race. The Top 5 riders in the class were so close that Kadlec was only 12-seconds out of a podium podium spot in the class. This season is only Kadlec’s second racing snowmobiles and it’s his first season on Polaris.

“This was my first lake race and it was definitely a challenge,” Kadlec said. “I learned a lot though and I’ll be looking for a Top 3 finish at the next event for sure.”

Pro riders ran a 1-lap qualifier for the 10-lap, 100-mile Pro 600 race. Bunke and Menne both ended up in the second of three rows to start the race. Bunke got a good start and settled into 8th place while Menne was a couple spots back. On the seventh lap Menne’s sled suffered a track problem that put him out of the race. Meanwhile, Bunke had moved up a spot into 7th, where he would ultimately finish.

“I think the team had a great weekend,” said Bunke. “We got two podium finishes and we were really competitive. Everyone is so fast, but we’re right there so I can’t see why we won’t be able to win some races this season.”

Next up for Bunke Racing is the USCC J&K Marine Beach Bar 100 in Detroit Lakes, Minn., January 28-29. For more info on Bunke Racing visit www.bunkeracing.com. You can also follow Bunke Racing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BunkeRacing