Snow Outlaws snowmobile drag racing series race coverage report event: STM Powersports Snow Outlaws World Finals on Spirit Lakewhen: February 27th and 28th, 2026where: Three Lakes-Brule River Trails at Spirit Lake, 1426 State Highway 32 in Three Lakes, Wisconsin, USA “How’s it going?” someone asked STM Powersports Snow Outlaws snowmobile drag racing series boss Chad Nyhus. It was qualifying day for the World Finals and deep puddles spread over the pit area on Spirit Lake at Three Lakes, Wisconsin. Cracks in the ice were showing beneath the water, the purpose-built snow-packed racing surface had lost two inches of depth, and the sun overhead made the afternoon balmy and warm on this February 27th. “Terrible!” replied the wide-eyed Nyhus. The saving grace was that a cold front was scheduled to sweep in overnight, firm up the ice and track, and make for a dramatically different—and better—racing environment on Friday. But even as event conditions improved after sunset, the struggles of marquee teams were just starting. Outlaw One team that didn’t struggle much on Friday night was Johnathan Lentzkow and his eye-popping “Tasmanian Devil” Outlaw class sled. “Conditions Friday night were a challenge for all racers,” said Lentzkow, noting that the temperature was 45 degrees and the track was “pretty slow” at the start of the session. His 3.71 at 144 miles per hour (with a 1.10 sixty foot) held up for number one. Dominick Ernst and the screw-supercharged, nitro “Eagle-1” he rides had the same conditions as everyone else. “The Three Lakes event brought a lot of challenges for the team,” reported Ernst. “The track conditions were very tough due to the high temperature, but the Snow Outlaws crew were able to keep the track top notch for what they had to deal with. “We had a very solid pass (first round), but unfortunately the Dragy didn’t stay connected for the run so we were forced to run a second qualifier and we put down a 3.77 at 147.25 mph.” Like many, Ernst chose to sit out the final qualifying round. “We choose to not run the third qualifier due to not being confident on putting down a better time, so we just stayed conservative.” “We’re real happy we qualified number one out of eleven Outlaw sleds,” continued Lentzkow, who then ran a 3.50 flat at 151mph on Saturday in the quarterfinals. That was against St. Germain number one qualifier Ethan Erhardt and advanced Lentzkow to the semis against Ernst. At this point, Ernst and the “Eagle-1” looked more like a sitting duck than the national bird of the USA. “With the track being hard as concrete, we were eager to turn up the Eagle and put down amazing numbers,” said Dominick. But what immediately followed was an amazing struggle. Round one found Ernst lining up against IHRA’s Darryl Cuttel and his Hypersports-built Kawasaki. Fortunately for Ernst, Cuttel redlit, as the Eagle-1 snapped a belt and sent raw fuel out the pipes and the laundry out the back. Next round looked pretty similar to the first. “After round one, Glenn Hall tore apart the secondary clutch, changed out rollers, and checked over the download while Ryan Bauer helped pack the chute and did all the other maintenance on the Eagle. “We finished getting the sled back together with only two minutes to spare. In round two we went up against R. Dustin. And yet again we were able to have luck on our side because Dustin also went red on the light and we yet again snapped a belt. “With all the issues we were having with the belt, talking over with Glenn we decided to tighten up the track, turn down the launch and turn it up on the big end.” And it worked. Against Lentzkow, Ernst had a reversal of fortune. Eagle-1 launched cleanly this time and it was the Tasmanian Devil’s turn to tank. “Boost hose came off,” reported Jonathon, who watched Eagle-1 pull away with a 1.10 sixty foot and a 3.43 at 161.29. Lentzkow was still stoked with his team’s run. The graphics on his sled show the famed Australian creature eating right through a Hypersports HRC-4 cylinder head and block—like what’s in the Eagle-1. That’s attitude! “Just goes to show a little Cat twin cylinder on gas (with turbo) can compete in Outlaw with the big dogs! Could not be prouder of Team Lentzkow Racing and Ingvall Motorsports “I’ve got to thank tuner Jon Ingvall, my dad John Lentzkow, my teammate in grass racing turning wrenches, Leigh Ireland, Scott Bieski and Clint Hoist. Special thanks got to go out to Hypersports, to Craig Campton and Glenn Hall, and also Chad and Jenny Nyhus for building a fantastic track. “Can’t wait for next year. The Tasmanian Devil will be faster yet.” Now it was time for a final round pairing between Ernst and St. Germain winner Tyson Enerson and his compressed air supercharged, Hypersports, gasoline-fueled two-cylinder sled. “We knew Tyson was going to be a handful, so we left the leave the same and turned it more on the big end. “When the light turned on, the Eagle-1 went a 1.04 sixty foot and was able to put down a very solid pass with a 3.37 at 161.59, pulled off the win, and got the Outlaw championship.” “We’re very happy with our weekend and our season overall,” said Enerson. “We jumped up to the Outlaw class knowing we had our work cut out for us on maybe a little bit of an underdog engine platform. As a team, though, we were able to put the power down with the help from our Compressed Air Supercharged system. We’re still refining the tuning of the system and throughout the weekend we continued to make it faster every pass. “We found ourselves against Eagle for the final again for a rematch. We put a little more power into it for the final pass, but getting it to the finishline without any hiccups is the number one priority. And in the end, Eagle had a little more in it and we took runner-up. “We are still extremely proud of what we have accomplished with this unique build, overcoming many challenges along the way yet having some pretty incredible success. Dave Pearce and myself want to thank everyone that has been involved, especially Blake Matney for the tuning help and the CAS team for making it possible. We’re looking forward to building more Compressed Air setups in the near future.” And of course, Ernst was also pleased. “Couldn’t be more happier with the weekend results,” said Dominick. “The Snow Outlaws crew gave us a concrete-like track all day in eliminations, and I couldn’t thank everyone with the crew enough. “Huge thank you to Chad and Jenny Nyhus for allowing me to pilot the Eagle-1, the BIGGEST THANK YOU to Glenn Hall and Ryan Bauer for all their help over the weekend and also at the St. Germain race! There was no lack of effort at all and it was nonstop thrashing! “Thank you to Craig Campton, Doug, Derek, Eric and anyone else I’m missing that works at Hypersports for building the most badass Outlaw snowmobile on the planet! “Thank you to my mom Shona and Brian for going to both of the Snow Outlaws events to support me on the Eagle! Thank you to my wife Ashley for allowing me to be a part of this journey with the Eagle-1 and being my number one supporter! Thank you to my dad Matt for your support, my grandparents, friends and family for cheering me on! “Thank you to all the media that was at the events—IHRA, Eatmyink by Tim Hailey, Super Sled Online by Chris Riley, TRVideoagraphy by Todd Reuter, TRC (That Racing Channel), and Troy Fisher Photography by Troy Fisher!” Pro Xtreme 55 St. Germain Pro Xtreme 55 winner Brian Sullivan’s Friday night testing started off as badly as Ernst’s raceday did. Actually, worse. While Ernst didn’t make it 60 feet in his first two eliminations rounds, Sullivan and his “John Deere” sled didn’t make it out of the trailer the first two qualifying rounds on Friday night. “We had some issues we caused in the calibration of the throttle position sensor,” said Sullivan. “That made the sled over-fuel. Took us a bit to figure out. “We got it figured out for third round and made a pass sled got a little high.” An understatement, as Sullivan rode a “Biker Boyz”-style wheelie the whole 500 feet. “So for Saturday, we made some chassis and suspension changes. The track was way harder and faster than Friday and I was very concerned about our round one draw. It was Ryan Santry and he was last year’s season champ. He drove around me last year, which has never happened with my sled. His sled puts up big mile per hour.” But now it was Santry’s turn to struggle, and a line-lock issue launched his yellow Yamaha prematurely while behind him, Sullivan sailed on as expected. “Made a really nice pass to be honest,” Santry said of his redlight run. He vowed to be ready next year. Next up for Sullivan was a rematch of the St. Germain final against Kyle Viney. And just like then, Sullivan won, then had a bye to the final. Races don’t get any better than the final between Sullivan and Josh Bormann. “Best race I’ve ever been part of!” said Josh. “It was an awesome race,” agreed Sullivan. “I got him by just a bit on the holeshot, but by the end he was right next to me. I didn’t know who won—it was only by about 2 inches. “Need to thank my crew of my brother Corey, Brandon Kinserdahl, Mike Kovacevich, and Norm Kowitz. Without them, I wouldn’t be racing. Thanks to Hypersports for building an amazing machine and the great support they provide, and Snow Outlaws for all the time and effort they put into the track and races. Without them we won’t have a place to run these machines.” Bormann’s Dragy showed that his machine ran a stout 3.60 at 148 mph on that 2 inch loss in the final. And his weekend, too, was one of mechanical uncertainty. “Friday we unloaded and the sled was fouling plugs,” said Bormann. “I found out from coolant. We drained all coolant and ran dry. We made three partial hit test passes. All seemed good and we were excited about Saturday. “First pass Saturday, the sled had no RPM and didn’t run great, but got the win (against Chris Young). Come to find out, the turbo fins were all broken. My teammate Jagger Ashley broke his driveline first round and we were supposed to line up second round against each other. I made a single bye run with the broken turbo while the team pulled Jagger’s turbo off to put on mine between round two and three. “We ran semifinals and it was better—still down 20 pounds of boost—but got the win (against David Thibault). Come to find out, the wastegate sensor and a wire on the O2 sensor took a shit. We fixed both those and put a tune-up in it and said ‘Let’s see what happens against Sullivan! “We both left the line almost same time. It was neck and neck the entire run. I looked over at the stripe and I couldn’t tell who won! I heard he got the win light, but I wanted to see the footage of how close it really was! Within a couple inches.” Pro Modified The struggle storyline stops at Pro Modified—at least for winner Nate Bay. Runner-up Dan Bickel’s sled has been a bit more complicated, so we’ll start with him. “This snowmobile has been a struggle since Three Lakes in 2025,” said Bickel. “Ron Umland had gone and done some testing the week before St. Germain and found a bad injector, and looking things over found a secondary clutch issue also. We sat out and aimed to have things ready for Three Lakes. We all showed up Friday to do the same thing every Snow Outlaws entry does and that’s to win. “First round of testing, we had been just trying to find the tune-up and looking at data. Second round seemed to be better and it left with the best—the ProLine sled owned and driven by Frank Wittlief. We may have something after that pass. “We made no boost in first or second round of testing, so we were looking to find boost. We serviced the sled, topped everything off and went up for third round and they paired us up with St. Germain winner Jagger Ashley and I left the line and knew we had work to do, and got a face full of coolant. Soaked head to toe! “So Friday night, we searched for the boost leak and cleaned everything up from the coolant. We suspected coolant was just overfull, and no boost was made that round again and down on power! After looking things over, we thought we may have figured things out. “Saturday, first round against Jimmy Trumbull, left the line. All conditions being perfect and the sled—feeling the best—the run had been the best yet. We still had an issue after the coolant issue soaked me again, but came to realize we would be going to the semifinal as Trumbull left early on the light. We would deal with coolant issue after we are done and finish in the winners circle. Pro Mods sat the second round out and jumped straight to the semis. “Third round, we faced Dante Gratti and all I wanted was a good clean pass and both to leave on the light of starter Sam Shackleton. But Gratti left early, so that took us to the final round to face Nate Bay. We had him on the tree and a close race at the end, however fell short to him.” Bay was understandably stoked by the win. “It’s always has been a lifelong dream of mine to race at Snow Outlaws. This year was my first time I finally was able to make it out, and just to race it I was on cloud 9, with all top racers and such a professional setup. But then to win it was just something I could never imagine. “Jesse Bruns and I teamed up a few years ago and it’s been great. We built this Hypersport stock chassis sled and last year it won this same race with Jesse on it, and we made the finals in every race we ran except for one. “I can’t thank Jesse enough for everything he does between wrenching on it, tuning it and driving it all over country. Craig and his team at Hypersports has been amazing. Between the powerplant, suspension and Snow Sharks, the sled is a rocket. “Then Troy Meier—we can’t thank him enough for his dyno. Jesse has spent weeks dynoing and fine tuning. Troy Knutson for all of his amazing fab work on the sled. Badjaxon Logistics, Ultimate Undercoat and Accessories, City Hill Construction are all huge contributors. Ryan Stell and my dad Eric have been behind me and my biggest supporters my whole race career. “We have the sled for sale. It’s a back to back winner at Snow Outlaws Three Lakes and a proven winner everywhere else. We have some plans for next year on the dirt and snow, so we will see what happens. Thank you to everyone that supports me and the sport.” And now back to Bickel. “Coming into Three Lakes, it was a special moment for me to have my brother Andy Bickel at a race of this caliber in the ten years of my Snow Outlaws career. It was also a special moment for me to have my mentor/coach and crew chief for my grass racing career of 25 years in September—Jamie Waack—there on Saturday for every round. Ron Umland of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin—the owner and the guy behind spinning wrenches on this—that makes it all possible. Clint Holst for finding the line, and Corey Klemens, and Bad Chad Johnson had a huge part in the team success this weekend. “The engine will be looked at, as we believe it’s burning coolant and building pressure in the coolant system. We plan to make a few changes and be back for Snow Outlaws in 2027. Thanks to Snow Outlaws, IHRA, Eatmyink, Troy Fisher Photography, Studio 77, Casey Hauck Performance, STM, Hannen Performance, Pro Stock Inc., Hellevation Elevated Traction, Tracks USA, Knutson Fabrication Inc., Scott Taylor Engineering, Pingel, Novotny Machine Works, and Arctic Cat.” Shutdown Area Another Snow Outlaws season has come and gone too soon, and it was a big one. The addition of the IHRA live webcast allowed the whole world to see the incredible professionalism of the series and racers in the most challenging conditions. Now it’s the offseason, and this sport has a long one. A long one to build, rebuild, and prepare for what everyone hopes will be a full race season in 2027. Chad and Jenny Nyhus and the whole Snow Outlaws crew show constantly how they’re able to turn a “Terrible!” situation into a major success in the most fluid of conditions. Snow Outlaws racers are built the same way. Now for everyone a happy, productive, and struggle-free off-season. So until it snows again… Visit the Snow Outlaws Facebook page Snow Outlaws thanks STM Powersports , Hypersports , Transport Refrigeration , Badger State Electric, H&H Performance , Red Cup Racing , Days Powersports , Musselman Home Improvements , Tracks USA , Sullivan Custom Farming , Bormann Performance , G-Force Racing , Timber Inn , Snap-On Tools/Aaron Wold , Troy Fisher Photography , Knutson Fabrication Inc. , Kyle Cook Racing , Rice Lake Tourism , Kostman Racing , ISH Racing , Hogan Racing , Chris Connelly Racing , Ratzlaff Motorsports , Brunn Construction Company , Xtreme Sound, Stampkrete , Casey Hauck Performance , Troy Larson , CabComfortDirect , Three Lakes-Brule River Trails , IHRA , Moustakas Racing / J&J Racing , Vande Yacht Pumping , Barnes Trucking and Detailing , Ingvall Construction , St. Germain Chamber of Commerce , and Lewis Performance . This report was prepared by Tim Hailey. Enjoy everything there is to read, see and watch about powersports drag racing and more at https://www.eatmyink.com; For hi-res photos, email timhailey@eatmyink.com The post Struggle to Success at Snow Outlaws Three Lakes Finals appeared first on Bikernet.com - Online Biker Magazine.