March is going to be an exciting month for both the Peace Motocross Association and the Grande Prairie Motocross Association. Two highly anticipated events will be taking the Peace Country by storm and no motocross enthusiast can afford to miss either of them.
The first event, taking place on March 1, is the Studs on Ice six-hour motorcycle endurance race. Held on Clairmont Lake, this gruelling race is Round 6 in the Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Association’s Endurance Ice Racing Series.
“It’s the first for us in Grande Prairie for quite a while,” said Jarrett King, director of the Grande Prairie Motocross Association. “We’re going to have a big, huge road course out at the lake; expect to see a whole bunch of studded motorcycles burning around. We’ll have concession stands and they’ll be offering rides in the plow truck for anyone interested in actually doing a round on the track. It’s going to be running in conjunction with…the Murray Sutherland Pond Hockey Tournament that weekend, so there will be skating facilities and a hockey rink as well.”
The local club members have been racing on ice for a few years, but it was recently suggested that they hold a public event in the area, and Studs on Ice was the result.
“The county has been extremely accommodating,” said King. “It is something that is going to be really good for Clairmont. At the end of the day, it is going to bring a lot of money and exposure to the area.”
There is a certain appeal to endurance ice racing that is not found in many other motorsports. Aside from requiring extreme physical stamina, the racers need to have a level of thrill-seeking and a passion for the sport.
“The outdoor ice racing is a type of motorcycle racing with a very specific thrill; it’s almost more akin to motorcycle street bike racing,” said King. “Bikes weren’t designed or intended to race on ice, so with the amount of traction that we get, a lot of the pros can go through a corner with their handlebars and pegs dragging on the ground. The real attraction is the strategy that comes into play. You’ve got teams of three to four riders in a six-hour event, so nearing the end of the event the top three or four guys are still on the same lap—and what it comes down to is gas mileage, mechanical issues (or) sometimes a guy will crash late in the race because he’s tired. It all comes down to a really well-laid-out strategy similar to something like Nascar, where if you come in the pit at a certain point in time and something happens, it can completely change the scope of the race. There is a little bit of luck involved and that’s part of the attraction.”
Indoor entertainment
The second event taking place is the indoor X-treme ice racing on March 13 and 14 at Rock Valley Raceway in Grande Prairie. This event is less competitive than the outdoor endurance ice racing, but it promises the audience an entertaining and memorable show.
“As far as the indoor race goes, that event is promoted by a company out of the States, and they’re running the alcohol-powered speedway bikes—the oval style,” said King. “We threw the idea at them of bringing in a pit bike class. Amateurs in the quad class can enter. This is a different series than what we had the last couple of years…and obviously, when they caught wind of the fact that we’d done it before, they were more than willing to provide a place for us to go out and put on a show. For the four-wheelers, they offer amateurs the opportunity to run with the pros…They were telling me last week that one of their amateurs…in the States…actually took home the main event. He had sand tires on his front end—real tall, narrow ones—and they (told him) ‘those won’t work,’ (but) he ended up just smoking everybody.”
The main focus of X-treme ice racing is going to be high-energy fun. While it will not be quite as serious as the endurance racing, it will still capture the free spirit of motocross and can be enjoyed by the entire family.
“(With) the pit bikes, it’s strictly to have a good time with your buddies,” said King. “We make a sport of running each other over; elaborate takeout moves are encouraged and it’s the only form of motorsport where that type of thing goes down, other than a demo derby. The last two years in Grande Prairie, I wouldn’t be surprised if people told you that we were the stars of the show, just because it was so entertaining. We don’t actually encourage blatant takeout moves—but at the end of the day on a mini-bike with 10 horsepower and that little of traction on the ice, you have a good time.”
The Grande Prairie Motocross Association is the local club involved, and the Peace Motocross Association (PMA) is responsible for sanctioning races throughout the Peace Country. The PMA is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is proud of its longstanding reputation within the motorsports community of having safe racing and dedicated members.
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