Indoor ICE Speedway Racing
Canadian National Indoor ICE Racing Championship
Speedway Motorcycle Results:
- By Kim Gregory - and thanks to the Densfords for the score sheets! Photos
Due to the emergency situation caused by the freezing rain, and resulting wide spread power failures, the two indoor ICE races scheduled for
Ottawa Canada were rescheduled to one race 2:00pm Sunday, January 11th.
Results were:
1st Robert "Kid" Curry age 36 (California)
2nd John "Mountain Man" Grant age 45 (California)
3rd James Birkinshaw age 17 (Sheffield, England)
John "Mountain Man" Grant also won the Quad Division, taking home a combined purse of over $1,600.
Heats:
Pole Rider Finish Pole Rider Finish
1 Gregg 2 1 Otto 4
2 Orosz 3 2 Waczynski 1
3 N.Fafard 4 3 G.Fafard 2
4 Grant 1 4 Carignan 3
Pole Rider Finish Pole Rider Finish
1 Gregory 4 1 G.Hesmer 2
2 Curry 1 2 Hermant
3 Wilding 2 3 Birkinshaw 1
4 C.Hesmer 3 4 Colson 3
Pole Rider Finish Pole Rider Finish
1 N.Fafard 3 1 Waczynski DNF
2 Birkinshaw 4 2
3 Wilding 2 3 G.Hesmer 1
4 C.Hesmer 1 4 Gregory 2
Pole Rider Finish Pole Rider Finish
1 Otto 4 1 Curry 1
2 Carignan 3 2 Orosz 4
3 Grant 1 3 Coulson 3
4 G.Fafard 2 4 Gregg 2
Last Chance Final
Pole Rider Finish Pole Rider Finish
1 C.Hesmer 1 1 Grant 2
2 Waczynski DNF 2 Curry 1
3 Birkinshaw 2 3 G.Hesmer 4
4 G.Fafard 3 4 C.Hesmer 5
5 Gregg DNF 5 Birkinshaw 3
6 Wilding DNF 6 G.Fafard 6
James Birkinshaw (Diamonds) was outstanding even in his first heat, (no practice laps at all) showing he adapted quickly to a surface he had never ridden before, and a track size that was smaller than anything he had seen before. His trick Laydown GM was lost in many pieces through the airport luggage handling due to the storm, and minutes before the race had managed to retrieve all but the frame. He rode Gary Hesmer's 897 backup bike to a well fought third place in a final that had to be restarted three times due to the tight crowded racing. See the photo page!
Glyn Taylor (also a premier league rider) was Birkinshaw's tuner and coach through this event, and gave many of the riders a new insight on the current tuning tricks of the many models of speedway engines.
The final was restarted three times due to bunching in the first corner. Curry always had the inside lead, with Grant crossed up behind him, Garry Hesmer pressed up close behind, and James Birkinshaw pushing Gary down. Only on the third start did the riders leave enough room for their wheels to turn!
My racing: had some good, some bad, but what a great weekend! The racing was closer than last year but with less injuries. All the riders had dinner together and talked almost all night prior to the race, so we were all friends by race time. My first heat, I beat the event winner into turn one! Crashed turn four! The second heat I was in was rerun, and I finished second both times. It did not get me into the final, or even the last chance race though. And we do it all again next weekend in Nashville!
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