Already considered one of the best motocross tracks in the province from a spectator's point of view, Blackwater Motocross Park is now longer, wider and more visible than ever.
An influx of heavy equipment donated by Forbes Industrial Contracting, the volunteer labour of Prince George Motocross Association members, and the club's commitment to invest money in infrastructure has resulted in some significant improvements to the facility located on Crown land, 30 kilometres southwest of the city off Blackwater Road.
A new concrete start gate wide enough to handle 40 bikes has been built close to the road entrance to the park and the surrounding trees have been cleared to make the dirt track 20 per cent larger.
"The viewing is spectacular and the pits have been doubled, people won't recognize it when they come in there," said B.C. Motocross Association president Angela Volding. "There's a bigger staging area and the start actually goes up the hill and goes back a bit more [to a newly-cleared area southwest of the original track]. They've added on to it and the whole thing's been widened."
Motocross fans will get their first glimpses of the new track this weekend when the club hosts its first of two Prince George Yamaha/BCMA events this season. Racing starts at 9 a.m. both days.
Recognizing the huge distances and costs involved for traveling riders, the BCMA has been split this year into two separate race series. The south series includes Ashcroft, Kamloops and Williams Lake, while the north series includes Terrace, Smithers, Chetwynd and Prince George. Quesnel is part of both series. Riders who compete in both series are eligible for Rode Warrior prizes for riders who gain the most points in their respective classes.
Part of the reason for all the changes is to accommodate a new transponder tracking system the local club plans to utilize at the BCMA Printwerx championships on Labour Day weekend. Each rider will have an electronic box about the size of a thick iPhone mounted on the fork of the bike, which will make the timing of races less labour intensive. The Prince George Motocross Association bought 60 transponders which will be rented to riders. The club has already buried the electrical conduit needed at the Blackwater track to make the system work.
"This year we're just trying them out, and next year we'll start running them at every race," Voldeng said. "It gives the riders much more information, it gives them their lap times, their fastest lap times so they can compare them with everybody else."
Blackwater will be the site of the series-ending Printwerx BCMA championship races set for Aug. 30-31.
"For that race we'll have a lot of guys coming down from the Peace region," said Voldeng. "We'll have guys coming up from [Vancouver] Island this year, because of all the changes we've made at the track."
