Well not sure to say good news or bad news!!! The ice is thick enough to safely race at this point. We met with local help today to look over options. Our normal access has opened up and is not in good shape. There is a bridge just north of that at the sportsman access, but there is worry of the incline and if we can get trailers down it. We went to the south and the public access has a 4ft ice heave in front of it. Parking on shore along 169 or across the highway is not an option due to the safety of our kids. The south public access has plenty of parking to hold us all in a safe area for the kids. The Ice heave is the problem. I have an excavator that is going to go up tomorrow and try clear this heave for us so we can race. As of now plan on parking on shore. This may change but I would plan on shore parking. Conditions are day to day up there with heaves and moving ice so please look for updates daily. I will monitor ice all week. Our back up plans are not options. Wisconsin possibility the ice is too bad. The minnesota options the sheriff will not issue permits due to ice. Garrison is our only option for racing this weekend. We are going full speed ahead on it, but this could all change thursday/friday. We will have members up there thursday and friday to update to the exact hour if something prevents us from having a race. Questions give me a call. 612-242-5046. Also a reminder this will be a two day seperate race event, Sat. and Sun.

Thanks Jon

Well got some bad news today from guys that are putting on our race with the commercial club in Garrison. It sounds like the ice is diminshing quickly and there is water on top of the ice now. Also dealing with ice heaves moving ice etc………… Right now our biggest concern is getting on the lake. If we can get trucks and trailers through the access and on the lake we feel like we can make a race happen. We are going up tomorrow to look at the access and the lake. We have lots of people willing to help make this work. A call will be made tomorrow though if we are going to shoot for Garrison or not. I have spoke with other venues for off ice parking today if we need it. Garrison is not an option to park off the ice. We are working on many different options right now. My commitment to you guys is I will keep you posted daily to everything that I know so you can plan your weekend. Number one goal is to race safely this weekend…………

Thanks

Jon

As of yesterday ice and lake conditions are looking good. The weather forecast has some curveballs with rain, warm weather and snow forecasted. Right now we are planning on moving ahead with the back to back race and build two tracks over the course of Thursday and Friday. We will have a few members up there making sure we are doing all we can to ensure the race happens. I will update throughout the week as we know more.

The ice has diminished enough to where we are for sure parking on shore or the beach. Please look for direction in the morning on this. With the early start we need to make sure everyone is checked in by 8am. Please make sure this happens to ensure we can start racing right away. Below is the the address of Oles Bar. This is where we will access the lake. It is behind the Bar across the RR tracks. We will see you in the morning!!!! We will be on the ice until this evening. We will post if there is reason to cancel or postpone asap.

Oles Bar: Directions/Address

Edit

W 3515 State Rd 35

Ice is still looking good in Maiden Rock. Our plan is still to build the track tonight as the sun goes down. If there are any concerns tonight, I will update the website. Otherwise we are planning on racing tomorrow. In the best interest of the track and ice conditions, we will be parking on or near shore to keep weight away from the track. We will park people in the morning. We are going to skip hot laps this week. The drivers meeting will start at 830 am sharp. Racing will start at 8:45 am. We are going to take advantage of the nice weather and hopefully finishing early. We will do the trophies on the ice following racing. Bring your grills etc! It should be fun to enjoy this weather!!! I will also get GPS today of the landing and post to the website for directions.

Maiden Rock still looks like a go as of today. It is being checked everyday and things have stayed the same. We are still planning on building the track late friday night. We will update the site Friday night. Please be prepared for wet conditions during the race day also we will be starting earlier to try move the race through. I will give updates to that this week.

Looking ahead to Garrison and the rest of the season. Garrison has 30″ of Ice and it does have snow cover protecting it from this warm sun that is forecasted. As of right now we are going to plan on two separate races the 25th and 26th in anticipation we wont get in both march races. This was discussed at the fall meeting as a fall back plan because of running into mid march with the schedule. With the weather we are having this is our best bet to make sure we get in our races. That is the plan right now. The commercial club in Garrison is ok with this and Crow wing County Sheriff confirmed with me today this would be ok to run a two day race. So that is the plan. Please contact me with questions .

Jon

Happy Spring!!!! We have been checking ice since last week at Maiden Rock. I just received another report at noon today. We have 17-18″ of good ice with no water and minimal snow. We are going to continue to try and hold a race this weekend as of now, but we are at the mercy of mother nature at this point. There is extensive shore parking if we need to be on shore, and we will have shuttles lined up to bring sleds on the ice for all families if we can not park on the ice. Looking at other venues we will be at the mercy of the weather where ever we decide to go with surface ice due to the temps. Our plan as of now is to monitor the ice for changes daily this week. We plan to have 4 or 5 members setting up the track and trouble shooting any problems late friday as the temps drop at sunset, we feel this is the best chance to make sure we have the best chance of racing this week. Potentially we will also be looking at options such as moving the race order, moving start times up, running two tracks, and eliminating hot laps. These decisions will all be made late in the week. Please be checking the website often this week as we monitor the ice conditions.

Thanks

Jon

Saturday Race Order

All

Please see the note from Donna with WKCR regarding registration for next weekend below:

Good morning race families.

There will be a fishing contest put on to benefit suicide awareness happening at the same time as our race Saturday on North Center Lake. The kids contest will be held from 10-12 pm. The adults contest will be from 12-3pm. There will also be silent auction raffle items. Please check out www.jakeshope1994.com for more information. This event is put on by former members of our KPI group families and friends.