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1997 Canada Cup
1997 Canada Cup
March 2, 1997 Buddy Ford's Motorcycle and ATV Ice Racing
From: Kim Gregory
The weather was VERY warm. It had been raining steadily the day before the race,
and was at least 3 degrees above freezing for more than 24 hours before
the race. The track and the pit area ( on the St. Lawrence River)
had two inches of water on it.
It has been an unusually warm winter for
Ontario as well, without a long
cold spell to build up a reliable thickness of ice. Only a handful of
spectators showed up,
and only half the riders. It was decided (after a long riders meeting)
not to cancel, but just ride for series points. While preparing to
practice, I was helping Nick Fafard start his bike, and the bike and I
went THROUGH THE ICE! I went in up to my neck (in full leathers), and
luckily, the front fender caught on the edge of the ice, preventing the
bike from completely disappearing. As soon as I got myself out of the
water, I reached down and grabbed the handlebars that were about a foot
under the water, then started screaming for help to get the bike out.
The bike cylinder was full of water when we turned it over, so a complete
tear down was required before it would race again.
We became very afraid
about the ice safety at that point, noticing other holes near our vans,
and deteriorating conditions at the shore where we drive off the ice.
We packed up the truck and got it off
the ice as fast as we could. There was little parking available on shore
as it is a quiet cottage area, with roads only one lane wide. Last we heard,
two hours after we left, the
locals were still racing, and no one else had gone through. It would have
ruined our racing for whole 1997 season if we had lost our van and bikes!
No speedway was run, but the flat track / motocrossers seemed to be enjoying
it
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