Hello!

On February 21st at the Grand Prix de Valcourt, the 450cc ATV were introduced to the program. Being a factory Can-am racer and Valcourt being the home town of the Can-am brand, I had to line up for the race and be READY. I am new to the Ice racing world but I did a few race during the winter and I was competitive right away. To say that I was HOOKED is a good word because I have a blast doing it and also the traction we get with the Ice screw is just amazing. The GP de Valcourt is quite an event, more than 10 000 die hard fans line up the fence to watch Snowmobile Ice racing, Snowcross racing, Moto Ice racing and now the ATV race. The fans favorite is definetely snowmobile Champ 440 racers Jacques Villeneuve Sr., brother of late F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve and uncle of Jacques Villeneuve Jr., the F1 and Indy driver. But on that weekend Jacques Villeneuve Sr. is all the name you need. He is one heck of a racer at some 56 years old.  Check out the news on his scary 100mph crash in the final on Sunday:
http://fr.canoe.ca/sports/nouvelles/archives/2010/02/20100221-203228.html The lastest news on him are good. I witnessed the crash from the side line and it froze my blood!
The race track was a 5/8 mile man-made ice speedway that is so big and long that you get dizzy watching it, but racing it you get one of the best feeling! ATVs were getting close to 80mph at the end of the straightaway and not slowing down much for the corner.
Competition was fierce with some ICE race specialist like JF Theriault, Karl Lebanc, Dany Fiset, PY Deneault and also Jasmin Plante, ready to race and the old timer Sylvain “Arsene” Arsenault. All in all, 15 quad racers were invited for the event. I made sure my Can-am DS 450 had the best possible setup and all the power we could get out of it because horsepower would be the name of the game.  I actually made a special drag style pipe that ran out on the side of the nerf bars, my mechanic Mathiew gave the OK after some Dyno runs that were screaming loud but hey, that’s what the fans like! And the sound was still no match to the Open piped Champ 440 two-stroke snowmobiles, now that’s something!
Practice went really good, I changed the gearing a bit after practice 1 as I was hitting the rev limiter in 5th gear with a already tall gearing! I quickly checked off the Wideband to get the EFI on the edge and my Rotax engine was running perfect. The racers were split in two groups for the Qualifier. I got a good jump out of the gate and made a drag race to the first corner with Dany Fiset, just sneeking him on the inside for the Holeshot. With a clear view, I could hold my line to the checkered flag for the win.
Final race, I had the first pick and chose a straight line to my race groove in the first corner but it was young gun Marc-Antoine Auger on the inside with the best start and the Holeshot in Corner 1. I was able to use the fast race groove to edge him out of Corner 2. The race was on! I ran the nine first lap like a clock hitting my marks like a Nascar driver until lap 10 of 12. I went wide a bit and hit some loose snow and I lost some time. Number 391 JF Theriault was on the move and made some time on me but I was able to keep it together for the last 2 laps to edge him for the win. Let’s just say that the BRP/Ski-doo/Can-am fans went crazy. It was a good feeling to deliver a big win like that in BRP home turf, or rather home ice I should say!
A thumbs-up to the events promoter for including quads at this event. It was a great way to showcase some ATV racing! They know how to put an event together with great racing, demo rides, games for the kids and a true bragging rights atmosphere! See you next year!
Check out the ATV qualifier:
http://www.flagworld.com/photos/v/2010/2010-02-21/Videos/2010-02-21+-+Grand+Prix+Ski-Doo+de+Valcourt+-+VTT+web.wmv.html
Richard Pelchat
www.rpevolution.com

Richard

Hello!

On February 21st at the Grand Prix de Valcourt, the 450cc ATV were introduced to the program. Being a factory Can-am racer and Valcourt being the home town of the Can-am brand, I had to line up for the race and be READY. I am new to the Ice racing world but I did a few race during the winter and I was competitive right away. To say that I was HOOKED is a good word because I have a blast doing it and also the traction we get with the Ice screw is just amazing. The GP de Valcourt is quite an event, more than 10 000 die hard fans line up the fence to watch Snowmobile Ice racing, Snowcross racing, Moto Ice racing and now the ATV race. The fans favorite is definetely snowmobile Champ 440 racers Jacques Villeneuve Sr., brother of late F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve and uncle of Jacques Villeneuve Jr., the F1 and Indy driver. But on that weekend Jacques Villeneuve Sr. is all the name you need. He is one heck of a racer at some 56 years old.  Check out the news on his scary 100mph crash in the final on Sunday:

http://fr.canoe.ca/sports/nouvelles/archives/2010/02/20100221-203228.html The lastest news on him are good. I witnessed the crash from the side line and it froze my blood!

The race track was a 5/8 mile man-made ice speedway that is so big and long that you get dizzy watching it, but racing it you get one of the best feeling! ATVs were getting close to 80mph at the end of the straightaway and not slowing down much for the corner.

Competition was fierce with some ICE race specialist like JF Theriault, Karl Lebanc, Dany Fiset, PY Deneault and also Jasmin Plante, ready to race and the old timer Sylvain “Arsene” Arsenault. All in all, 15 quad racers were invited for the event. I made sure my Can-am DS 450 had the best possible setup and all the power we could get out of it because horsepower would be the name of the game.  I actually made a special drag style pipe that ran out on the side of the nerf bars, my mechanic Mathiew gave the OK after some Dyno runs that were screaming loud but hey, that’s what the fans like! And the sound was still no match to the Open piped Champ 440 two-stroke snowmobiles, now that’s something!

Richard2

Practice went really good, I changed the gearing a bit after practice 1 as I was hitting the rev limiter in 5th gear with a already tall gearing! I quickly checked off the Wideband to get the EFI on the edge and my Rotax engine was running perfect. The racers were split in two groups for the Qualifier. I got a good jump out of the gate and made a drag race to the first corner with Dany Fiset, just sneeking him on the inside for the Holeshot. With a clear view, I could hold my line to the checkered flag for the win.

Final race, I had the first pick and chose a straight line to my race groove in the first corner but it was young gun Marc-Antoine Auger on the inside with the best start and the Holeshot in Corner 1. I was able to use the fast race groove to edge him out of Corner 2. The race was on! I ran the nine first lap like a clock hitting my marks like a Nascar driver until lap 10 of 12. I went wide a bit and hit some loose snow and I lost some time. Number 391 JF Theriault was on the move and made some time on me but I was able to keep it together for the last 2 laps to edge him for the win. Let’s just say that the BRP/Ski-doo/Can-am fans went crazy. It was a good feeling to deliver a big win like that in BRP home turf, or rather home ice I should say!

A thumbs-up to the events promoter for including quads at this event. It was a great way to showcase some ATV racing! They know how to put an event together with great racing, demo rides, games for the kids and a true bragging rights atmosphere! See you next year!

Check out the ATV qualifier:

http://www.flagworld.com/photos/v/2010/2010-02-21/Videos/2010-02-21+-+Grand+Prix+Ski-Doo+de+Valcourt+-+VTT+web.wmv.html

Richard Pelchat

www.rpevolution.com