This past Saturday, Northern Wisconsin Ice Racing (NWIRC) cleaned off a nice oval track on Lake Como in Bloomer, WI. Bloomer is 90 miles east of Minneapolis. They mostly race quads, but started racing motorcycles last year. They have two motorcycle classes -- a 250/450 and a 125/250. Each rider pays $10 to race and the winner gets 80% back.
Seven riders showed up to race with six in the first class and one in the second. Amazingly, they were all on different makes of bike: Cannondale, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, KTM, Honda, and Bridgestone.
This is Trent. We’ve never met before today. He said he’s heard of me on the radio, and he’s seen my website. Apparently, one of the local radio shows has a segment called “Ray of Hope” where listeners say what positive thing inspired them.
According to Trent, my winter Ural riding has made the show a couple of times. I’m honored and shocked. I do enjoy the smiles I get riding around. I’m happy I can brighten someone’s day by just riding to work. Cool!
The racing was delayed because practice went long, and it was snowing quite heavily. The plow needed extra time to clean the track off. Ice racing is best on smooth, flat, clean ice.
While the plow was working, these kids found a way to keep busy:
The riders assembled for their meeting to remind everyone of the rules. They ran two races of five laps each.
First it was the quads:
and then the bikes:
Kevin Hahn #43 from Scrambler Cycle ended up racing alone again in the 125/250 class with his 1964 Bridgestone 175cc 2-stroke.
Trent M #8 on his Kawasaki 450cc won the first race, but lost the second race to his friend Mike T on the #40 KTM. Trent below:
A number of spectators showed up to watch:
There were some spectacular moments in the race as a number of riders crashed into the snow banks or spun around. This ATV rode up onto the back wheel of another ATV and rolled over. Video here.
All the fuel required for an ice race -- Gatorade for in between races, gas for the bike, and beer for afterwards.
It was a fun day of racing! It was much more low-key and smaller than the stud club in Minnesota. Everyone I met was extremely friendly. Most of the riders go to a local bar after the event. I was unable to attend as we had tickets for a concert back in Minneapolis.
After the racing, the track is open for riding. More on that in my next post!
HD Video: 250/450 Race #1 (1080p)
HD Video: 250/450 Race #2 (1080p)
Chris the radio star - I like it!
ReplyDeleteThat ice racing looks like a lot of fun, plus they go a lot faster than I would have thought. When will you get to have a go at racing?
Gary: It is a lot of fun! Maybe my next post will help answer that ;)
ReplyDeleteChris, was wondering if you took the rig out on the ice...or was it one of your other motorcycles?
ReplyDeletedom
Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner
Redleg's Rides
Dom: Kevin and I talked about racing our sidecars on the ice. His Dnepr vs my Ural. He'd rather I race my WR250R vs his '64 bridgestone. LOL. I didn't ride any of my bikes on the ice, but I did ride on the ice... post later today.
ReplyDeleteC'mon Chris. What's the hold up? Get that post up!
ReplyDeleteIf ANYBODY local has some interest in racing let me know! We need more racers!
Kevin: LOL. needed to finish the last video. I couldn't post it without the bridgestone! Post is now up :-P
ReplyDeletePS: think about coming across the border. the MN clubs have more competition. They also have many more bikes than NWIRC.
http://mniceracing.com/races.htm