Ever wonder what Glenn Kafka, owner of Kafka Granite, does in his free time? ….He fuels his need for speed! Glenn also serves as co-owner and crew chief to professional snowmobile team, Team LaVallee. This past week, Kafka and the rest of Team LaVallee packed up the rig and headed to Aspen, CO for yet another year of competition at the 2014 Winter X Games.
With a record 5 athletes, the team competed in all three of the snowmobile events at Winter X: Snowmobile Freestyle, Snowmobile Long Jump, and Snowmobile Snocross. The weekend started off with freestyle rider Jack Rowe receiving a notable 4th place finish.
On Saturday, Levi LaVallee, Glenn’s team counterpart, flew 147 feet into a first place finish in Snowmobile Long Jump, achieving his 7th X Games gold medal. Glenn and Levi have what it takes to “go the distance” as both worked together to achieve Levi’s world record distance jump, flying over 412 feet on New Years Eve 2011 for Red Bull New Year, No Limits on ESPN.
The action packed weekend wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with Snowmobile Snocross, where Team LaVallee racers Levi LaVallee, Kyle Pallin, Jake Scott, and Andy Leiders all competed. Unfortunately Scotts competition ended early after a bad crash that caused shortness of breath. LaVallee and Leiders ran strong, although both experienced unfortunate offs in the last lap of qualifying. However, Pallin was able to make it through qualifying to represent Team LaVallee in the final, where he snagged a good start but went off track in the first corner. After a quick recovery, Pallin was able to fight his way to an impressive 5th place finish!
Congratulations to all of Team LaVallee on yet another successful Winter X Games, and best of luck throughout the remainder of the regular season. Keep up with the team by following them on Facebook and Twitter, or see Glenn and the team in action at a race near you!