The hard stuff!
By TMX Archives on 26th Feb 09
THROUGHOUT the cold winter months it might be assumed that there is little opportunity for motocross riders in the Baltic States to ride their bikes at all. With the ground frozen solid for weeks on end and also covered in snow for a lot of the time, you might think that any form of racing would have to wait until the temperature rises in early spring.
Well, if like me, you thought that, you are also wrong. In Latvia there is a six-round Skijoring championship to contest. This is racing solo machines on sheet ice and snow while towing a team mate' on skis.
The sport used to be very popular years ago, but interest had died away until former world champion sidecar passenger, Artis Rasmanis, retired from motocross and virtually single handedly resurrected the sport.
There are five classes taking in age groups from five years of age through to adults and using machines from 65cc up to an Open' class over 250cc.
Some classes have standard road tyres, some have cut tyres and others have spiked tyres. The tracks are between 1,500 and 2,000 meters in length and race duration is 15 minutes plus two laps.
The team-mate is towed on a rope that must be between four and six metres in length with no knots or loops.
Perhaps if British winters get any worse than this year, the powers that be may just contemplate introducing Skijoring to the UK.