COVER Dan Mackenzie rides the Stake Lake oval on Jan. 25, 2014 THIS PAGE Mike Dupuis takes corner one by force at the Stake Lake ice races on Feb. 2, 2014 OPPOSITE Steve Stites speaks with fellow racers following a race-ending crash
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ON THE INSIDE Feature profile, ice racer Steve Stites, p. 5
2014 Stake Lake ice races results and point totals, p. 6
ABOUT THE PUBLICATION RIDE Greater Kamloops was created as coursework for Thompson Rivers University’s journalism program. The magazine was designed, written and illustrated by Sean Brady. Special thanks to Steve Stites, Barry Rokosh, Kent Antoniak, Ken McClelland and the work of the Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association. Published April 2014 at Thompson Rivers University. All rights reserved.
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Steve Stites gets his #78 KTM to dig into the ice on a sunny race day at Stake Lake during the 2014 ice races.
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RETURNING TO FORM IN A CHANGED LANDSCAPE
A long-time Kamloops rider makes his return to ice racing Story and photos by Sean Brady
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teve Stites took his usual inside line through corner one, trying, but unable to juggle the delicate balance between traction and throttle. The front wheel of his #78 KTM washed out, as bike and rider hit the ice and began to slide. Halfway to the edge of the race track, where the ice is covered in snow wash, the #73 bike of Shawn Drennan collided with Stites’ bike. The was a remarkable hang time as Drennan flew through the air, still clinging to his bike before crashing nose-first into the chewed up ice surface. Stites, now 36, has been riding motocross since 1991, and has since been involved in the sport in one way or another. “Anything that involves racing bikes, I’m into it,” Stites said. That “anything” includes motocross, ice racing, supermoto, enduro and crosscountry. “I grew up on a farm, so when I got home from school, I got off the bus, went home and rode trails until it was dark.” While working at Interior Motorcycles on the North Shore in Kamloops, Stites came across a bike that had specially studded tires set for ice racing. That’s all it took to grab his interest. “I thought ’Wow, this is so cool. I want to try that.’ So I went out and got some tires and went out racing. I’ve been hooked ever since.” At age 16, Stites forged his mother’s signature to allow him to go ice racing. It was the start of an ice racing career that is still going – a career that he resumed in Kamloops this year after a 10-year absence from the sport. For the first 12 years of his career as an ice racer, Stites went from a junior, riding a 125cc bike, to an open class pro, competing against the likes of veteran rider and 2013 Canadian Ice Race Nationals champion Dan Mackenzie. “I finished ice racing in ’04, and I still
hadn’t beat Dan Mackenzie – but I was hot on his heels. I’d win a moto here and there.” Ice racing has been an event in Kamloops since 1972, and the Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association (GKMA) has long been involved, supporting, organizing and hosting the races since 1988. On Facebook, Stites is one of the nearly 600 members in the GKMA group, and he lauded the group for the support it puts behind local talent. The club has been around for more than 35 years and consists of an off-road division, a motocross division and an ice racing division. The GKMA is currently responsible for more than 142 kilometres of signed and marked track in the Greater Kamloops area, with another 400 km in queue for legalization via the provincial government. According to club documents, its members logged more than 2,000 hours’ worth of maintenance and construction on the region’s trails.
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Anything that involves racing bikes, I’m into it.” Steve Stites
Stites certainly benefits from the group’s efforts, but focused more on what it did for the riding community, pointing to its fundraising efforts to give riders a chance at success by sending them to competitions and events. “It’s common ground for everybody,” Stites said. Stites, a dual-citizen originally born in Portland, OR, up and moved from Kamloops with his girlfriend, now wife, to Boston, MA in 2005 so that she could attend university. Two years later, the couple moved to Hawaii where Stites got back into the sport, picking up motocross. A machinist by trade, Stites found work
in Hawaii but found himself without a bike. As fate, perhaps, would have it, he found himself in a situation to re-enter the sport. “I found a backpack on the side of the road. It had $2,000 in it. I didn’t know what to do with it and I had it in my vehicle – I was going to turn it into the police – and I was driving down the road and I saw a motorcycle for sale in the back of this guy’s truck. He wanted $2,000 for it… so I bought it.” Stites started racing motocross in Hawaii, the track just a 15-minute drive from his house. With some success, he managed to slowly move up in the ranks, trading up to a better bike, acquiring various sponsors and finishing races mid-pack and even top three. Finally, in 2010, Stites went on to win the Hawaii State Championship. A humble Stites downplayed the accomplishment. “The motocross scene in Hawaii is not that stacked. I race intermediate motocross here – I was racing expert in Hawaii. The talent pool isn’t all that big there.” With the on-going downturn of the U.S. economy and work becoming scarce in Hawaii, Stites made his return to Kamloops. “It was nice to come back to what I had known,” he said. “We probably have one of the best riding environments in the world for riding dirt bikes. We have the space. You can go for an endless ride and not see the same trail twice.” There are some, however, who fear that certain trails may never be seen again by riders. Encroaching land use issues have barred riders from certain trails for fear of grasslands contamination, damage to land and pollution. “Industrial development is probably the biggest threat, for sure,” said Kent Antoniak, GKMA land use chair. Antoniak has been with the club for at least 10 years, and has been loosely involved with every land use and vehicle
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registration issue in the province during that time. His involvement stemmed from his work in forestry. In 1985 he came across a trail system developed by the club, and saw that the threat of logging loomed ever closer. He decided to be proactive and approached the government for some kind of protection. He’s worked closely with the government ever since. Many of the trails around Kamloops were created by independent third parties, but the “who” is less important than the “where” – many of them, some almost 20 years old, are on agricultural lease land, where the GKMA has no tenure or trail agreements. Closures to these lands are often at the whim of those who hold the lease. Antoniak pointed to the Noble Creek and Barnhartvale riding areas as areas potentially at risk, but closures to Crown land can also be an issue. As an example, Antoniak mentioned the Lac du Bois grasslands north of Kamloops. Ken McClelland, former GKMA land use chair and now president, wrote to Kamloops MLA Claude Richmond in 2006 to protest closures near Merritt. “These closures have been undertaken, in my opinion, without due process and/ or consultation vis-à-vis land-use planning with all of the stakeholders involved, and particularly with the GKMA. “It is difficult to imagine this industry being able to continue to grow if lack
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of access to public land inhibits this growth,” McClelland wrote. Today, as president of both the GKMA and the B.C. Off-road Motorcycle Association, McClelland continues his work to prevent closures by working closely with the government. Steve Stites In April 2013, McClelland met with Todd Stone to discuss land use issues further. “I emphasized with Minister Stone that off-road motorized recreation contributes something like $1 billion annually to the provincial economy, and that it is a growth sector in the tourism industry,” McClelland said in a press release. The issue is apparent to riders, especially those like Stites who have ridden in Kamloops since many of these trails were created. Stites recalled a number of riding areas that are no longer accessible, though it’s unclear if some of them were legal to begin with. “We’re definitely getting shut down. That’s for sure,” Stites said. Antoniak also pointed to bad decisions by irresponsible riders and partiers, leading to complaints by those who occupy or otherwise legally use the land. “ATVs, dirt bikes, parties (grad parties are huge), burning cars, skeet shooting – they have finally had enough of that, so they’ve brought it to the forefront and said ‘enough is enough.’ And so now it’s a publicized area and known that it’s shut down, but it never really was open to begin with.
We’re definitely getting shut down. That’s for sure.”
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ABOVE Steve Stites battles Michael Griffiths Jr. around the corner RIGHT TOP The open pro class keeps a tight group into the first corner RIGHT BOTTOM Riders compete in the end of season wheelie contest
It’s just that it was tolerated,” Antoniak said. “Dirt bikers are, stereotypically, badasses, but in the end we’re just people, too, and the majority of us just like to be out there having fun. Nobody is out there to wreck anything or ruin it for anybody else,” Stites said. Stake Lake doesn’t seem to be at risk, so mechanical problems notwithstanding, Stites is guaranteed at least five weeks of riding each year. The thrill of ice racing will keep him coming back, even though this year, his racing season – crashes and all – was a bit of a disappointment. “I wanted to do better. I know I can hang with the top guys, but I think the best I did was second place in the open class. Next year, I’ll be ready. This year was kind of shaking the cobwebs off and working the bugs out of the bikes.” Stites recovered from his spectacular crash. He got up, brushed himself off and straightened his handle bars. He was back out on the ice racing in the next round. The thrill of racing alone seems to give him satisfaction, and the risk of life and limb only adds to the excitement. “It is dangerous – but that’s the whole fun of it. You go out there and you risk your life – there’s a possibility of death of dismemberment – but when you’re done you feel so alive.”
dasdsads
2014 B.C. ICE RACING SERIES AT STAKE LAKE Point Totals Open Pro Dan Mackenzie Michael Griffiths Jr. Dean Todd Mike Griffiths
213 174 82 82
250 Pro 60 Michael Griffiths Jr. 61 Mike Griffiths 14 Dan Mackenzie
207 143 132
250 Intermediate 22 Jorrit Koedooder 12 Kyle Parker 49 Okke Koedooder
195 154 114
Novice 20 Ray Keller 767 Brock Haywood 7 Brett Cote
204 150 66
Veteran 25 Al Jenkins 11 Stu Patton 14 Ronnie Helgeson
204 159 142
5 60 33 61
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#25 Al Jenkins rounds corner two on the last day of competition, with points leader Dan Mackenzie in pursuit.
RIDE Greater Kamloops – Written and produced April 2014. All rights reserved.