Jarrett King Gives DMX The Scoop On The Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Association

Let me pull a “Steve Matthes” and call this one right now: Ice racing is making a comeback. I dare you to ask around at your local MX race to see how many of the 35 & over riders can tell you a story about ice racing. Its might be that there was no SPEED VISION in the 70’s and 80’s, but its probably a better bet that guys just got too damned bored of sitting around in the winter and decided to see how well the old motorcycle would work on the lake. Just remember kids, your dad couldn’t buy a 1000cc snowmobile with 140hp that weighed 450lbs back when he was a kid. As a matter of fact, even if he could, he’ll tell you there was no way that he could have afforded it anyways….

When its -27C with the windchill, the riders meeting becomes more of a group huddle. Fur hats and neck warmers are “de rigeur” in ice racing.

So back to my point: if you own a dirt bike and you can run a drill, you can probably learn to ice race. Back in the heyday of the original Numb Bum 24 hour race, riders would enter just about anything with an engine just to see if they could finish the race. It was more about survival and innovation than it was about going really fast. Things have changed since then and the racing has become a lot more competitive but here are some of the reasons why this little slice of dirt bike racing’s popularity is on the upswing (and why the number of clubs joining the series is climbing every season):

As much as I can’t stand the snow these guys produce on the track, there is something awesome about the way a quad looks when it’s studded up for ice racing.

1.      The six hour format allows for team races and solo riders to compete on bikes and ATVs at the same time (and since it is an endurance race, collisions are rare and the risk is low).

2.      If you have a frozen lake/pond/canal, you have a potential venue or practice track.

3.      Virtually any off road motorcycle can become a competitive racing machine (or at least a super fun weekend warrior) since preparation and proper setup is far more important to winning than an ultra fast bike.

Pro Open starts first on the Lemans style start.

4.      Nobody likes to wake up every morning for 5 months and see their bike out in the garage without starting it.

5.      You get to give your bike/team a funny and or cool name and nobody is going to laugh at you. As a matter of practice, it’s almost mandatory for endurance racers to come up with an interesting team name.

6.      Unlike snowmobiling, a weekend of practice riding at the lake is probably only going to cost you a tank of fuel in the bike and a case of beer (after the race of course).

Half the challenge of ice racing is developing a race setup that your wife will appreciate. These guys all had happy wives.

7.      Endurance racing does not discriminate by age, some of the fastest riders on the circuit are well into the Vet classes in MX, but you wouldn’t know that when they pass you at 80mph.

8.      If you want to be competitive, a quick call to one of the major tire builders is all that you will need for a competitive race setup.

9.      Did I mention that the risk of injury is fairly low?? Compared to racing motocross, ice racing is pretty easy on the body. Just don’t forget to set your bike up with a proper tether switch!

A full pit row makes everyone smile.

10.There isn’t a dirt bike rider on the planet that would say going 130km/h and then leaning into a turn in fourth gear isn’t cool.

So if I’ve grabbed your attention enough to read to this point, you probably want to know what happened at the race right? Well here is the rundown:

Your humble author watches on as a blown head seal (due to a frozen vent line) washes away hopes of a top 5 finish.

Vicious Cycle hosted the 2^nd Annual Vicious 6 hr race at Sandy Beach just north of Edmonton Alberta. It was round 1/6 in the Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Series (www.aeira.com). The weather for the race should have been great with the temps floating between -10 to -15, but the howling winds and intermittent snowfall throughout the day promised to make visibility and track conditions very challenging. The track was fairly short by endurance standards (some estimates put it in the 5km range) but the main feature was an extremely tight layout that definitely favored the smaller bikes and the 250 two strokes in particular.

The Pro Open class is definitely the one to watch and virtually all the heavy hitters showed up to do battle. Cornergrass was on hand with their new Husaberg, the legendary JT Racing team on their KTMs and last years second overall Team Ice Pirates were among a strong field of Pro teams.

It is worth noting that the pits were plenty full for the start of the season, with several new faces showing up to try their luck, recession be damned. It will be interesting to see where the total team count ends up at the end of the season but based on conversations with some of the other teams, rider count is definitely on the way up.

The AEIRA runs a tight ship. Full electronic scoring and safety minded officials makes for a well run series.

When the horn sounded on the Lemans style start, there wasn’t too much drama to report. Team Cornergrass got a solid holeshot and by the end of the first lap had a 15 second lead on the following two teams. They led wire to wire while teams were all over the place behind them trading positions and jockeying through pit stops. CGRT #1 ended the race well ahead of the rest of the field and made it known that if anyone is going to knock them off the top of the podium this season it’s going to take a ton of luck and some serious preparation.

Telford Lake in Leduc will be hosting round #2 of the AEIRA season. After that, it’s on to the big show on February 13^th and 14^th, the NUMB BUM 24 hour. Since this race already holds the Guinness Record for longest motorcycle ice race, can we rename the event the ENDURANCE ICE RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP?

Check the official results on www.mylaps.com in the motocross section under Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Association

Thanks to DMX for getting the word out about this great sport and to our team sponsors for helping get us out to the races:

• Northgate Honda & Leisure Products (Grande Prairie)

• Redline Powercraft (Grande Prairie)

• The Razors Edge Ice Racing Products