The 2017 AMA Ice Race Grand Championship is scheduled for Feb. 17-19 in Cadillac, Mich., and will feature a grand prix race on Friday in addition to oval track racing on Saturday and Sunday.
“The GP has been getting popular with the riders, so we thought we would change things up this year,” said promoter Jeremiah Sherman of White Lake Racing. “The sport is evolving. And we are trying to make this a 21st Century event.”
The AMA Ice Race Grand Championship, begun in 2006, features classes for riders from 4 years old to 50-plus competing on bikes that range from lightly modified off-road machines to full-on, purpose-built ice racers. Racers modify a variety of machines to run on frozen lakes and ponds using off-road tires, often studded with hundreds of sheet-metal-style screws.
“These riders will be racing on 10 to 12 inches of solids ice,” Sherman said. “And 10 inches of ice will support a locomotive.”
Riders battle for AMA National No. 1 plates in a number of classes. The top riders at the event also will compete for the AMA Ice Racer of the Year Award, given to the most impressive rider on the ice, while the youth riders will chase the honor of AMA Youth Ice Racer of the Year.
Sherman said he expects 450 to 500 entries this year.
“This is the one event where all the fastest riders from all the different disciplines come together to see who really is the fastest,” Sherman said. “There are no other competing events during the winter to draw them away. So we are expecting some really great competition.”
For more information: www.americanmotorcyclist.com/Racing/Ice-Racing or www.whitelakeracing.com.
