Blizzard Bowl brings snowbike racing to area
Race set Sunday at Fossil Bowl motocross track near Clarkia
A snowbile race like this one will be held at the Fossil Bowl motocross track near Clarkia on Sunday.
It's one of the fastest growing motor sports in the world, but local opportunities to ride snowbikes on tracks with jumps, bumps and banked turns are few and far between.
That changes Sunday, with the inaugural Blizzard Bowl snowbike race at Fossil Bowl motocross track near Clarkia. Event promoters EC Enterprises and Stix & Stones Off Road will put on what is believed to be one of the first snowbike events to be held at an established dirt bike race track.
"It's going to be on the motocross track, which is pretty unprecedented," said Eric Christiansen of Lewiston.
His company puts on popular motocross and demolition derbies at the Lewiston Roundup grounds. He said people have been clamoring for a snowbike event.
"There is not a lot of snowbike races anywhere," Christiansen said. "One of the biggest ones in the nation is at McCall, and it's in two weeks."
But most competitions featuring snowbikes - motorcycles converted into snow machines by swapping the front wheel for a ski and the rear wheel for a track - are generally held on groomed courses that lack the thrilling jumps and whoop-dee-doos featured in typical motocross events.
"A groomer can't build a jump, so you have what you have - corners, straights and a couple of bumps, but no dedicated jumps," Christiansen said. "We are going to use 65 to 70 percent of the track."
The competition will feature five snowbike classes - pro, expert, veteran (for those age 40 and older), women's and amateur. The pros will compete for a $2,500 purse to be split by the top five finishers. The Blizzard Bowl also will feature a snowmobile competition. Categories include short track (for sleds with 136-inch tracks and 600-cc motors or smaller), long track (sleds with 700-cc engines or smaller), long track sleds with 1,000-cc engines or smaller, and a women's event with no engine-size or track-length restrictions.
Christiansen said there is plenty of snow at the Fossil Bowl and the forecast is calling for more prior to the event.
"Snow is not going to be an issue at all and the weather for the weekend looks pretty good - partly sunny and 38 to 39 degrees. For spectators, that is great."
Kits for converting a regular dirt bike into a snowbike are available on the market, and they typically run from about $3,000 to $9,000, said Guy Johnson of Guy's Outdoors in Lewiston. He said interest in snowbikes has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Many people are getting into the sport because they find the riding easy and comfortable.
"Every year we have a lot of snowmobilers converting. The reason is the ease of it. A lot of the older guys are going to snowbikes because they are just easier to ride and less stressful on the body."
Johnson said he wasn't much interested in snowbiking until he tried one.
"I was amazed at how easy it is. It's basically just as easy as riding a motorcycle on the road and the terrain you can go on - you can go across a steep hillside you couldn't do on a snowmobile. You just sit on the seat and go."
Getting a conversion kit also allows dirt bike fans to ride year-round. And unlike riding in the summer, snowbikes aren't restricted to trails.
"It's like trail riding with no trail," Christiansen said. "It's just awesome. You make your own trail."
He said one reason there aren't many snowbike events held at dirt bike tracks is most tracks are at low elevation. The Fossil Bowl is unique in that it's located at a place that receives ample snowfall.
"This might be precedent-setting going forward," he said.
Riders can sign up the day of the event. The cost is $60 for participants and $10 for spectators. Practice starts at 9 a.m. and the racing will begin at 11. Christian said the event should wrap up by 3 p.m.
More information is available at www.stixstonesoffroad.com.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 9:08AM 
