Wetaskiwin 2023 Race Report

After a cold and slippery start to the season last week, Mother Nature shined upon us for the race in Wetaskiwin. Hosts Dwayne Heinz and his wife Neisje did an excellent job with the organization and despite the low-snow conditions the track held up amazingly well. Hats off to them and thanks for all their hard work!

More than 100 sleds pounded the snow with all the “High octane, high horsepower, racing action” called by announcer Don Milot to the delight of the large crowd in attendance. Both the pits and spectator areas were filled to capacity.

Tech Notes:

- A reminder to all Mini-racers, any changes to the sled to improve or increase its performance, including clutch and/or gear changes, will move a sled from Mini 120 or 200 into Mini Pro. These changes are extremely obvious when the race is run so let’s not embarrass anyone and be sure we are entered in the right class.

- Juniors – Please again refer to the rules on the website regarding age limits and sled size limitations.

- All sleds require a certain amount of suspension travel. Please refer to the rules found on the website and the supporting links and documentation. There are also rules regarding minimum ground clearance. There are both performance and safety reasons for these. It’s never a bad idea to give the rules a read over again.

Race Notes:

Thanks to everyone for doing a better job of being ready for your heats. Your efforts meant we were able to run all the heats for this large race in good time. Nice work, let’s keep it up!

There were 14 entries in the Open Stock class battling for bragging rights as the fastest stock sled but for the second week in a row, Craig Rowland raced to a first place finish. There are certainly some fast racers in this class. Who do you think will be the first to un-seat him? Will it be too late to catch him in the points race? This will be a story to watch in the next couple of weeks for sure.

In the Improved Stock classes, Mike Fowlow had another good day but faced stiff competition from Arnold Racing, the Simmonds brothers, and the improved sled from the 54 North Performance team which all had strong performances as well, earning them wins.

Speaking of the 54 North Performance Team, they had their fleet of Pro Stock sleds running strong, taking multiple podium finishes in the Pro Stock classes as did Tyler Matt and with his Grande Prairie based race sleds.

The mountain classes are really gaining in popularity with around 30 combined entries in Deep Snow Super Stock and Mountain Open. In Deep Snow, Freddy Hebb followed up last week’s second place finish by taking the win this time around. In Mountain Open, the Maxceleration Racing Sidewinder M-TX of Mike LaValley captured his second win of the season.

And speaking of Mike LaValley, he took no small amount of ribbing for backing out of a mid-track wheelie on “Farm Sled” in the Outlaw final and got labelled “Letting off LaValley” as Mike Moore took advantage and motored on by with his turbo charged Yamaha for the win. These two Mikes should have an interesting rematch next week, but they should both watch out as the team from 54 North Performance will be looking to make some noise in the class as well.

Buckle your seatbelts everyone, this season is really getting rolling!

Results