by Raymond Wintonyk
LAC LA BICHE, March 9, 2014 — Too cold for Ice Racing? It was. On the scheduled dates of March 1 & 2 for the Western Canadian Ice Racing Championships, and the Winter Festival of Speed in Lac La Biche, the mercury plummeted down to nearly the -40°C mark. The organizers scrambled to push all of the pieces of that event back by a week (no mean task), and largely succeeded.
The weather, March 8 & 9, was much better: culminating in glorious warm sunshine on Sunday. Apart from a furious driving rainstorm which blew in and out again in 20 minutes on Sunday, it was great weather for racing.
But it’s been a difficult time for Ice Racing in Alberta this winter. The season was first called off completely due to very poor ice, but after a lengthy spate of bitterly cold weather, it was revived late in the season, and a couple of race weekends were staged at Roy’s Lake west of Edmonton. With such an uncertain outlook though, many drivers had made other plans, or hadn’t prepped a car. The car count was down dramatically, especially in the studded classes.
The numbers were low, but the competition was fierce. In the Chevettes, Les Koochin was very nearly toppled from his throne, failing to win a race until the final two sessions on Sunday. He was edged out in the first race on Saturday by Landon Goudreau, and in the second by Matt Beaubien. Aran Cooke managed a podium in that first race, finishing in third, with E. Chaput claiming fourth in both of them. Landon Goudreau wound up in the third spot in the second session on Saturday.
On Sunday, Landon continued his challenge. Leading from the start of the third session, he held off Matt Beaubien until Les Koochin got around Matt’s 18 car and started to work on Landon’s #8.He kept at it for a number of laps, but hit turn 2 too hard and spun the car. Even so, he managed to work back up through the order, and was back behind Landon by the end of the race. Al Winkelmeier finished that session in third, with E. Chaput in the fourth spot.
Mr. Koochin saved his bacon in the last two races, finishing both in the top position; having started the first of those two from the back of the field. Landon Goudreau was hard on his heels, ending up with a second place finish in both of them. In the first of the two, Matt Beaubien hit the snowbank in Turn #1, and finished up in seventh, letting by E. Chaput who ended third with Al Winkelmeier in fourth. Matt regained his composure to finish third once more in the last Chevette race, followed by Al Winkelmeier and E. Chaput.
With the low car count, there were only four studded cars on the track. Three Neons, and the fast #31 VW of Ken Berg. Hiroki Currie in the #66 car retired from the event after finishing second in the first session. It should have been a parade. But the #31 was challenged from the beginning. After dueling with Peter Siefert in the #03, Ken Staples started harrying Ken Berg’s car with his #19 Neon. And after Ken Berg jumped the snowbank in the second session, Ken Staples finished up front, followed by M. Thorn in the #7 Neon. That was Mr. Thorn’s best finish. For the rest of the race weekend, his car ran only intermittently, finishing very few sessions without needing a tow back to the pits.
Ken Staples and Peter Siefert were in a grand duel in the fourth race, with Ken gradually reeling Peter in and pulling off a spectacular pass on the front straight. They both left the #31 car back in the snow. Ken Berg managed to hold off the upstart Neons for the rest of the weekend, but not without some serious racing. In the final results, Ken Berg finished on top, followed by Ken Staples, Peter Siefert, M. Thorn, and Hiroki Currie in his ill fated #66 car.
But perhaps the greatest battle of the weekend was that between the three top rubber tired cars: The #25 VW Rabbit of Danny Bracken, the #59 Ford Fiesta of Jed Harrison, and the #42 Ford Fiesta of Chris Saunders. Danny had been dominant so far this year, but he was struggling all weekend long with a transmission that just refused to shift properly. Danny Bracken competes with just one arm, and is one of the few drivers to use an automatic transmission. His mechanic, Mark Schwabenbaur, fought to make that transmission work, but only got it “better” by the last two sessions. Danny finished in 2nd position in all the races of the weekend, one spot down from where he’s been accustomed to finish. He was not particularly pleased.
His nemesis, Chris Saunders in the #42 car, came to the racetrack loaded for bear. He tracked down and devoured Danny’s #25 Rabbit in the first session, and never looked back. It wasn’t without some close, side by side racing, and some classic overtaking moves, but Chris finished up the weekend 8 points ahead of the unseated Danny Bracken.
Jed Harrison, president of the NASCC, hadn’t raced so far this season, devoting his energies to organizing the events. But he brought his #59 Ford to Lac La Biche, where “other people” were operating the racetrack. He was consistently quick, sparring for the first few sessions with the remarkably fast #83 Chevette of Les Koochin, but towards the end of the weekend, he got quicker yet. In the final race on Sunday, he patiently worked his way around both the #25 and the #42, gathered himself up and disappeared out in front, leaving everyone else in his distant past. According to Jed, he was just, late in the weekend, getting back into the groove. Having not raced all year, it took a while. And besides, after the rain before the session, he came out prepared for “nothing” by way of traction on the racetrack. He tiptoed around all the corners on that “nothing” while his rivals tried to find spots of traction on which to blast their way around. They ended up wide in the snowbanks for their troubles, while Jed left them as foggy sparkles in his mirrors. Mr. Harrison had a big smile on his face at the end of the weekend.
The final race on Sunday afternoon was the “Charity Race”. Chevette drivers donate their cars to the cause, and local celebrities purchase the ride. Proceeds go to charities in Lac La Biche. It’s a popular local event. And it was most certainly what one might call an “interesting” event.
It was quite busy. The Towtrucks and Rescue got a goodly amount of practice, and it would seem that the yellow flags were rather poorly understood by the drivers. Over the course of a 15 minute race, (for example) the #11 Chevette was reported to have passed under yellow on FOUR separate occasions, and to have been out of control as he passed an incident. The #18 car, who went on to be the winner of the event, managed to secure the lead by punting the #86 car out of his way into a snowbank. A good time was had by all.
Ice conditions permitting, the NASCC is considering the possibility of staging further races at Roy’s Lake this year. For complete race results, visit the NASCC website .