Prince George

The 2nd race of the Y2K season was held the weekend of June 24 & 25 at North Central Motorsport Park. After the rain plagued 1999 season, it was nice to see that both race #1 in Edmonton and race #2 were bathed in hot, beautiful sunshine and hopefully this phenomenon will continue for the rest of the season.

As usual Pat and the rest of the track crew supplied us with a pretty good race track and Karen did her usual fine job of pushing the buttons in the tower which makes for a much easier weekend for your C.M.D.R.A. volunteers. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome some much-needed newcomers on board with out whose help and long hours these events may not be possible. Ron Szoczei has come on board as our new Race Director and is learning the ropes of a job that can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Ron is on a fast learning curve and is doing a fine job and is a credit to our association.
The C.M.D.R.A. for the first time has its own track crew and from myself and all the racers I would like to welcome Bill Dixon, who handles the staging lanes, and Rick Bryant who handles the burn-out area and looks for leaks and loose parts to ensure all the racer's mounts are safe. Again without the help of these people our association would not be able to take the steps that will allow us to remain a world class sanctioning body.


Now to the racing and up first it's the "Class Glass" Trophy series. This series is run for non-members to give them a taste of drag-racing and get them off the streets and onto a racetrack where they belong.
Ten Bikes showed up to vie for the beautiful trophy supplied by Gary Whalen & Associates and after 3 rounds of competition the final was between P.G.'s Roman Sindaco and Snohomish Washington's Rob Dunn with the trophy staying in P.G and going home with Roman. We at the C.M.D.R.A. hope all these guys had fun and will endeavor to make more events and move into one of our member only eliminators.
Our C.M.D.R.A. Street series was up next and Jack Anderson from Kelowna, on his nitrous H.D. Big Twin, led all qualifiers in a 7 bike field. Jack met Dave Galbiati, on his 2000 Kawasaki, in the final with last year's champ taking home the gold.


The 10:20 index class, known as Super-Gas and sponsored by HeadQuarters, was next and our "long-hauler" winner Danny White qualified #1 on his H.D. Big Twin from Dauphin, Manitoba. Dan, who was last years champ, met last year's #2 plate holder, John Fyvie, on his Evo Sportster with the win going to #1 plate holder Danny White.


Next up was the V.P Racing Fuel Superbike Series. This always tough class had 19 competitors and was lead by "Bad Influence Racing's" Mike Sheehan with a reaction time of .401, with a .400 being perfect. After 4 brutal rounds of competition the final came down to Kelowna's Scotty Smith and another "Bad Influence" racer, Gary Whalen from Abbottsford. In a close race where both racers ran within a couple of hundredths of their dial-ins, Scotty Smith got to cash the V.P.Racing Fuel cheque and take to gold home to Kelowna.


As we move up the speed ladder we come to Modified eliminator. This class is sponsored by Greg & Mo Coen from Springfield, Oregon and has been dubbed the "Greg Coen Motor Co. Modified Series". Funny how a lovely couple from south of the border has stepped up 2 years running with funds to help us out. Maybe some northern Harley shops and dealers should take notice. I guess it must be the exchange, but I digress. Steve Graff on his H.D. of Smithers backed machine was #1 qualifier with 9.33 and went on to run "Low E.T." of the weekend as well as "High Mile Per Hour". Steve met Ross Cuthbertson on his "Drag-On" Racing Sportster with Steve taking the win.


In Pro-Stock, we only had two bikes come to play as John Bryce's "Hi-Way Choppers" bike, and Lee Uhrich's "Jarz Performance" sportster were both waiting for parts. These Harley pro-stock bikes are extremely hard on parts and as we all know Harleys don't like to be shifted at 7,000 r.p.m. or higher.
Rick Dawson, last year's #1 plate holder and also our C.M.D.R.A. E.T record holder, on his Yorkton H.D. sponsored Big Twin battled it out with Nino Pace on the "Haney Hawgs" backed Big Twin which is your C.M.D.R.A. m.p.h. record holder. Rick went home the winner besting Nino with an 8.81 to and 8.65
Next up was the super fast Japanese bikes known as Pro-Mod. This class has a combination of nitrous, turbo and blower bikes and is a sight to behold. Edmonton's Dan Boehm, who ran high m.p.h. at 183.25, led qualifying. Dan met Kelowna's Gord Smith on the famous "Silver Bullet" who ran low E.T. of the weekend at 8.089, not bad for the high air in P.G. Dan cut a light on Gord and won the race even though Gord was quicker. That's two in a row for Dan and we look forward to a tough points battle for the 2000 #1 plate.


The first of our nitro classes came next and that's Pro-Dragster. We had 4 of these
"high-gear, carbed" bikes come to Prince George to put on a show. Edmonton's Al Miles led qualifying on his beautifully prepared "F.F.R." backed entry. Al ran both high m.p.h. and low e.t. of the weekend to defeat "Panic Racing's" Chris Gartman, last year's #1 plate holder on his "Future Cycle House of Speed" sponsored mount.


Now to the kings of the sport in the "Delkron" Top Fuel series. 4-time champ, Ron Houniet, qualified #1 on a small-motored bike he had never ridden before with a 7.40 e.t.


Dave O'Hara, on his "Neighbourhood Cycle" bike was #2 and Steve Hiedner on his little 117 incher, sponsored by "Bardhal Oils" was #3. Ron's "Fast Lane Racing" entry met long time fuel racing rival, Robin Gauthier in the final on his "Jarz/Clark Bros." 174 C.I. bike with Ron running low E.T. of the event.
Ron will have a new, fat-tire bike ready for our next race at Mission so if anyone is looking for a low, 7 second bike that can win races, give Ron a call at 604-462-9071 and you too can go fast.


We'd like to thank our sponsors, Screamin' Eagle Performance Parts, Mission Springs Pub, Greg Coen Motor Company, V.P.Racing Fuels, HeadQuarters, Class Glass, Delkron and Len Hall of H.D. of P.G. for supplying the trophies. A big thanks to the fans and people of P.G. for putting up with us and of course the staff of N.C.M.P.


Till next time

Brian Healy
Starter - C.M.D.R.A.