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World Championship Ice Racing!
Friday January 30, 2009
by Kyle MacKinnon
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photos by Kyle MacKinnon |
A nervous Harley
Dunn stood beside his motor bike in the
bowels of the Sarnia Sports and
Entertainment Centre.
The 15-year-old leaned over to a young boy
not eight years younger than himself. "And
what is you name," Dunn said as he signed an
autograph.
Dunn was less than a half hour away from his
first indoor, short track race. "I am a
little nervous," the Petrolia-native said.
"It is a lot different riding a 450 and
being indoors." |
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Despite his young age,
Dunn is one of the most decorated junior
racers in the world, but that would only
barely prepare him for his race against the
big boys.
"Smaller track means more
contact," he said. "I just tried to do my
best and tried to be fast."
He accredited Steve
Beatie (who is one of his sponsors) for
helping him prepare for the hometown event.
Beatie stood anxiously in the pits as Dunn
made his way to the ice for his first race.
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"He is going to do well," he told
Sarniasports.com before Dunn placed second
in his opening heat.
It is the first the that
the World Championship Ice Racing Series has
come to Sarnia in its 33 years of existence.
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"The reception has been
great," president and founder of the series
Gary Densford said.
"We like to bring this
event to Canada. And there is such a great
proportion of Canadian and U.S. riders here
so that always makes it interesting."
The riders (of both modified
quads and dirt bikes) put on a show at the
SSEC, with most high impact, bumping and
grinding races lasting less than 30 seconds.
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"We want to continue to bring this racing to Canada,"
Densford said. "We've been doing it for 20 years."
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