Blaze finally gets WX invite, so the countdown to ?? begins...
January 6, 2009, 3:40 PM
By: Tim Mutrie
jimmyblaze.com
Jimmy Blaze signals that he has acquired his target. What that target is, well, that's still not clear.
Jimmy Blaze was expecting a big lump of coal in his Christmas stocking. An X Games invite was what he wanted—what Mr. Blaze felt he frickin' deserved, to paraphrase mildly—but Blaze had all but given up hope. "#@%$ those $%@# $&*@# $%&*@s!!!"
So today we can only assume Mr. Blaze is feeling at least a bit of redemption. See Blaze, in the latest round of WX invites, has been added to the Snowmobile Best Trick competition. That said, we must add that that brand new event—Best Trick—has been renamed by X Games brass last-minute style. It is now called "Snowmobile Next Trick." Either way, Blaze will be in Aspen when snowmobiling's brethren unite to terrorize the good folk of this sleepy mountain hamlet. (Not terrorize as in the bomb scare sort of way, but rather in the usual frumple the pantaloons of the sledneck-fearing-poodle-walking-snowshoers-because-they're-modern-day-pirates-aren't-they? sort of way.)
And so it goes. Cory Davis also drew an invitation back to WX for Speed & Style, and Sam Rogers (though he was already in for Freestyle) was also added to Speed & Style to fill the field at eight. Joe Parsons (already in for Freestyle and Speed & Style) was tapped to fill out three-man "Next Trick" field with the Alaskan wildman, Blaze and Dane Ferguson. Ferguson, meanwhile, has sequestered himself in Southern California at a certain Metal Mulisha compound in Temecula Wine Country. Sources tell Sled Man Talking he is working on something big, something that rhymes with "bubble sack nip." More on that later...
Once again, we give you the latest list of WX sledders as we know 'em:
• Freestyle: Levi LaVallee, Joe Parsons, Heath Frisby, Daniel Bodin, Chris Burandt, Sam Rogers, Aleksander Nordgaard, Justin Hoyer, Paul Thacker and Jeff Mullin. Alternates: Dane Ferguson and one more TBA.
• Speed & Style: Levi LaVallee, Joe Parsons, Chris Burandt, Heath Frisby, Steve Martin, Paul Thacker, Cory Davis and Sam Rogers. Alternates: Willie Elam, Brett Turcotte.
• Next Trick: Dane Ferguson, Joe Parsons and Jimmy "Blaze" Fejes. Alternate: Heath Frisby.
• SnoCross: Tucker Hibbert, Robbie Malinowski, Levi LaVallee, Steve Taylor, TJ Gulla, Ross Martin, Ryan Simons, DJ Eckstrom, Shawn Crapo, Matt Morin, Brett Turcotte, Dave Allard, Carl Schubitzke, Zach Pattyn, Matt Piche, Matt Judnick, Ian Hayden, Garth Kaufman, Dan Ebert, Brett Bender, Andrew Johnstad, Willie Elam, Katejun Coonishish and Bobby Lepage. Alternates: Cory Davis, Chris Kafka and two more TBA.
Meantime, dig this clip: Sebastian Landry, of Turnagain Hardcore films, revisited his X Games footy from '07. You'll recall that was the year freestyle snowmobiling made it to WX in the first place (apart from exhibition events).
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Contributors
Tim Mutrie
As a retired ski patroller and Aspen Times staffer, Tim Mutrie has been deciphering two-stroke transmissions since '07. He also covers big mountain skiing in the ESPN Freeskiing Blog.
Vince Castellanos
Vince has been covering action sports for ESPN since 1998 (that makes him, like, old and stuff). He is not the funniest man in the industry, but he has interviewed Mike Mason. Look for Vince's FMX coverage to be ramping up.
