It was happy trails once again for the Yukon Cross Country Motorcycle Association on Sunday.
The YCCMA hosted its first event of the summer - the Mosquito Harescramble - at the Schirmer Family Ranch in Mount Lorne.
It was an injury-free event with a great turnout and was a good start to the season, said YCCMA president Chris Locke.
“No accidents at all, it was nice and sunny, everybody had a great time, lots of trophies for the kids,” said Locke. “I wouldn’t say it was our biggest event, but certainly the turnout was very big as far as spectators go. There was a lot of people there.”
Thirty-seven riders took part in cross-country endurance races at the event that included a B loop and a more challenging A loop for advanced riders.
It was the first of three events the YCCMA has planned for the season, which will mark the first time the club hosts that many events in a summer since its inaugural year in 2011.
The association in currently preparing an application to take guardianship of a piece land in Whitehorse to run races. One spot they are considering is the “Stinky Lake” area 12 kilometres down Long Lake Road, the location of the YCCMA’s first races.
Having guardianship of the land will allow riders under 16 years of age to ride their bikes within City of Whitehorse limits, which is currently against the law under the Yukon’s Highways Act.
“It’s not a perfect location, and we may end up somewhere else, but it’s certainly one of the tracks we enjoy,” said Locke. “It’s not that we can’t ride there, the kids can’t ride there. So once it becomes our guardianship land, then we’re not encumbered by city bylaws because we’re responsible for insuring anybody there.”
Since the association prides itself on hosting family events, offering races to youngsters, the YCCMA almost didn’t hold any races at all last season. They only held one in August after the Schirmer family offered their property.
The YCCMA has since given up on repealing the law, said Locke.
“That’s no longer a pursuit of ours. We’ve kind of figured out that that is something that is never going to get changed.”
“We’ll be pursuing finding our own area to ride in whether it’s within the city limits or outside city limits on ... territorial government land.”
The next YCCMA race will take place on August 24 and will be followed by a third in September.
For more information find the Yukon Cross Country Motorcycle Association on Facebook.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com
Top three results
Prologue
1st Shawn McFarland (KTM)
2nd Tim Schirmer (KTM)
3rd Sam Schirmer (KTM)
Peewee
1st Landon Locke (KTM)
2nd Cody Adams (Yamaha)
3rd Kya Larkin (KTM)
Mini class
1st Seth Adams (KTM)
2nd Austin Larkin (Kawasaki)
3rd Landon Locke (KTM)
Junior under-15
1st Cole Beaman (Yamaha)
2nd Ethan Davy (Kawasaki)
3rd Dylan Kindervater (Yamaha)
Junior over-15
1st Brody Ryckman (Husqvarna)
2nd Morgan Schmitt (Honda)
3rd Justin Macdougal (Yamaha)
Novice “B”
1st Antje Beaman (Yamaha)
2nd Susanne Moser (Yamaha)
3rd Emma Murphy (Honda)
Intermediate “B”
1st Ben Labelle (n/a)
2nd Brent Law (Yamaha)
Intermediate “A”
1st Jarrid Davy (Yamaha)
2nd Neil Ryckman(Yamaha)
3rd Chris Lane (KTM)
Expert “A”
1st Shawn McFarland (KTM)
2nd Tim Schirmer (KTM)
3rd Sam Schirmer (KTM)