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2009 / 2010 World
Championship ICE Racing ATV Race Report
Unlimited Outlaw Quad Racing
Story By: John Wood & Photos
By: Robert Jesmer
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#1 “Dangerous”
Daniel Bergquist is the 3-time Unlimited
Outlaw Quad ICE Racing World Champion
from Burlington, Iowa
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Ontario, CA (1/10/2010) - The World
Championship Ice Racing series recently landed in
Ontario, California for round five of the 2009-2010
season, bringing with them the Outlaw Quads class.
Ice Speedway Racing added the ¨Unlimited
Quad¨ class in 1985, allowing three and four-wheelers
of all types. The insurance companies quickly
brought an end to the three-wheelers, but the
class nonetheless flourished, remaining true to
their original formula. Rear wheel drive machines
with engines located between the axles and a 50-inch
maximum width are the only real guidelines, leaving
a huge range of choices for competitors.
Most ATVs are set up in traditional flat track
trim, lowered and running sway bars, but the heat
races were alive with some unusual sounds. Most
unique was likely Brock McLeland´s machine,
powered by a straight-piped Suzuki GSX-R1000 street
bike engine. Battling for audio supremacy would
have to be the Harley-Davidson powered ¨Thunderquad;¨
the booming Sportster engine spending most of
it´s time near the rev-limiter. A CRF450R
engine in a 250 quad frame? No problem. Honduki?
Yeah, we´ve got one of those. This class
definitely earns the title ¨Outlaw¨.
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Many
of the ATVs in the Unlimited Outlaw Quad
Class have super powered street bike engines
stuffed into ATVs |
The man to beat for several years now has been
¨Dangerous¨ Daniel Bergquist of West Burlington,
Iowa. He has put together a championship winning
season for the last three years, and entered round
five at Ontario, California in the number one
spot.
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#1
Daniel Bergquist battling for the lead |
Heat races are broken into six-quad, six-lap
races, with an eight-machine LCQ. Bergquist´s
closest rival, Zack “the Maniac” Thomas,
would place first and second in his heat races,
but so would Bergquist. Rookie phenom Nick LeLanne
managed to win both of his heat races, which put
him on pole for the main event, in only his third
event.
But before the Outlaw Quad main event, the Amateur
Quad class had their race. This class is actually
quite interesting, mainly due to the fact that
you never know what you´ll see. Being amateurs,
each event will have different locals on different
machines. Someone with their knees poking out
both sides of a youth ATV may grid beside a lumbering
utility quad, still sporting the winch cable.
Competitors in this class are given far less studs
to install on their tires, which keeps speeds
down, and action pretty intense.
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| The
World ICE Racing Championship Series has
an Amateur class, which is open to everyone
including youth and utility racers, and
it provides a great chance for novice racers
to experience some laps on the ice regardless
of age |
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