The hard work of Steve Klassen and a small group of volunteers is almost complete.
Klassen's gang has put in close to 120 hours during April to make sure everything will run smoothly at the annual Cat Scratch Fever dirt bike race and he said everything is ready to rock on the Cat Lake trails in anticipation of Sunday's (May 5) race.
It's going really good and it looks like we're going to get some spectacular weather for the weekend too, he said. All the arrangements have been made and overall the course will be pretty similar to what we had last year.
The year 2012 was a big one for the event with a record 129 competitors hitting the trails. Previous years had seen racers note just how difficult the Cat Scratch Fever course was and it was Klassen's task to help make it a more enjoyable experience for all riders.
People loved it last year, he said. It was kind of our make or break year. If it had been as hard as previous years, we might have been out of luck or out of the series altogether. My goal was to make it a little easier for everyone and I think we did that.
Klassen said he made some adjustments for this year's race, with both the A and B loops becoming a bit shorter. He also widened the course in certain areas to avoid some of the bottlenecking that occurred last year.
We had a lot of success with the course last year but we wanted to make the loops a little less last-man-standing in nature, he said. And if anybody thinks it's too easy they're mistaken there's nothing we can do to make it easy.
It's been a busy April for Klassen, who owns the Brackendale Bean coffee shop. He is a certified A division rider but holds no official title with the 麻豆社国产Dirt Biking Association (SDBA). But he's become an important person in shaping the course.
We've basically been establishing the course so that it falls within the guidelines of the Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Association (PNWMA), he said. We need to make sure lap lengths are proper, that the difficulty is appropriate for each category, that all road crossings are safe and we have an accurate map and details for all emergency personnel.
This year is expected to be another banner year for the event, with Klassen hoping to reach 150 participants.
I think we could probably reach 200 one year, he said. That's beyond any of the numbers for any of the other races, but we're so close to Vancouver that with the right course, we could hit it.
The event is free to all spectators and it all gets underway on Sunday at 11 a.m. The start line will also have a display from AdventureSmart, as well as refreshments and several other vendors.
For more information on the SDBA, visit the group's Facebook page by typing SDBA into the search bar.
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