Moorhead, Minn. (December 6, 2011) – Bunke Racing is best known for competing in snowmobile cross-country and endurance races such as the Soo I-500 and the Red Lake I-500, but the team’s knowledge and competitive drive will be channeled in a totally new direction this year. In a partnership with Tharaldson Ethanol and the North Dakota State University Clean Snowmobile Challenge, the Moorhead, Minnesota-based Bunke Racing team will lend its snowmobile expertise in helping both groups build a cleaner, more efficient snowmobile.

Bison Motorsports, a student-led group of engineers at NDSU, will be participating in the annual Clean Snowmobile Challenge sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). This is an event which challenges teams of students to create a snowmobile suitable for use in our Nation’s pristine wilderness areas and National Parks. The goal of the competition is to create a sled that produces significantly less noise and emissions pollutants while retaining practicality, ride performance and attractiveness to consumers. 

This year, NDSU students are working on their second entrant to the competition after placing sixth in the 2010 event. Bison Motorsports will be only the second school to enter a Turbo-Diesel sled and will be focusing on power delivery, weight control and emissions of noise and pollutants. The design will be centered around a donated Polaris IQ LX chassis and Kubota D902 3-Cylinder Diesel engine. The partnership with Bunke Racing and Tharaldson Ethanol will give the team a competitive advantage with the racing expertise and financial backing they will provide.

Tharaldson Ethanol is the nation’s seventh largest ethanol facility and produces high-octane, clean burning fuel from corn grown locally in North Dakota and western Minnesota. Tharaldson’s expertise with ethanol production and its use as a clean-burning fuel will be an integral part of Bison Motorsports’ success in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge as well as Bunke Racing’s on-track success on the snowmobile racing circuits this winter.

“We’re proud to help North Dakota State’s brightest engineering students in any way we can,” Tharaldson Ethanol CEO Kyle Newman said. “The high-octane, clean burning characteristics of ethanol are a perfect fit for this competition.”

“This is totally new ground for us,” said Bunke Racing’s Gabe Bunke. “We’ve never raced a diesel engine and for the most part, noise and emissions aren’t a concern when you’re racing. But we can help the team out a ton with ride quality, drivetrain and a bunch of other areas. They have a great start and we can help them win.”

The 2012 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is set to take place March 5-10 at the Keeweenaw Research Center in Houghton, Michigan. Registration is limited to 25 teams so Bison Motorsports could face up to 24 other teams in the competition.

For more information on Bunke Racing please visit www.bunkeracing.com. Follow Bunke Racing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BunkeRacing