A Race in the Sunshine

Roy’s Lake west of Edmonton, February 22, 2014.

by Raymond Wintonyk

Saturday morning at Roy’s Lake: just west of Edmonton. -18ºC, and overcast. It’s going to be a bit of a chilly day.

But not as cold as it could have been. It’s -25ºC on Sunday morning as I write, and this kind of cold could well have resulted in the cancellation of the event. Jed Harrison, president of the NASCC, with but 48 hours to go, had pushed the races ahead by a day, and managed to contact all the drivers & volunteers in time to make the raceday possible.

The morning practices went off fairly uneventfully. Though cold, there was no wind whatsoever. The clouds of snow kicked up by the cars hung in the air as an all enveloping fog, and while the leader could see the track, the rest of the field were lost in the dense murk. Visibity was an issue. All a driver can see in these conditions are the rear facing lights of the ice racer in front of him. He navigates the track from memory, and perhaps with the help of a few landmarks as they flash by in the snow at the edge of the track. In the words of the Clerk, Andy de Boon: “Don’t trust the lights of the driver in front of you too much. You’ll follow him right into a snowbank. A bit of a slower speed in the middle of the track is still a lot quicker than your speed while you wait for the towtruck, embedded in a snowdrift. And for you rookies — there’s really nothing of value to be learned by watching from the top of the bank as your competitors race each other.”

Actual racing commenced just after lunch. And remarkably, contrary to all expectations, just as the first group of cars proceeded onto the track, the clouds parted, and the sunshine burst through. Despite the -16ºC temperature, with no wind, it became suddenly a warm, pleasant day. This may have gotten the drivers a bit over-excited, or some such thing, because the action started out with a bang.

Early in the first session of the studded cars, Hiroki Currie caught the snowbank on the outside of turn 2 and rolled his #66 Ford. The real beauty of Ice Racing is that (in most cases) snow is one heck of a lot more forgiving than concrete. After having his car tumbled back onto its wheels, Hiroki screwed his rear facing top mount light back on, and continued with the day’s racing. Ken Berg, with a very quick car, went on to win the session in his #31 VW. Peter Siefert and Sean Finn in the #03 & #09 Neons, found some competition in the form of Mark Burrough in the #10 Neon. He was quickest in that class in this session, and quickest for the rest of the day.

The “non-stud” group consisted of the Chevettes, and cars running on non-studded tires. Danny Bracken in his #25 VW surprised nobody by claiming the first spot in the race. Danny’s style is a blast to watch. He roars around the track, mostly sideways, seeming to hardly ever lift, and very rarely putting a foot wrong. The #42 River City Motors entry (shared by Robin Saunders and his son Chris) pulled in second, while Colin Schultz retired early with a flat tire in his #4 VW. Julian Pascoal in the #32 Ford came in behind Les Koochin, the leader of the Chevette class. Landon Goudreau in the #8 was 2nd quickest of the Chevettes, followed by Todd Maliteare in the #37.

Still early in the day, the second session of the Street Stud/Neon group was chock full of acton. The green flag dropped with Ken Berg and Peter Seifert side by side going into turn 1. Sean Finn got a great start, and dived inside of the pair. Three wide in turn 1? “Uh-oh” was the general reaction from the start line. It’s a bit of a different experience spectating an Ice Race. Three cars enter turn 1 in a cloud of snow. You’ve got to wait a bit for the snow to settle to see just what might emerge from that cloud. And sure enough, it seems there wasn’t quite enough room. With obvious side to side contact between the three, Sean & Ken made it through, but Peter’s car, on the outside, launched over the bank, and continued around the track on the service road. He re-entered the track eventually, and diced with Sean Finn for a number of close laps before retiring in lap 14. Mark Burrough overtook the other two Neons, and led for a number of laps, until on the left hander approaching the front straight, he caught the inside snowbank, launched, and came very close to turning the car over. This might have led to the flat tire which caused him to retire on the 11th lap. Ken Berg came out on top of the group, with Sean Finn the best of the Neons.

The day consisted of three sets of four race groups: Street Stud, Rubber, Race Stud & Neon and Chevette. But all the studded cars were combined into one group, and the Chevettes and Rubber Cars were combined into a second group. So every car had 6 outings onto the track over the day.

The #82 Chevette of Les Koochin was completely invincible, finishing at the top of the order in every session, driving so consistently that his number appears nowhere on the log sheets — with one exception: In his second last race of the day, he held off the VW of Danny Bracken for 3 laps; quite a feat for a Chevette. Landon Goudreau, consistently 2nd, worked all day at the back of the #83 car, but with no success. Matt Beubien, Kyle Stevens, Todd Maliteare, and Andi Goudreau switched off with each other for the third spot.

Mark Burrough in the #10 Neon continued at the front of that class all day, with Peter Seifert always in vain pursuit. Sean Finn kept at it, but just seemed to be trying too hard: exiting corners with too much speed, and ending up losing all of that speed and moreso in the outside snowbank. Their final session, though, proved to be the most dramatic. Still in the lead on the final lap, Mark Burrough got caught up on the inside bank on the left-hander at the entrance to the front straight. He spun back out, collected the #03 Neon, and both cars ended up on the outside bank at the entrance to the front straight. Both cars had a lot of speed, and the two drivers were shaken up. Thankfully, however, they emerged from the ambulance with no injuries.

Danny Bracken continued to dominate the Rubber Cars until late in the afternoon, with the #42 River City car always in 2nd, and occasionally looking at the back of Mr. Bracken. Colin Schultz, after retiring on the first lap of the first race with a flat tire, and having had to return home to repair a broken throttle cable, didn’t have another start until the last two sessions. But these two were classics. Danny led in the first of the two until he finally did put a foot wrong, and stuck himself deep into the snow on turn 4. That left the #42 River City car in front for a number of laps, until Colin reeled him in and came around him in turn 4. Meanwhile, Danny Bracken, though 2 laps down, was still clawing his way back up through the Chevettes. But it proved to be a particularly difficult session for the driver. The #18 Chevette of Matt Beaubien spun right in front of him on turn 2, and Danny had nowhere to go but into that car. He ended the race at the back of the order.

On the final race of the day, Danny led for the bulk of the race, but Colin Schultz, starting from the back, got around the #42, (who punted him in the back lightly in retaliation) and started putting pressure on Danny’s car. It took a few laps, but finally Danny went a bit wide in turn 4, Colin took the inside and came through. His back end came loose a bit on the way, swung out & put a bit of a scuff on Danny’s car. But Colin stuck the pass and held on for the win. Danny has some competition.

At the conclusion of this session, instead of returning directly to the pits, all the cars stopped at various points around the track. This had caused, on the previous weekend, no small amount of consternation in Race Control. With at first just one car stopped, Rescue was dispatched. A few seconds later, there were half a dozen cars stopped. “Umm, just start at the front and work your way to the back” was the instruction from Race Control. But the cars had stopped to pick up the track markers, cones, etc. around the perimiter of the racetrack. For the trackworkers who’d set the track up in the morning, this was the best part of the Raceday.

An Ice Racing track is a temporary affair. It’s created out of snow at the beginning of the Race Meet, and taken apart at the end. All of the equipment, and all of the markers that show the drivers where the track is are taken up at the end of the day, and the racetrack disappears. It takes a few trackworkers hours to set up or take down a track. But for the last few years, the drivers (led, I might point out, by Terry Bresmer) have been helping out. With a lot of people pitching in, it takes only a few minutes to do the job. It’s hugely appreciated.

And at the end of the day, with just a single session left, the tiniest little cloud drifted across the face of the sun. Instantly, the temperature seemed to plunge by 20 degrees. What had seemed for a while to be a gentle spring day reverted in seconds back to bleak Midwinter. But we finished most of the day in comfort. That won’t be the case for Ice Racing next weekend in Lac La Biche. It’s gonna be a cold one, I’m afraid. But it’s back on the main lake, and the organizers of the LLB Festival of Speed have struggled successfully through adversity to put together that event. We’ll do it all again in Lac La Biche next weekend.

 

 

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