Four-year-old Remmy Levasseur sits at the start line on his Z120, getting advice from his dad Cody, before taking off down the track at the North Bay Snowmobile Speed Runs.
With some stops and starts along the way, Remmy topped out at a speed of 12 kmph.
“It’s cool,” the youngster said after his race.
He represents the fourth generation in his family to compete.
Dad Cody has been competing since he was seven. That was 20 years ago.
“We travel all winter and all summer, and he comes along. He wanted to try it out, so he is on his second machine now,” said Cody who pointed out they have a racetrack in their backyard.
“We’ve got it going 12 miles per hour and we’ve burnt five tanks of gas this week practicing. After school, we come here, and we practice. We have a tether cord and a brake. In the summer we put wheels on the skis, and he rides around the yard. There aren’t too many young lads out there, but hopefully, there will be more soon.
The North Bay Snowmobile Speed Runs (NBSSR) ran the first of three events in North Bay on Lake Nipissing this weekend.
Last year a winter storm kept many competitors away. On day one of the two-day event, the skies were clear, but it was an extremely cold day.
“Everybody knows it is not a perfect day when it is this cold. We are fortunate the sun is out and there is not a lot of wind, but the lake does move during these cold times. So, the ice keeps shifting all day which, as the day goes on, the track is actually getting rougher from the lake moving,” explained NBSSR owner Claude Levasseur, Remmy’s grandfather.
“We will take the shaver out and we will cut the ice tonight, all night for Sunday’s races.”
Over 100 racers signed up for Saturday’s event.
“We don’t do a point series. It is just each event, and there are 41 classes to race in. We have kids going about four or five miles an hour to the top speed so far today, which is 170 miles per hour,” said Levasseur.
“Everybody has a goal. The 200 miles per hour was been broken a couple of years ago. Even that racer himself, Dave Marshall from Prescott Ontario said his goal was to go 200. He went 200 and he has put the sled away. He said safety is a factor. He is the first in the world to go over 200 mile per hour and he retired right after the race.”
The next weekend event in North Bay is scheduled for February 22-23.
This is NBSSR’s 19th year running events in North Bay.