Nightriders Snowmobile Club adds to annual event

The Montana Nightriders Snowmobile Club is well known for the $1,000 Super Poker Ride the last weekend in January. Up to 400 sledders have partaken in this signature event held in Haugan for the last 36 years. 

This year, the club has added another family event titled 2025 Winterfest. Two full days of vintage snowmobile fun are planned, which includes a classic snowmobile show, a timed agility course and a vintage ride. 

It unofficially fires-up on Friday evening, Jan. 17 at the $50,000 Bar with a meet and greet. On Saturday, Jan. 18, the Vintage Snowmobile Show and Sno-Moxie bust out at 11 a.m. sharp, with registration beginning at 9:30 a.m. For the show, registration will be $5 per sled or a person can load up a trailer for a total of $20. There will be five trophy classes including Best Vintage Snowmobile Outfit, Best of Show and a Sponsors Choice. Later in the day, spectators can expect a Vintage Snowmobile Fashion Show.

For the Sno-Moxie, there are classes for men, women and youth ages 12 to 16. Registration is $20 per class which includes Vintage Single Cylinder. Vintage Open (Machine must be 20 years old, or older, with no independent front suspension). Classic Open (2023 and older with IFS), and then Current Models (2000 and newer) with the payoff being cash prizes. It’s not a race, and not a snow-cross with jumps, but a timed event. 

All kids events are free of charge, and several have been organized. Registration is the day of the event just west of the Exxon gas station in the parking lot of the $50,000 Bar and then into the snow-cross field. Everything will be well marked.

On Sunday, Jan. 19, a vintage snowmobile ride leaves Haugan at 10 a.m. to the Montana Bar in Saltese for lunch, at the rider’s own expense, and then back to Haugen along the St. Regis River. 

“That’s about 16 miles round trip and could be a brutal day,” said Brooke Lincoln, owner of the $50,000 Bar. “That distance on an old machine is physically tiring as the suspension and angle of the driver were not taken into serious consideration back then. Riders will be sore but should have a ball. And we’ll have club members (MNSC) on the trail expecting a few breakdowns to help get the sleds running again or towed.”

The following weekend is the $1,000 Super Poker Ride where every imaginable type, brand and model of snowmobile will gather for the weekend. There will be different machines for mountain trail riding, flatland trails, even ranch work. 

Brogan Keenen is the manager of the $50,000 Bar but sounds like she is a Polaris representative as she strolls through the family toy shed explaining the different types of snow machines. 

“This one is an 850cc (cubic centimeters). It can basically get you up and out of anything. That 600 back there,” as she points over a room of handlebars, “has a custom cam and custom pipe. When they first came out with that body style, it was the sled. They then came out with the Dragon 700s and 800s but the engines had multiple engine failures at first.” 

Some of her inventories are fuel injected, and all machines are water-cooled. 

“Most have reverse in them, but you don’t really use reverse in a snowmobile as you should be able to ‘braaap’ right out of it,” she said with a smile.  

Braaap in snowmobile lingo means to throttle out of being stuck. 

Keenen stood next to a green metal-flake machine and said, “This one you can go off the trail and you’re going to be fine but you’re not going to be able to go climb a hill that’s 500 yards unless you have experience on it to get it done safely. This model is like what my mom and my dad had when they started climbing. Nowadays, this is the crazy sled to our generation,” as she walks to her personal favorite that is obviously longer and narrower with a small seat for the pilot and a bare aluminum platform that looks like it could hold two or three people. 

But that’s not what it’s built for. Vertical speed and quick turnarounds without getting stuck appears to be its primary function. That’s not the snowmobile she’ll be using for the Poker Ride as her two children, Daxton and Brexley, will enjoy the weekend festivities with their mom as the event is family friendly with games, raffles and snow-fun activities for all ages.

The Super Poker Ride starts with the bonfire and pre-registration from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24. On Saturday, registration continues, and the first card draw is from 9 to 11 a.m. With no exceptions, the last card-draw will be held at 5 p.m. 

Visit montananightriders.com for information on either event, or call Brooke Lincoln at 406-678-4242.

    Daxton Keenen, 6, son of Brogan Keenen sits on his 1986 Polaris snowmobile that will be entered in the Vintage Snowmobile Show Saturday, January 18 in Haugan, Montana. 2025 Winterfest is a new family event this year from the Montana Nightriders Snowmobile Club. (photo by Brogan Keenen)
  

    Brogan Keenen, manager of the $50,000 Bar in Haugan, explains the different types of snowmobiles for the different needs of people from their family toy-shed. The upcoming Winterfest 2025 and $1,000 Super Poker Ride this month will be headquartered at the $50,000 Bar.