The bikes were loud and fast and the track was in prime condition at Xtreme Raceway for the first ever North-South Shootout.
Motorcross riders from across the province gathered at the track just outside of Alix Saturday, 242 total will hit the track over the course of the weekend.
Members of the Alberta Dirt Riders Association (north) and the Alberta Motosports Association (south) are competing at the event Saturday and Sunday.
President of the Alix Motorcross Association Greg Martens said that because the two associations don’t cross paths very often, getting them together for a weekend made sense. And also created some healthy competition.
“It’s been fast, high-energy. It’s been really good. A lot of good competition and they’re definitely taking advantage of it,” Martens said.
“The north and the south don’t race against each other during the season so it’s nice to bring everyone to one location, see new faces and some new competition. It’s just a really good time because you don’t get to see everyone all year except this one race.”
Martens added that after being away from the track for a while, seeing all the smiling faces around the event reminded him of why they love to host races at Xtreme.
“Seeing the smiles on people’s faces. It’s genuinely something that makes everything worth while,” he said.
From competitive to fun, there was a class for everyone at the track on the weekend, including kids as young as 4. Kayden Kerr, 6 , and his brother Colton, 5 hit the track together in the 4-6 mini-moto age group and Kayden was happy with his second place finish.
“I was in seventh, but I came back but I came back impressively,” Kayden said.
From Wainwright, the brothers have travelled all across Alberta this summer to compete, riding in close to 10 races. They both said so far Calgary has been their favourite track.
Of the afternoon motos on Saturday, Joshua Kijewski had the fastest time in the Plus 25 category. In the Vet Junior group, Yvo Schmucki of Red Deer County had the top finish. Zach Wood was the top dog in the Schoolboy 2 category while Josj Duerksen of Wainwright was the fastest racer in Schoolboy 1.
Xtreme will host another race on Sept. 16 for their Vintage Club. Bikes for that race must be from 1989 or earlier. Check out the Xtreme Raceways facebook page for more details.