The first weekend of the Magnum Ice Race Series was a huge success! Anyone who was not there is square! There was very close competition in all classes the likes of which will never be seen elsewhere especially at the highest level of motorsport, F1. If ever there was a cure for the winter blahs for racers and race fans alike, this is it.

Sorry there are no pictures for those of you who are literarily challenged but I will more than make up for it with some verbal diarrhea. My digital cam is in the shop although Terry Dalton may have some digital offerings later this week.

I arrived in the lovely Mindenhammer with the Ovlov in tow Friday around 3:30PM (temperature around -20C) to be greeted by the sight of a perfectly prepared track. Well done Tom Prentice! The weekend before had been cancelled because of extremely low water levels in the river from whence the water for the track is pumped. Tom told me that he has never seen the river that low in all his life that there were "mud bars" showing up in places he had never seen them before. Last week they had to go down to the pump pipe intake at the river with an excavator and dig through the ice and frozen mud to extend the intake out and down below water level. Not a fun job at anytime let alone sub zero temps!

There was a good turnout of participants but general numbers are down from last year with a few regulars not showing. Gianni Biral has a newborn, Dave Watson is out of country, Mike Jensen has no excuse (wait a minute, he just emailed me: he and Kelly bought a house in Barrie. So???), the Gygers are making too much money as is the Toothless Mike and the Bearded Lady is no longer with us. Alex Bartels says: "new baby, wife on unpaid extended maternity leave, Harley Davidson insurance due, (plus Visa bill with impulse accessories purchases for aforementioned vehicle) and 10 year marriage anniversary coming up ("I want something nice this time"), etc. etc. "

Mike Zenon is back with a new car - a turbo Horizon ("AND IT'S NOT AN OMNI !!!")

The new timing/registration trailer is a hit and looks good too. Thanks to all who helped fund and build it.

Russ Bond, former Formula Atlantic driver, is racing this year in studs. Although he did not show his face this weekend (he was participating in a kart race in South Africa Saturday) his beautifully prepared Toyota MR2 was at the track. In fact there were 3 MR2's at the track all looking and sounding quite sexy.

Tom Prentice's proposal to allow unlimited engine size in studded class was accepted and passed at the last annual ice race meeting. This year he showed up with an immaculately prepped white Ford 5 litre Mustang complete with traction control. Virtually a "point and shoot" machine, it should help lessen some of the piloting challenges Tom may have had in the past. Go get 'em Tom you sly devil you.

Jeff Wenzel purchased the Raul Backstrom prepared VW Rabbit stud car from Mike Jensen but had troubles all weekend with it as he really hadn't had time to complete work on the car. Issues were gear selection and intermittently running rough. He also got whacked by an out of control Prentice boy driving Tom's old Ford truck.

There was only one roll over which occured in the front wheel drive class, one of the Andy Hughes' Ford Fiesta white with blue stripes cars. No one was injured. It did take a few of the novice racers upwards of half a lap to realize the race had been red flagged. I wonder what they must have been thinking when all their fellow competitors around them suddenly came to a standstill?

Results:

Class one I finished 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd Results Class 1

Class 11 I finished consistently 3rd Results Class 11

Track Conditions/ Weather:

The track was very slippery with hardly any grippy spots anywhere which made for a very challenging first weekend back. As a result of a previous thaw the snowbanks were now frozen hard as concrete. Temps stayed very cold down around -25C at night and -15C during day. Sunday started with a bit of sun but clouded over and light snow fell. Stud races churned up large amounts of snow "dust" , drivers reported great difficulty seeing anything but the corner marshalls for judging turn in. In the end the track held up well with only a very small bit of dirt showing through down by the quansett hut turn.

Racing:

Saturday:

Scrutineering had only two people working to process 100 cars so racing did not commence until 2 hours after scheduled start!

There were no problems for the "new" Ovlov for the entire weekend. I opted to go for both classes and use the second driver class (11) for testing setup changes to the car. Class 1 is rear wheel drive and is mixed with class 4 (all wheel drive). Class one numbers are dwindling (rear wheel drive cars are becoming more difficult to come by) down this year with only 7 entries on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Class 4 exceeded class 1 with 8 entries Saturday and 7 on Sunday.

Racing was clean all weekend with only a slight bit of bumper paint traded (Terry, could you file off the sharp edges on those one inch nuts protruding from your rear bumper). I raced Saturday on last years Blizzaks as I thought not to waste warming up my rusty skills on new rubber. I still managed a 1st. Tom Prentice blew out his steering rack on the Skoda in the 8 lap qualifier Saturday.

Sunday:

Two races Sunday were thriller races for me. The last class 11 race saw door handle to door handle action with Larry Kovacs in his Skoda as he and I traded places every lap throughout the race. What a blast racing with an experienced competitor! Each of us anticipated the others every move and danced through every corner in what seemed like a choreographed slow motion ballet. I would take the early entry/late exit and Larry would see this and go for the countering late entry/ early exit move and try a pass on the inside of the exit. Various other classic combinations of the aforementioned abounded - WHAT A HOOT!!! Thank you Larry! And, nary a scratch nor metal merged.

The first Class One race Sunday saw both Larry Kovacs in the Skoda and Terry Dalton in his Toyota Corolla pull away from me on the start (I got poor starts every race this weekend!) and dissappear around corner one. The race proceeding uneventfully for me, I was pretty much racing alone and as a result focused on my driving. This payed off as all of a sudden there I was barrelling down on Larry and Terry dukein' it out in corner one! All of a sudden it was a three way fight for 1st place!!! Ha Ha Ha!!! Yes, three wide into corner one with Terry on the inside me plowing up the middle and Larry on the outside! Again good clean racing with maybe a little bump. Terry came out in the lead but I managed to get by Larry and continue to hone in on Terry. About a lap latter Terry was mine as he made a slight mistake and I now had the lead. Terry was not about to give up and pressured me into sliding wide and into the weeds retaking the lead with one lap to go for a win and myself a SACond place finish. Excellent race!

Highlite(s):

Definitely the Class 11 race against Larry Kovacs. Just awesome!

Paul Clark realizing that he actually missed the Bearded Lady's colourful contribution to the proceedings.

The beer fridge and taps at the Rockcliffe were repaired and stocked in time for the arrival of the ice racers.

Scoty@rogers.com