If you were to think of Western New York in
January, it would most likely bring up images of frigid winter days
and lake effect snow piling up. Sounds like a good time to park the
RM250 and tune up the Arctic Cat right ? Well not for die-hard off
road motoheads-for them it is the much anticipated ice racing
season. See in upstate New York we don't have the fortune to ride
year round like in California, (which may be were the Cycle News
phrase ,"We don't care how the hell they do it in California", came
from) so to avoid cabin fever you stud up the tires, get out the
shovels and put on the thermal underwear.
It all started one day
after work, with the weekly stop at Hollink's (the local shop).
During the usual shop talk, I asked Dave how much longer before he
thought that the ice would be ready? Much to my suprise he said
that about ten guys had been riding on the bay over the weekend. As
soon as I heard that I couldn't wait to get home and call Nip, we
had been waiting and hoping for ice this year, because last year it
was too mild. Nip was psyched, he had a set of ice tires ready to
go, but this was that he was going to experiment with different
tire set ups, because if you don't have the right tire and stud
pattern your going to be left in a roost of ice pellets. This is
where it get interesting.
What is the hot set up for the ice? About
10 years ago when I was on a 1983 RM80 my Dad and I put Kold
Kutters in the knobbies and went to the races, I couldn't believe
the traction and won my first ever race after a my first year of
racing dirt track. It seemed easy, put a couple of screw in each
knob and your set. That was a decade ago and went out with drum
brakes. Nip had been telling me all summer long about how he had
been struggling to find the right combination, so when it came time
to do my tires we decided to try something new. We had heard of all
the trick set ups: angle your screws, don't over stud, use a
motocross style tire, use Gold Max screws, etc. Friday night proved
to be a late one, we were up until 2:00am putting in around 500
screws per tire, cutting up old tires for liners and fixing flats
from screws that had came through. (Don't use 1" screws in a front
trials tire with only one liner) 5:30am Saturday and I'm like a kid
on Christmas morning, I can't sleep and we aren't supposed to meet
until 10:00 so off to breakfast I was and then to Nip's to start
the fire in the garage. Finally we show up at the frozen pond in
Gasport, I was getting unbelievable traction, wheeling in 3rd and
4th down the straights of the 1/4 mile oval, leaving Nip
discouraged with his straight in screw pattern, as I had angled my
screws forward and was "banging it sideways" and hooking up coming
out of the corners. We were the only brave souls on the ice
Saturday as it was 5 degree, -40 with the wind chill.
Sunday would
prove to be a day of learning and disbelief. As we crested the hill
to the entrance we saw a bunch of trucks parked along side the
road, including the box van of former National #90 dirt-tracker,
Les Wasbon. I had heard that Les had THE ULTIMATE Set up from
Quebec, and couldn't wait to see him ride. Turns out that there was
another bike with the same style tire/stud combination there and
the two of them were flat out untouchable. They were running
motocross style tires with custom made 1 1/2 inch screws from
Quebec , angled backwards in the middle and at different angles on
the side, with two liners inside and washers screwed to the
sidewalls to stiffen it. They could just fly into the corners and
lean it right over while maintaining drive. After taking a look at
the ice we could see that their taller profile studs were digging
in deeper, even though they had fewer screws per tire. Apparently
the longer screws combined with twin liners and the washers make
the tire flex less so that the taller heads on the screws could dig
in, and by having fewer studs, it allows the tread to be self
cleaning and with less surface area of screws, it allows them to
penetrate the ice better. These were a few of the keys that we
learned the first weekend.
The next three weekends would turn out
to be good enough to ride. We had variable ice conditions to deal
with and it wouldn't have been possible without the fourwheeler
with the plow from the guys at Lock City Cycle (anybody have a
Zamboni I could borrow). The second weekend of riding would turn
out to be even better as my mechanic Gerry had his 1997 CR250
studded up and I couldn't wait to square off against him on the'
96RM250T. Talk about a rad time, try 3 abreast, bar banging racing
in the corners.(The RM won) Every day we learned new keys to ice
racing, so many that Nip said "that if we learn any more keys, we
are going to need a key ring to hold them". As time passed the
turnout got better, we got faster and addicted to the ice. Seems
that there is just some indescribable feeling of being on a foot of
ice, going sideways at 50 mph, with a bunch of riding buddies in
the middle of winter, while the wind-chill is 40 below zero. For
some reason I was never cold?
By:
Tom Cox
Email, tcox@matrics.com
I have been riding
minibikes since I was around 7 and started racing dirt-track in
1983 and continued til 1987. After completing college two years
ago, I immediattly sold my road bike and bought a 1985 XR350, since
then I have begun racing again. After buying a new RM250 I started
racing Motocross (winning my fist ever Moto) but I enjoy trail
riding with my friends as much as racing, because you get more seat
time.
