Lac La Biche 2023 Race Report
What a treat it was to be part of the 40th Anniversary of the Winter Festival of Speed in Lac La Biche! Dozens of aircraft at the Fly-in, Vintage Sleds, Helicopter Rides, Automotive Ice Racing, and of course the 4th stop of the season for our SSRA Snow Drags!
Special thanks to event organizer Ken Staples who has been with the event for the full 40 years. Our hats off to you and a well deserved standing ovation at the banquet Saturday night. The banquet was excellent as a roast beef dinner was served for all the racers along with a gift pack and entertainment by local group Girlz With Guitarz. Thanks also to Gordon Kozakevich for his excellent work in preparing our fast track that made for some great racing.
Tech Report
A reminder for racers that oxygenated fuels or pump gas with performance enhancing additives are only allowed in specific classes and those don’t include Stock or Improved. Please take a moment to review the fuel rules prior to the next race. Fuel Rules Here
If you sled came equipped from the factory with a front sway bar, it can not be removed in Stock or Improved Stock classes.
There are minimum weights that riders and sled/rider combinations must meet. A summary reference chart can be found here. At the opposite end of the scale from the minimum weights, one sled/rider combination came in at 901 pounds. That’s a lot. Luckily the scale survived to weigh another day.
Racing
It doesn’t get much cooler than having an air show and racing action going on at the same time and it happened several times with two different helicopters making low, slow, and hovering maneuvers over the track during the race.
This was the last chance for racers to tweak their combinations in competition prior to next week’s big showdown at the Western Canadian Championships in Ardmore. The DPH Racing sled piloted by Jackie Jarema from just down the road in Smokey Lake took full advantage and swept the tough competition in Stock 800, 1000, and Open Stock. Husband Dave also had it going, taking the win in Mountain Open.
Someone made a comment in the pits at one point that they wanted to put a bounty out for anyone that could beat Freddy Hebb in Deep Snow Super Stock. We don’t know if any money changed hands or not, but points leader Freddy was in fact taken down, racing to a second in the class. Speaking of those who are consistently quick, Dwayne Heinz, KDR Racing, Arnold Racing and the Simmonds brothers had good days in their respective classes as well.
With Ardmore being just down the road from Bonnyville, racers from there, including the 54 North Performance team, are determined to make a good home track showing next week. It looks like they could do just that as racers from Bonnyville and Ardmore showed up no less than 15 times in the final results at Lac La Biche. This included wins in Improved 1000, Open Improved, Pro Stock 800, Pro Stock Open (sweeping the top 3 spots), and Deep Snow Super Stock. These racers are on fire!
And speaking of being on fire, Tyler Matt from Grand Prairie gapped the competition on his 4 cylinder monster Outlaw sled to lay claim to King of the Snow Drags at the Winter Festival of Speed.
See you next week at the Western Canadian Championships in Ardmore!