volume one

2017 SPECTATORS’

GUIDE

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO GETTING RACY

WESTERN SWING

STEVE BEATTIE SPEAKS

FLAT TRACK PARKING LOT

The MasterbuilderPlus

3 V1 THE HOT SHOETHE HOT SHOE V1 2

THE MASTERBUILDER

volume one

STEVE BEATTIE SPEAKS

The art of doing it his way

Life on top—Kurt Beigger’s dream team

2017 SPECTATORS’ GUIDETO THE NATIONAL SERIES

FIRST STEPS

WESTERN SWING

The essential guide to getting

racy

You park in a driveway. Why not race in a parking lot?You park in a driveway. Why not race in a parking lot?

FLAT TRACK PARKING LOTFLAT TRACK PARKING LOT

Long drive to a short track — FTC heads West Long drive to a short track — FTC heads West

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5 V1 THE HOT SHOETHE HOT SHOE V1 4

At last season’s final event, at Ohswek-en Speedway, all Steve Beattie had to do was finish the race, in any position, and he’d be Flat Track Canada open expert champion. Easy, for a guy as good as Beattie. Except Beattie doesn’t do easy. Unlike racers who look at the points, do the math, and calculate how to win a title with minimum risk, Beattie simply wants to win. He has said, after all, “Nothing is as good as winning.”But back to Ohsweken and that title hunt. Doug Lawrence, that master of slippery tracks, was taking to Ohsweken like a potter to clay, and Tyler Seguin, after an up-and-down season, was rid-ing high with an MX-er pressed into service. Beattie, in practice, was a few beats behind the front-runners. With the dash-for-cash looming, Beattie swapped his rear Maxxis for a Dunlop, promptly gained the missing tenths of a second, and won the dash. All that re-mained was the final race of the night. The final race of the year.We should have known it would hap-pen—that Beattie would take a hard

run at another flat track title. Flat Track Canada was formed in a period of retirement for Beattie, and that he’d want to leave his mark on the revitalized Canadian flat track scene was inevi-table. But he’d been noncommittal on running a full season. He’d show up, unannounced, to take it to the front-runners. (Publicly, his competitors wel-comed him back. Privately, they wished he’d go home and drink fork oil at 26 Suspension, his backyard business.)After the third round, Don Taylor, who was leading in points at the time, sus-tained injuries in a Lima, Ohio, crash that would sideline him for most of the sea-son. Beattie was faced with a dilemma. If he maintained his maybe-I-will or maybe-I-won’t schedule, he’d make life for defending champ Doug Law-rence easier. Lawrence and Beattie are friends. The word “friend” to pro racers has a different meaning than it does to the rest of us. You help a friend shin-gle a garage, or do a brake job, or move a piano. But “friend” to Beattie meant he’d take the fight to Lawrence for the remainder of the year.

In Ohsweken’s final, Beattie got a bad start. He was late to corner one. By corner two he was losing ground. He wouldn’t make it to corner three. Two realities—winning and hurting—have marked Beattie’s career. At Ohsweken, he did both. With Beattie in an am-bulance on the way to hospital, Tyler Seguin won the restarted race over Doug Lawrence. But by the time of the awards banquet, in February, Beattie was back on his feet and in fight-ing spirits. Emcee Aaron Hesmer asked Beattie if he planned to defend his title. “You can’t ask me that,” Beattie said, continuing his policy of doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants to do it. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

He is the Champion

Forty-five-year-old Steve Beattie doesn’t count the numbers

—Exclusive Story—

“ Nothing is as good as winning.”

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COME ONE, COME ALLSPECTATORS’ GUIDE TO THE 2017 FLAT TRACK CANADA SERIES

LEAMINGTON FAIRGROUNDS HALF-MILE, JULY 15Easily one of the best tracks in Canada, Leamington’s cushion holds up well to the rigours of racing and makes for tight, exciting action. Whether you ride or drive to the track, add an extra day and go to Point Pelee National Park (just south of town) before heading home Sunday.

GEORGIAN DOWNS HALF-MILE-AND-THEN-SOME, INNISFIL, SEPTEMBER 2Not far north of the GTA and a few minutes south of Barrie on Highway 400 is the longest track on the FTC schedule. Nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, if an engine’s going to grenade, it’ll be here. Last year Steve Beattie—in a demonstration of steer-ing-with-the-throttle manliness—rode his Harley XR-750 to victory deep in the cushion. Not to be missed.

OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY THREE-EIGHTS MILE, SEPT. 23Just as the first race of the year holds surprises, so does the last. Last year at Ohsweken (southeast of Brantford) riders had disappointing seasons end, gained redemption with stunning performances, and clinched titles. With the off-season ahead, there’s no reason not to lay it on the line.

FLAMBORO DOWNS HALF-MILE, DUNDAS, AUGUST 5The closest track to the GTA is one of the best. Steep banking reminds racers which way to turn and promotes multiple racing lines. A bright, modern facility (suitable for a date night) Flamboro Downs is two hops from Hamilton and a short 45 minute drive from Toronto.

ERIE RAMBLERS QUARTER-MILE, WHEATLEY, SEPT. 16Southwestern Ontario’s answer to the Welland County Motorcycle Club, the Erie Ramblers, host fast and furious racing in crisp fall weather. Wherever you live, it’s a beautiful ride past tobacco barns and fields that stretch down to Lake Erie.

WELLAND COUNTY M.C. QUARTER-MILE, JUNE 3Saturday nights at Welland are timeless. You’ll see haircuts in the grandstand that’ll make you believe it’s 1978 (the mullet and the Farrah Fawcett feather never died). Don’t go straight home after the races. Drop into the clubhouse —all are welcome—and rub elbows with royalty. (Regional races run June and July) Check their Website.

WOODSTOCK RACEWAY HALF-MILE, MAY 20There’s always a buzz at the first race of the season. New leathers, new bikes, and new pairings of riders and teams make for unpredictable results. And don’t forget the vagaries of spring weather. This year it was beautiful, but last year at Woodstock it snowed.

BELLEVILLE FAIRGROUNDS HALF-MILE, AUGUST 12Eastern Ontario has its own gem in the George Pepper Memorial Half-Mile. An easy trip from Cobourg, Peterborough, Kingston, Prince Edward County and points in-between, Belleville is a classic fairgrounds racetrack the likes of which never go out of style.

WESTERN FAIR HALF-MILE, LONDON, AUGUST 26A well-attended race at a great facility, London’s track can be treacherous once the early heat races blow off the top cushion. But what’s challenging for racers is gold for spectators, as dark horses that can handle the slippery track emerge from the pack.

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The Masterbuilder

Kurt Biegger Racing—KBR—is the team everyone would love to ride for. We talk to the man himself

What does it take—aside from talent—to ride for Kurt Biegger? “I want to work with riders I can help,” he says. “I watch the kids as they come up. If they’re to represent my sponsors, and me, they have to be polite. No sour faces, no pouting, no matter how the day’s going.”

“ I want to work with riders I can help,”

He’s never still for long. He’s quick with his hands, and, despite the hint of a limp, light on his feet. He’s always on the move; something always needs to be done. He gives his riders space to move but is close at hand, like a box-ing cornerman who appears, as if out of nowhere, between rounds. Sitting, as he is now, in his Hamilton, Ontario, workshop, Kurt Biegger is surrounded by frames and engines and wheels and parts large and small. Does it ever seem like it’s too much? Biegger smiles. “It’s always too much.”In his riding days, back when the two-stroke was king, Biegger, 62, was a terror.

He won, often, but his on-track success wasn’t all. His equipment was a notch above much of the competition. It’s no surprise he became a successful tuner. But how does tuning for others differ from riding? “It’s less of an adrenaline rush and more of a mind thing,” Last season was a banner year for Team Biegger. Steve Beattie won the number one plate in expert open riding his Har-ley-Davidson XR-750 and Biegger’s Honda-powered framers, while Bro-die Buchan won the production-based expert DTX class on Biegger’s Honda CRF450R. The 2017 season marks a departure for Biegger.

Instead of concentrating primarily on the expert class where most of the prize money is—support from Honda Canada is allowing Biegger to build his “dream” team of novice, intermediate, and expert riders.Highly touted Hunter Bauer (who is all of 12-years-old) is graduating from the small displacement classes up to novice; 15-year-old Jimmy McCullough willride intermediate, and Brodie Buchanwill contest expert classes. (Steve andDoug Beattie and PJ Biegger—lifetimemembers of Team KBR—ride whenhousehold chores allow.)

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In most parts of Canada, the off-season for motorcycling is the high season for tobogganing. Except for those who live in British Columbia’s lower main-land (this past unusually snowy winter excepted).The possibility of a venue without snow was all the impetus needed for Flat Track Canada to stage a race at the Abbotsford Tradex Centre in conjunc-tion with the greater Vancouver mo-torcycle show. That a race across the country from FTC’s headquarters was going to happen—in three weeks—was

Flat Track on pavement? Why not?

daunting, but do-able. Honda Canada chipped-in by shipping bikes to the venue while calls were placed to riders Doug Lawrence, Brodie Buchan, Braden Vallee and brothers Tyler and Brandon Seguin. The race was on.Even the Fire Marshall shrinking the available parking lot space to hold the race didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits

—that was just the rain dampening the track. In the end, the grandstands were full and the racing was hard, fast, close and aggressive, even though FTC’s Aaron Hesmer had warned his charges to “take it easy,” which the riders, of course, ignored. “It’s exactly what I’d hoped they’d do,” said Hesmer slyly.

We think of the off-season—now that the on-season has arrived—as a time with too much time.

But it’s never that way. It’s always a rush to make things happen, whether it’s getting a bike

ready for the first race of the season or pulling the details together for an out-of-season race.

Yes, it's a demonstration race, but it's a long flight home for the rider who finishes last.

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To love it, you need to try it.

They’d arrived—finally. At least they were early enough to beat rush hour traffic. It was 5 a.m. in Edmonton, and the Flat Track Canada crew groggily checked into their hotel rooms after having driven straight through the night—and the night before that—from Ontario. But this wasn’t to be a sleepy day poolside.

Flat Track Canada heads west

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At 7 a.m.—after two hours sleep—the crew met in the parking lot and head-ed to work. By 9 a.m. the Hondas were lined-up and fuelled-up and ready for FTC’s inaugural western-Canada learn-to-flat-track school.At the London, Ontario, Parts Canada dealer showcase in September of 2015 (at which FTC ran an impromptu school behind the warehouse) Mike Klaussen from Calgary’s Blackfoot Motosports extended an invitation to FTC to bring its operation to the Wild Rose MX park. Never one to let an opportunity to promote flat track slip through his fingers, FTC’s Aaron Hesmer further gauged interest at the western winter motorcycle shows. People were keen to give flat track a try, and one Sunday morning after a late night at the famed Welland County Motorcycle Club, the crew hit the road.As its name suggests, the Go Flat Track Mobile Race School, which normally resides at the Paris, Ontario, eighth-

mile racetrack, is a school stuffed in a trailer. In it is enough Honda flat track-ers and Thor helmets and Alpinestars clothing to outfit a small army.After schools in Edmonton, the FTC gang—pro racers Braden Vallee and Brandon Seguin, man-for-all-seasons Kyle Sheppard, and Katalin and Aaron Hesmer—packed up and got back on the road. In Calgary they showed the ropes to students in a backyard after the initial location fell through. Then it was on to B.C. and Vernon and Pemberton. And you can’t go west without visiting North Battleford, Saskatchewan, so they went there, too. In Teulon, Mani-toba, Capitol Motorsports’s Dave Rand cut a track in a farmer’s field after the original venue flooded. And then home. Well, almost home.After three weeks on the road and 11,500 kilometres under the wheels, nature insisted upon a final pit stop 15 minutes from home. So far the crew had been like “family without the fighting”

according to Aaron Hesmer, right up until he locked the keys in the truck. But no need to panic. Not only did they have CAA coverage, but, wouldn’t you know it, right across the parking lot was a CAA tow-truck. The driver was glad—for $60—to help. What? But they had a membership. “Then phone it in,” said the driver. “And wait.” And —because of the principle involved—that’s what Hesmer did, despite the withering stares of his companions.Another western tour is planned for this summer, with new towns, new venues, and another crop of en-thusiastic students. And with, it goes without saying, a spare key tucked beneath the truck’s bumper.

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1 Be prepared. Lube your chain, inflate your tires, and fix your wobbly ex-haust pipe at home. You’re at the track to race, not repair.

2 Make a packing list. You don’t want to be running around trying to borrowa pair of gloves because yours are back home in the laundry.

3 Take care of business. Pay your registration fee and take your bike totechnical inspection. Feel the pride when you breeze through. Feel the shame if your throttle sticks.

4 Go to the riders’ meeting. It’s mandatory. Understand where to stage foryour race. And how to enter and exit the track. Ask questions. We’re friendly.

5 Check the board where the races are posted.You’ll see something like this listed for your class: Heat 1 24 56 88 23 12 Heat 2 98 50 59 71 26 Number 24 is in Heat 1, on the inside edge of the track. Number 26 is in Heat 2 near the outside of the track. If you’re number 71, you’re in Heat 2, second from right. Remember this. If you’re so nervous you can’t remember your wife’s name or who your boyfriend is, stick a piece of tape to your triple clamp to remind you where to line up.

6 Look around. Now you’ve got time before your race. See where the bikesstage, see how they’re waved onto the track. Watch how the officials line them up for the start. Watch the starting light sequence. Note where the bikes leave the track at the end of the race.

7 Get ready for your race in plenty of time. Wear earplugs. Valentino Rossi does, and so should you. Then ride up to staging, slowly, like Scott Sehl did. The Sehl family is to Canadian flat track what the Petty family is to American stock car racing. And Scott, one of the most elegant and fast racers of his generation, rode so slowly you wondered how he kept his balance. Do it for two reasons. It calms the nerves and you’re less likely to flatten a four-year-old on the loose.

8 So far, so good. You’re early to staging, you line up correctly for the start,and you dive into the first corner like you have somewhere to go. Racing triggers complex reactions in the body. The noise and the speed instinctively make us want to grab the handlebar like we’re wrestling a steer. But keep the arms loose, so you can feel what the front tire is telling you. And keep your eyes up. And breathe—it’s why racing has straightaways. (Everyone holds their breath in the corners.)

9 On track, be aware of officials and corner marshals – they have importantthings to tell you. A yellow flag means someone may have crashed (or your wobbly muffler is lying in the track). You can’t pass a rider from the point of

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Visit Our Website for More Informationwww.flattrackcanada.com

Anything new is confusing. Racing is no exception

the flag to where the danger is. In case of a red flag, don’t chop the throttle closed and sit up straight. Someone may be a foot behind you and have tar-get fixation on your back. At a red flag, wave an arm, or a foot, and only then gradually slow and return to the starting line.

10 Always signal when you exit the track.Even if the race is over and everyone has slowed, still stick out a hand and glance over your shoulder. And then glance over your other shoulder. If you’re exiting a track with riders at speed—whether it’s during practice or a race —use extra care.

11 Crashing is part of racing. Upon hitting the turf, look back. (Watch thepros crash. They’re looking over their shoulder before they’re on the ground.) And then get off the track safely. If you can pick your bike up and move it off the track, even better. Unless you’re injured, don’t lie on the track like a duck with a wounded wing hoping the race will be restarted, or flail away on the kickstarter with your bike in the middle of the track. In racing, as in life, a bad reputation is tough to shake.

12 Everybody gets lapped. There’s no shame in it. Three-time AmericanFlat Track champ Kenny Coolbeth was lapped last season in a race. If you get the blue flag from the official, it’s to tell you someone is on your heels. But there may not be a blue flag—you may suddenly see a front wheel next to you or hear an engine. Don’t swing your head around or slow dramatically, just hold the racing line. A lapped rider makes a situation dangerous by moving suddenly one way to let a rider through, not realizing there’s another rider passing on the other side. You’ve got as much right to ride in your race as anyone—leave it to those behind to safely make the pass.

13 We know you wouldn't do it.... but it’s uncool to start racing someonewho’s lapped you. Don’t get frustrated. Hit practice nights and before you know it you’ll be up to speed.

14 You’ve made it. You’ve finished your first race. It feels heavenly.And now you’re in just as deeply as the rest of us.  

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERSDavid Dudley

David Dudley

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Shelby Lee Photography