Wednesday, January 16, 2013

ICE Speedway Sees 11K Fans in Attendance at Salt Lake Doubleheader Rounds


2012 World Championship ICE Racing Series
January 4&5, 2013 Maverik Center - West Valley City, Utah
 
MORE THAN 11,000 EXCITED ICE RACING FANS ROCK MAVERIK CENTER 2-NIGHTER! NO KIDDING 11,000+!!!
 
Friday Night 1/4/2013:
 
To say the New Year started off with a bang for ICE/International Championship Events' World Championship ICE Racing would be a giant understatement. This year started off with a nuclear explosion! On Friday night nearly 4,000 fans attended Round-3 of the 37th Annual World Championship ICE Racing Series at the beautiful Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah, an adjoining community to Salt Lake City.
 
After the Heat Races were run in the Manufacturers World Cup Motorcycle Division ICE Officials decided to run a Dash For Cash in lieu of the normal LCQ. This would be a winner take all shootout race for a rather large stack of paper money. Seeing this pile of moola fired up the racers way beyond the pale. When the green flag flew the racers charged to the first like a pack of hungry wolves chasing Aunt Belle's poodle to the dog house! There's no other way to describe it - this race was a real dog fight! Passing on every lap, handle bar banging, wheel to wheel racing. By the last lap Jake "The Snake" Mataya's - Blaine, MN poisonous venom once again won out over the wolf pack. There's a rumor floating around that Jake drove up to nearby IRS headquarters in Ogden, UT to pay the tax on his haul. But they were closed on Saturday.
 
When Bike Main event rolled around the wolves were really hungry and thinking it's payback time. So the ICE Fair Starting Gate had been destroyed earlier (big wreck, will explain later) so the Main was flagged started. The start was clean with "Fly'n" Brian McKenna - Boston, MA taking the early lead followed by "Captain" Kirk Cheney - Hastings, MI and "Freight Train" Tom McGrane - Gap, PA. McKenna was Gone and not looking back. If he had taken a peek he would have seen best friend Cheney gaining about a half a bike length every lap. By the 7th lap Cheney was there! None of the top three had ever won an ICE Major Championship event after many years of trying. Everyone in the building was on their feet for the last lap knowing full well it was going to be wild. Would Cheney hold back and give his buddy his first ever win or would he dig deep and go for the win? Or, would the two leaders crash out in the heat of battle giving McGrane his first Big Stud Trophy? The last lap was here with Cheney banging on McKenna's rear wheel thru turns 1-2. McKenna still had the advantage going down the back straight until at the end of it The Captain did indeed dig deep, cowboy'd up and dive bombed under McKenna banging both wheels thru turns 3-4. The two combatants drag raced side by side to the checkered flag. The fan noise was deafening as they crossed the line! It was Cheney by less than a wheel!! The place went crazy!  After the awards presentations Kirk was proudly walking thru the pits and was overheard saying; "Well I guess I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight." You see he and McKenna are hotel room mates while on the road. Great sportsmen, great racers, great guys!
 
Outlaw Quad racing was just as spectacular tonight. I didn't check but was it a full moon? The first Heat Race out of the box is one that no one will ever forget. Five-Time & Defending World Champion Mandy "Wild Child" Brodil - Elizabethtown, NC launched off the line into the lead. Just behind her was Kevin "Cool Hand" Smith - Overbrook, KS followed closely by Jake ""The Snake" Mataya - Blaine, MN on the Harley ""Thunder Quad" and Anthony Demeo - Oakland Park, NJ. Brodil is very quick around the bottom so Smith decides to challenge her around the outside by the third lap. The strategy was working for the hard charging Smith and by the fourth and final lap they were side by side. Coming out of turn 4 Smith had a slight advantage as they both raced to the finish line when suddenly Mandy got crossed up shooting straight her straight into the infield hitting the ICE Fair Staring Gate truss upright at full speed. The swivel point on the top of the outside upright worked allowing the structure to move some but it just wasn't designed to take a full speed hit. The inside upright was torn off allowing the long beam that crosses the track to come crashing down in the middle of the course. Thankfully all the riders made it thru unscathed. Mandy finally ended getting her machine stopped well into turn one. Her only injury was to her pride. The ICE Fair Start Gate was dead! Smith won the Heat. The other Round-1 Heat winners were Dusty "Time Bomb" Crouch - Topeka, KS and Shane "Quad Cities" Quam - Moline, IL. Round-2 Heat winners were Smith; Demeo and Chuck "The Ice Man" Calvert - Madison, WI.
 
When the Quad LCQ rolled around Brodil had it all back together and led this one wire to wire followed to the finish line by hard charging Ian Wilson - Arlington, WA; Crouch and Devin Madonia - Granite Falls, WA who transferred on then came Calvert; Nick Porter - Snowhomish, WA and Demeo. The Main Event was exciting with lots of passing in the pack but "Cool Hand" Smith held on to a strong lead for all of the 6 laps. The rest of the field finished Quam; Calvert; Crouch; Ken "Stuntman" Remer - Burlington, WI; Brodil and Madonia respectively. This was Kevin Smith's first ICE Major Event victory.
 
Saturday Night January 5, 2013
 
THE SNAKE STRIKES AGAIN! COOL HAND SWEEPS UP CASH & DOUBLES DOWN!!
 
Whoa Nelly SRO Baby! A standing room only crowd greeted the World Championship ICE Racers on this cold 15 degree winter night. Over 7,000 excited fans packed into West Valley City's Maverik Center to see some serious ice racing.
 
First up tonight were the volatile Manufacturers World Cup Motorcycles. After a series of Heat Races and the LCQ, all scored by points, the riders had earned their Main Event starting positions. On the pole was none other than "Fly'n" Brian McKenna - Boston, MA. McKenna nearly won his first ICE Major Event the night before losing only by inches. Brian has won every Heat Race he has ridden this season. Will this be his night?  The ICE Fair Starting Gate had been rebuilt and the Ref released it and off the field went rocketing into turn one. The rocketship coming out of the first turn in the lead was McKenna followed by Jake "The Snake" Mataya - Blaine, MN and "Freight Train" Tom McGrane - Gap, PA. McKenna was stretching out his lead when suddenly in turn 3-4 his front wheel violently pushed out throwing "Fly'n"" Brian to the ice hard. Will this racer's bad luck ever change!? His first race with ICE 6 years ago in Everett, WA when he crashed hard in his first Heat Race. The high speed crash broke his ankle and bent the existing steel pin required from a previous racing crash. He was out for that season but returned every year since looking for that illusive first win and an ICE World Championship Title. With 4 Rounds remaining after tonight Brian can still achieve both of his goals. The race continued on with Mataya flying out front. Lots of action and passing in the pack as "Captain" Kirk Cheney - Hastings, MI gets by McGrane at the half way point followed closely by Kenny "Hot Sauce" Malaguarnero - Showlow, AZ. Jay Maloney - Oakland, NJ was also on the move working his way up to fourth spot at the checkered followed by McGrane; Dan White - Kamloops, BC and McKenna.
 
In Outlaw Quad competition Round-1 Heat Race winners were Ken "Stuntman" Remer - Burlington, WI; Shane "Quad Cities" Quam and Devin Madonia- Granite Falls, WA. Rount-2 Heat victories went to Kevin "Cool Hand" Smith - Overbrook, KS; Dusty "Time Bomb" Crouch - Topeka, KS and Chuck "The Ice Man" Calvert - Madison, WI.  The Quad 4-lap LCQ was all Madonia's wire to wire. He was followed closely by Calvert; 5-Time & Defending World Champion Mandy "Wild Child" Brodil - Elizabethtown, NC who fought her way up from 6th and the 4th and last transferring spot went to Anthony Meteo - Woodland Park, NJ. Running closely behind were Nick Porter - Snowhomish, WA; Jake "The Snake" Mataya - Blaine, MN on the Harley "Thunder Quad" and Ian Wilson - Arlington, WA.
 
The Main was set to go and stacked full of talented, aggressive pros. The gate was released and the 8 Outlaw Quads flew into turn one like a swarm of giant ticked off bumble bees! Only problem is Quads don't fly (usually they don't) and 8 of them can't use the same piece of the race track at the same time. Big wreck! The rules are that if half or more of the field crashes on lap-1 the race is red flagged and completely re-started. So it was. This time they all got thru turn 1-2 but at the other end in turns 3-4 three riders/machines got tangled up down on the bottom near the pole. It wasn't half the field and the track wasn't blocked so the race continued. Three riders were stung as the rest of the field lapped them. Smith had worked his way to a solid lead while all the distractions were taking place. Smith went on to win sweeping the Quad program for the weekend. He even won the Dash For Cash earlier in the night sticking a nice stack of paper money in his pocket. Crouch finished second after starting from the 4th position and rounding out the podium was Quam followed by Brodil; Demeo and the three bumble bee sting victoms Remer; Madonia and Calvert.
 
Special Thanks! To all the 11,000+ fans who came out to see World Championship ICE Racing. Also thanks goes out to Title Sponsor Maverik C Stores "Where Adventure Begins" and the staff of the Maverik Center. Last but certainly not least thanks to the special racers who participate in this Series. Our grateful thanks to Tim, Troy, Kenny and all the folks at Wright's MC Parts for generously donated their time and equipment to repair the ICE Fair Starting Gate and for helping our racer's needs so far from home.
 
THE GREATEST SPECTACLE ON ICE!TM
 
37TH ANNUAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ICE RACING SERIES SCHEDULE: (Click Link for Tickets)
 
 
Fri-Dec 14th 7:30 PM - Showare Center - Kent, WA
Sat-Dec 15th 7:00PM - Comcast Arena - Everett, WA
Fri-Jan 4th 7:00PM - Maverik Center - Salt Lake, UT
Sat-Jan 5th 7:00PM - Maverik Center - Salt Lake, UT
Sat-Jan 12th 7:30PM - US Cellular Coliseum - Bloomington, IL
 
I.C.E. World Headquarters, P.O. Box 8648, Myrtle Beach, SC 29578
P: (843) 750-0741; E:info@icespeedway.com ; www.icespeedway.com
THE GREATEST SPECTACLE ON ICE!TM -Celebrating 37 years of arena motorsports entertainment excellence-

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