Some 8,000 spectators braved the January deep freeze this weekend at Mirabel, to catch the action going down at Xtown’s Snocross event.

In the Pro Stock final on Sunday, Motocross champion Kaven Benoit took the lead but was forced to the back of the pack when his engine broke down. Mathieu Morin (Ski-Doo) won the race, carefully managing his effort to conserve energy for the Pro Open final later that afternoon.

Todd Corin (Arctic Cat) from the US came in second, followed by Danny Poirier (Ski-Doo).

Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Moto123.com

For the furious Semi-Pro Open final, over 21 riders fought tooth and nail through a race where accidents, incidents and spectacular jumps and landings were the rule rather than the exception.

Donovan Asselin (Ski-Doo), Franky Paré (Polaris) and Pierre-Vincent Fillion (Polaris) took home the honours, in that order.

The day’s main event, the Pro Open class, was every bit as spectacular. Dave Asselin (Ski-Doo) took the lead from the start, managed his race beautifully and easily took first place.

Obviously proud of his achievement, he noted that “the track is very physically demanding, and it was a good think I’d kept a little energy for the final. The track was icy and landings were becoming particularly violent. It was a very, very long weekend!”.

The event’s organizers would like to thank the fans and partners who demonstrated that there’s a lot of enthusiasm here for big ticket events like the Xtown Snocross.