The Side Show

That’s right.  El Creepo.  That’s what I like to call him when I can’t think of anything else clever.  It’s a fallback, sort of like a pinch hitter.  It’s one of those things you bust out when you know you just need it to work.  And that is what we busted out in Beausejour.

I won’t do a long narrative on the race but I sure as hell need to say that there was quite an unusual amount of really fast iron at the race.  And like most trips to Beausejour, despite the occasional stuffer, essentially no one got hurt.  Joe Fjerstad included! (I mention him because if you don’t see him crash you wouldn’t know he did since he doesn’t let no stinkin’ injury get in the way of his racing!)  But anyway, it was a good weekend that capped off our season just the way we wanted it to—with another CPTC Victory.

Our 600 sled was fast as usual but not fast enough to win the race.  When you run a sled 3 times a year and keep moving it from chassis to chassis, you just never really get it dialed and that was our own fault.  But our 440 on the other hand was fast enough to win and did.  Yeah sure, DW derailed and he was driving one helluva race in front of us after passing us around lap 6 or so.  But again, back to my point about old reliable—you need to finish before you can win.  And some races are won simply because of attrition so you have to be ready for the fight.  That’s why we had our War Pig out there.  Yep—that’s her name.  After the final she knocked a cool 417 lbs on the scale.  Nice I know!  We built that sled tough and just kept adding stuff after we realized how much it sucks to break in a final.  (See Groundhogs Day Post)  So while she may have been fat-she was a happy fat which is what we all want right??....

The Main Event-Mechanics on Ice

BUT WAIT!  That’s not the story I came here to tell.  Instead I want to tell you about one (freaky?) fast mo-fo on a black T&N Sprinter.  Yep, you may have guessed it but for those of you who didn’t I am talking about myself in the mechanics race.  I got my first victory in my second mechanics race at Beausejour.  Last year after a wicked out-thundering by Mike Houle on Bewcyks sprinter I decided to get one of my one to race.  So I strolled over to Nick VanStrydonks trailer and asked to borrow a sled.  Being the great guy he is (and apparently not knowing what a moron I am on snowmobiles or atvs for that matter) he agreed so long as I didn’t stuff it.  Come on! I said—as if I would do such a thing!?!  Regardless, he let me race the sled and it was wicked fast in my opinion.  I got a great holeshot, held off Andy 2 (Fjerstad), and just walked away.  It felt like the sled had been fit to me.  It just handled perfect and was a complete blast to drive. 

And I must add that for the 2nd Annual Hurt Drivers Fund, Barry Bennet and Linzi Fontaine raised around $1300 after a generous donation from Greg Peterson of Shane Peterson’s Dad fame.  Thanks to them and thanks to everyone who donated a sled, sponsored a driver, or raced.  The entry fees went to a great cause and with any luck the fund will keep growing with no one to receive the money on account of being hurt. 

The After Party

No Andy’s Corner from Beausejour would be complete without some sort of reference to beer or partying and this one is no different.  The problem is there is just too much to report and not enough memory to report from!  But like always I’ll try regardless of how many details I leave out.

In the beginning of the weekend Dustin and Brandon’s buddies, Richard and Aaron rolled across the boarder with 2 cases of the most premium of all premium beers: Premium Grain-Belt.  Well if you couldn’t see this one coming, I’ll clue you in—now they are my BEST BUDDIES!  Hell we crossed the border with Miller Lite to trade for some Kokanee.  These geniuses crossed with Premium so they could have either Premium or Kokanee.  Now why didn’t I think of that?  I guess there was no reason to pass on old reliable Premium for the more exotic Kokanee.  Sitting here now it seems so simple but in planning for the season finale it just never occurred to me that I could have my cake and eat it too.

So we all partook in the brew this weekend in even intervals and they wisely kept enough from me that it didn’t all disappear on Saturday night like it would have otherwise.  We enjoyed Premium until it ran out just before we went to the banquet on Sunday.  Well it was good while it lasted!  After that we had huge-almost Canadian size amounts of Labatts at the banquet then deciding we didn’t have enough yet we rolled out to Finsky’s to see about emptying their coolers.  I don’t know if we ever accomplished our goal but the group their including Cory Ewing, the Bettins, the entire Chartier group with a very “hip” looking Mike Houle, the Dolezal gang, and of course the Premium Crew. 

All in all it was a great time.  I can’t think of anyone who didn’t have a blast.  And even though it was the end of the season and that part kind of sucks, I’m happy to see how well the entire group of racers get along.  That’s what our sport could use to get this train picking up speed.  We need to get along in order to move ahead.  We can always have on the track rivalries but when the racing is over we need to get together and make our sport as big as it can be.  And after this weekend I have no reason to doubt that it will happen.  So I guess once again it comes down to old reliable—when you want to make friends—Party!