Wetaskiwin 2022 Race Report

Just one week following the Western Canadian Championship, 60 sleds tried their luck at the race in Wetaskiwin. Apparently, summer came in the second week of February this year and the big melt hit the Edmonton region hard the week before the race. Undeterred and determined to host an event, host Dwayne Heinz and his crew forged ahead and scraped up enough snow to build a track on the high ground between the newly forming field lakes so the racers could battle it out. And battle they did, much to the delight of the large spectator crowd that came out to enjoy to beautiful weather.

Tech notes:

- We are starting to see older mountain mod sleds show up for the races. In their day, these sleds were the kings of the snow with big triple motors and custom lightweight parts. If you have one of these sleds, be sure to check out the Deep Snow Super Stock, Mountain Improved, and Mountain Open classes. One or more of these mountain classes are most likely the best fit for your sled.

- A reminder that no traction products (picks, chisels, screws, etc.) are allowed in the stock and improved stock classes.

Race notes:

- It’s a fact, the Mini Pro class is always one of the most entertaining of the day. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the #429 Polaris driven by Lucas Melnychuck, do yourself a favor and watch it at the next race. It idles like a cammed up late 60’s muscle car and Lucas checks out down the track like scalded cat. Awesome.

- Speaking of awesome, the Kaskamins travelled all the way from High Level for the race. Nice that they had a good day, I counted their names showing up 5 times in the podium finishes.

- Also with lots of podium finishes was Mike Simmonds and his brother James from High Prairie. Mike was on a tear during the 2020 season and this year his brother has joined him in his winning ways.

- A few more classic sleds pulled to the line this week. There were a pair of almost identical looking ’95 Polaris XCR’s along with the XLT’s, a Mach Z and a Wildcat. When the snow dust cleared, it was the XCR of Dean Fry that took the win in Classic Muscle.

- Speaking of identical sleds, Glen Galbraith and Mike LaValley raced identical 2019 Yamaha SRX’s. Despite some close races Glen found the traction to beat Mike in the finals but they were both bettered by Craig Rowland from Meadow Lake on his Arctic Cat CFR who took the win in Open Stock.

- Finding that traction became a little tough later in the day thanks to mother nature. Taking advantage of the icy conditions was the team from 54 North Racing who did exceptionally well in the Pro classes.

- And finally, after taking much ribbing regarding his stutter button trouble last week, Tyler Matt got the kinks worked out of his two-stroke monster and ruled the day winning the outlaw class.

Thanks to Dwayne and his wife Neisje for their efforts to host the successful event and to all their sponsors and supporters who helped make it possible.

Complete Results