MOLAS LAKE – More than 60 racers lapped courses on snowmobiles Saturday as hundreds watched the 2014 Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Racing series, hosted by the Silverton Snowmobile Club at Molas Lake.

Waiting for the snocross competition to start, where racers face huge jumps, tall berms and awkward turns, 25-year-old Ben Leben, of Montrose, said he loves the thrill of competition.

“It’s exciting,” said Leben, who has been nearly a lifelong snowmobile rider. “It’s just fun, being out here in such great weather, just riding snowmobiles.”

The weather cooperated: There was not a cloud in the sky over the 5 feet of snow on the course.

Snowmobile club president Jim Lokey said the series is well-received throughout the state.

“We love it,” Lokey said. “We’ve got kids, and it’s what we choose to do. It’s our sport.”

He said he and his family jeep the surrounding mountains during summer months, and snowmobiling is the winter equivalent. He said Molas was a circuit favorite for many because of its jaw-dropping beauty with bottomless snow.

“It’s hard to beat Molas,” he said.

Molas Lake, a park owned by the town of Silverton, is several hundred acres, so there is room for such an event.

Event sponsor Brain Lundstedt of Tyler’s Avalanche Awareness, called the racing community a “tight-knit family.”

Lundstedt, whose brother Tyler died in an avalanche near Steamboat Springs in 2012, raises money to offer free safety training to the snowmobile community. His work takes him across the country, and Saturday he made a stop in Silverton.

“Everybody is just looking out for one another,” he said.

Jay and Lisa Wagner, of Craig, also called it a family. Their son, Tallyn, 9, was racing a miniature-size machine in the vintage oval as they watched him from a hillside. The tiny engines howled from below.

“We all know each other,” Lisa Wagner said.

“We all recreate together,” her husband added. “We eat dinner together. It’s just one big family.”

The Wagners said despite being ill, Tallyn insisted on racing.

“He didn’t want to miss it,” Lisa Wagner said.

Tallyn first sat on a snowmobile when he was 1½ years old.

“I just put him on and buckled his helmet,” Lisa Wagner said.

Dean Despalmes works with the Silverton Snowmobile Club as its safety officer. He said there are all types of snowmobilers.

“A lot of people want to go fast,” he said. “A lot of people want to go to the backcountry and have a blast in the wintertime.”

Wesley Chapman, 20, of Craig said he just likes to ride.

“The fact that we’re all one big family,” he said. “We’ll race and then ride out into the mountains – just have fun.”

bmathis@durangoherald.com