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
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