International Motorcycling Ice Racing Roundup
Motorcycle Ice Racing, Alberta, Canada, Ghost Dam
Motorcycle ice racing is in full swing right now right across the Northern Hemisphere. This sport is fast, unruly, dangerous, frostbite-friendly and about the most fun you can have with tons of clothes on.
Get ready for the 2012 AMA Ice Race Grand Championships
There are many classes of bike from kids' minis to S/M/L/XL MX bikes, to street superbikes. All share one thing: nastily studed tires. They make ice traction pretty much akin to dry dirt.
You don't want one of these badboys running across your face.
This is what happens when studded tires get together
Amazingly, ice racing is relatively injury free -- which only makes everyone go faster.
We've rounded up some basic ice race info for you and thrown in some images and video too, so you can get a taste and maybe even give it a shot.
What happens when you are extra studdly
The Alberta Ice Racing Association has a great Facebook page, http://esr.cc/xErgsA , with lots of ice porn and all upcoming race info.
Ontario has various races, but it's not highly organized. More a metter of searching the web and see what's going on.
There used to be a 24-hour endurance Ice race called the Numb Bum near Edmonton, but it seems not to be on this winter. Here's a screen grab of the 2009 course from this video http://esr.cc/zQS5NU. If that doesn't get you excited, consult your doctor.
The 2009 Numb Bum course in Alberta
In the USA, the 2012 AMA Ice Race Grand Championships, to crown the AMA's first amateur champions of the year, took place Feb. 4-5 at the Sugarbush Golf and Country Club with racing to take place on Potters Lake in Davison, Mich.
There's also this outfit http://www.icespeedway.com/tickets.shtml with events all over the chillier states.
In Northern Europe the main races can be tracked here http://esr.cc/yZ6Sr2.
European 2012 motorcycle ice racing schedule
Check out this video from the beautifully named Skidmore Lake
Motorcycle Ice Race - Skidmore Lake
The competitors in ice racing are a mix of pros who do the annual circuit, pros from other motorcycle racing classes having off-season thrills, with the smaller races mostly local folks who customize their own machines and race hard.
ESR people are mumbling about doing some ice racing this year. If it happens, expect full reportage.
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140 months ago
Rumblings indeed. I was all steam ahead on ice racing cars since I took a ice driving course last year with Ian Law, seeing this post, I'm wondering about doing it on two wheels...
148 months ago
The plan was to do this on the lake at my cottage this year. Sad to say, it's simply not frozen enough right now. Last time I was there, there were no snowmobile tracks or ice fishing huts and the ice near the edge was mush. It's a very strange winter in Ontario