Given that mild weather has wiped out numerous December races in years past, competitors in the Rock Maple Racing Series that will be coming to Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford this weekend are thankful that there is no shortage of snow in 2007.

Still, the Rock Maple racers don’t want too much of a good thing.

Black Mountain hosts its first RMR event, and New England’s only Winter X Games qualifier, this Saturday and Sunday. Spectator gates open at 8 a.m. both days, with racing scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Organizers and racers are keeping a close eye on a snowstorm forecast to pound the area on Sunday,

“Hopefully, it holds off long enough so we can get both of our finals in,” said Ryan Scripture of Carmel, regarded as the state’s top pro racer in the RMR series.

Scripture is especially eager to race again in his home state. He was forced to skip RMR’s annual stop in Skowhegan last season due to torn ligaments in his ankle. This year, he’s joined a new team, Auburn-based Wallingford Racing, and is competing with a brand new sled, from Arctic Cat.

Wallingford Racing, a division of Wallingford Equipment, recruited Scripture for his experience as it expanded its team and signed with Arctic Cat to become a factory team as the sled manufacturer tries to increase its presence in RMR, which has been dominated by Ski-doo.

“We were looking for a veteran pro rider, and Ryan, being from Maine, was pretty close by,” owner Mark Wallingford said. “I’ve got a couple of young guys, and I needed a veteran guy to take the bull by the horns and help us. He knows his way around as far as sled preparation and things like that and could help us with a new product. Ryan is just a super nice guy who helps the team out and helps the other guys out.”

Scripture’s Cat is a new sled from the ground up, so not only has he had to shake off the rust from missing much of last season due to his injury, but he’s had to get used to a new ride.

The results have been mixed so far. Scripture finished 10th in Pro Stock 600 and in Pro Open in the season-opener at Whaleback Mountain in Enfield, NH, then won his first heat race at Windham Mountain in Windham, NY before racing to seventh and 13th-place finishes in the Stock and Open classes.

“I think it’s a real fast sled,” Scripture said. “Once we get the suspension and stuff dialed in, I think it’s going to be awesome.”

“We’re closer than we were. We’re getting them dialed in,” he added.

Wallingford said the transition hasn’t been as big as the team thought it would be, but he expects it to go even smoother once they get into the meat of their season next month.

“There have been a lot of growing pains simply because it’s a new chassis, and it’s new to Cat as well as new to us. So it’s taken us a little while to work out the bugs,” Wallingford said. “But at least being a factory team like we are, we’ve been able to talk directly with Cat. It’s been a little bit of a struggle, but we’re getting better all the time and hopefully this weekend, we’ll go to the front.”

Scripture is confident that his new team will help him get there.

“There’s a tremendous amount of support from those guys,” said Scripture, who raced for Team Bouchard of Derry, N.H. last year. “Scotty (Castonguay) is an awesome motor guy and Mark, he can clutch `em. You couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Scripture and Danny Poirier lead an impressive Pro roster heading to Rumford, but there will also be hundreds of racers from the Semi-Pro, Sport, Women and Junior ranks competing. This weekend’s event is Round 2 of the 10-race 2007-08 RMR Central schedule.

Admission is $12 per day for adults, with weekend passes available for $20. Pit passes are available for an additional $10. Children age 10 and under are admitted for free with a paying adult.