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Richard
Pelchat Wins Grand Prix de Valcourt
ATV Ice Race on his Can-Am DS450
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Saint-Romuald, Québec (2/23/2010)
- On February 21st at the Grand Prix de Valcourt,
the 450cc ATV were introduced to the program.
Being a factory Can-am racer and Valcourt being
the home town of the Can-am brand, I had to line
up for the race and be READY. I am new to the
Ice racing world but I did a few race during the
winter and I was competitive right away. To say
that I was HOOK is a good word because I have
a blast doing it and also the traction we get
with the Ice screw is just amazing. The GP de
Valcourt is quite an event...more than 10 000
die hard fans line up the fence to watch Snowmobile
Ice racing, Snowcross racing, Moto Ice racing
and now the ATV race.
The race track...a 5/8mile man made ice speedway
that is so big and long that you get dizzy watching
it, racing it you get one a the best feeling!
ATV were getting close to 80mph at the end of
the straightaway and not slowing down much for
the corner.
Competition was stiff with some ICE race specialist
like JF Theriault, Karl Lebanc, Dany Fiset, PY
Deneau, also Jasmin Plante ready to race and the
old timer Sylvain ''Arsene'' Arsenault. All in
all 15 quad racers were invited for the event.
I made sure my Can-am DS 450 had the best possible
setup and all the power we could get out of it
because horsepower would be the name of the game.
I actually made a special drag style pipe that
ran out on the side of the nerf bars, my mechanic
Mathiew gave the OK after some Dyno run...screaming
loud. But hey that what the fans like! And the
sound was still no match to the Open piped Champ
440 two stroke snowmobile, that's somethings!
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Richard
Pelchat reached speeds of nearly 80mph
on the ice
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Practice went really good, I changed the gearing
a bit after practice 1 as I was hitting the rev
limiter in 5th gear with a already tall gearing!!!
I quick check of the Wideband to get the EFI on
the edge and my Rotax engine was running perfect.
The racers were split in two group for the Qualifier.
I got a good jump out of the gate and made a drag
race to the first corner with Dany Fiset, just
sneeking him on the inside for the Holeshot. With
a clear view, I hold my line to the checkered
flag for the win.
Final race, I had the first pick and choose a
straight line to my race groove in the first corner.
But it was young gun Marc-Antoine Auger on the
inside with the best jump and the Holeshot to
the Corner 1, I was able to use the fast race
groove to edge him out of Corner 2. The race was
on! I ran the nine first lap like a clock hitting
my mark like a nascar racers...until lap 10 of
12. I went wide a bit and hit some loose snow
and I lost some time. Number 391 JF Theriault
was on the move and made some time on me. But
I was able to keep it together for the last 2
laps to edge him for the win. Let just say that
the BRP/Ski-doo/Can-am fans went crazy. It was
a good feeling to deliver a big win like that
in BRP home turf....home ice I should say.
A thumbs up to the events promoter for including
quad at this event. It was a great way to show
some ATV racing! They know how to put an event
together with great racing, demo ride, game
for the kids and a true atmosphere of bragging
rights! See you next year!
Special Thanks to
Richard Pelchat 2010 Sponsors:
Can-am, RP Evolution, Vertdure, Location d'outil
beauport, Motoworks, DWT/Goldspeed, Motovan
Xtreme, Forma, Hipertech and the ones that will
line up soon!
Thanks to Bobby Desjardins 64 for the ICE tires
and ZOX helmets for the snowmobile tires. Thanks
to my mechanic Mathiew of all the late night
work. Thanks to all the ICE racers for the help
and input on quad setup. Thanks to Bruno at
PLX for getting some parts quick! A big thanks
to all the people and fans that cheers and help
me go to the races.
www.rpevolution.com
