eICE RACE
e
AMA Amateur National Championship_Ic_eR_ac_es
_
Tom Brettrager (87), Erin Early (1) and I.S.D.E. rider Jeff Fredette (13) battled in the 250cc A Solo class. Brettrager finished second, Early was third and FIe4ette slid to sixth.
Winners Kim and Kriss Lyons (2) topped Daniel and Timothy Sams (33) in the Open Sidecar class.
Piekos chills the competition at Gladwin
By Dennis Mashue
Photos by Nick Devinck
ALBRIGHT SHORPS, MI, JAN. 24
16
arry Piekos turned a mid-pack start
into gold, as he capitalized on the
misfortune of his competitors to
capture the Senior class championship
L
at the AMA Amateur National
Championship Ice Races, held at the
Gladwin County ke Carnival Raceway.
Consistency was the key to Piekos' suc-
cess, as he plugged away aboard his
Yamaha TT600 while his competitors
took chances and paid the consequences. In his championship-winning
ride, Woodstock, illinois' Piekos defeated numerous local Michigan riders, as
well as multi-time Grand National
Championship race winner and former
Harley-Davidson factory team rider
Corky Keener.
Competitors came from as far away
as New York, Connecticut and
Wisconsin, as well as Indiana and
Illinois, bu t the majority of the racers
were from Michigan, the home of
motorcycle ice racing. Regardless of
where they came from, all the racers
came to the track with one thing in mind
- the hopes that their performances at
the winner-take-all event would result
in a number one plate.
The Senior race got off to a rough
start, as local rider Robert Butzier parted
company with his motorcycle in the first
turn and brought out the red flag.
Butzier was uninjured, but was sent to
the penalty line at the restart.
"When I crashed I was hit by two
bikes," said Butzier as he displayed the
slashes on the back of his riding suit.
"Then I had to start from the penalty
line. I was just determined to pass as
many guys as I could."
On the restart, Dan Crawford and
Keener blitzed off the starting line and
immediately locked into a heated battle
for the number-one spot. Jim Bauerle
and John Zwerican battled over third,
while Piekos and Butzier rode like madmen while trying to make up for poor
starts.
In their race for first, Crawford and
Keener set a blistering pace and began
to pull away from the rest of the field.
As the two ran their own race out front,
Piekos and Butzier sliced their way
through the pack with a vengeance.
Piekos motored into fourth, just behind
