Snowmobile Drag Races

Snowmobile Drag Races

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

Returning for the second consecutive year, Vegreville Speedway’s Snowmobile Drag Races tore it up at the Vegreville Regional Museum on March 16th.

Just a couple short months before the summer races kick off again, the snowmobile races raised some off-season fun using a snow road created by the Town of Vegreville behind the museum, 30 racers and 65 spectators enjoyed a day full of sleds, snow, and even a little mud. These guests came from as far as Lethbridge and Fort MacMurray

“The magic number is 32 for cars or sleds,” said Speedway president Kendall Freed, “So we were actually right in there for numbers.”

Freed said that what made the difference that was necessary to bring back the races was in part to do with the venue, but mostly volunteers. “It’s what every event needs… good volunteers who take initiative to give energy to an event make all the difference.”

Kendall Freed said that these snowmobile races were a great opportunity for Vegreville Speedway and all lovers of drag racing to get together and look

forward to the already-scheduled spring/summer season.

Among the regular and racing snowmobiles of various sizes, there were also 5 vintage and 6 kid’s sleds racing.

The museum was open throughout the day so that people could go inside, and hotdogs were served outside for those who came to watch the races.

“We chose one of the nicest Saturdays in these past few weeks,” said Freed, “so it was nice to have a warm sunny day. People enjoyed it, and we played in the snow.”

Winner of the youth class was Ariana Klammer driving an Arctic Cat ZR 200, with the runner up Tyler Gallant from Sherwood Park driving a Polaris 120 and semi-finalist Clay Ziegler driving an Arctic Cat 120.

Winner of the Vintage class was Jeff Michaelchuk, driving an Arctic Cat El Tigre 6000. Runner up was Kris Klammer, driving an Arctic Cat Jag 440, with the semi-finalist Darren Berezan, driving a John Deere Sportfire.

For the King of the Hill competition, the winner was Dustin Gegolick driving a Ski-doo MXZ, with the runner-up

Kris Klammer, driving an Arctic Cat Alpha One.

And finally, in the Main Class, Kendall Freed won driving a Ski-doo Summit. Runner up was Lee Laniuk, also driving a Ski-doo Summit, and semi-finalist was Alyshia Freed, driving a Polaris RMK.

Sponsors for the event were RJV, Evolution Construction, Outlaw Allterrain, Saskiw Mechanical, Veg. Mechanical and the Lakeland REA.