CANADA DAY LONG WEEKEND. The Friday before this event was chilly and rainy, the kind of weather that can really put a damper on an outdoor event. Luckily Saturday started off sunny and by mid-afternoon it was smoking hot. By not realizing the suns beating rays, many ended up with beet red faces and sunglass silhouetted white eyes. Not too strange in the motorcycle world after a good days riding but some were intense. Brent Law from Cycle Boyz Customs was one of the unfortunate burn victims. He looked as though he was standing behind his Mutant Buell Flamethrower for too long.
The event had the usual entertainment like a Ride-In Show-N-Shine, Bike Rodeo, a Freestyle Motocross team performed all weekend, the BC-D Precision Riding Team, Trials riding demonstrations, Canadian Riding Beauties Contest, Fashion Show and Scavenger Hunt. Many of the western custom bike shops set up displays and it was quite obvious the spectators approved with looks of awe while they viewed some of the iron on display.
The winner of this Canadian Championship would win, among other items, an all-expense paid trip to the AMD World Championships in Sturgis, South Dakota in August. The judging criterion was laid out in two distinct stages. First was the Builder-to-Builder judging. The bikes that are entered in the show are first judged by the builders themselves and after that tabulation, the top six bikes are left for the four-person Pro judging panel to scrutinize.
The top six bikes after tabulating the Builder-to-Builder score sheets were Goldammer Cycle Works, Freakshow Choppers, Marcel Trudel, Classic Steel, Precision Frameworx and Screamin’ Demon. At this point in the competition the rules state that all bikes have to run but unfortunately Jesy Reno from Classic Steel was disqualified since he did not show up on Sunday morning to start his bike so the seventh place finisher, Trick Factory Customs, moved into the top six. Classic Steel traveled all the way from Laval, QC, after winning the Canadian Championship of Bike Building’s Eastern Canada affiliate show at the Classic Bike and Tattoo Show in April.
There were some last minute changes to the Pro judging panel. Canadian bike building legend and two-time World Champion Roger Goldammer was scheduled to be one of the judges but decided to unveil his newest creation at the show and entered his bike into the competition instead. For obvious reasons he could no longer be one of the judges. Also, Mike Long from Zeel Design in St-Pei, QC, was to judge but his Tow Rig was stolen just days before and he could not make the trip.
After some scrambling for a couple of new judges, the final panel consisted of TBear from New York State. TBear served as the head AMD judge and he is also a journalist for ‘The Horse, Backstreet Choppers’; Rick Fairless from Strokers Dallas who traveled all the way from Dallas, Texas; Brent Law from Cycle Boyz Customs hailing from Brandon, Manitoba. Brent is the 2006 Canadian Champion but because last years event didn’t happen until after Sturgis, he will be defending Canada at this years Sturgis event along with the 2007 winner. And last but not least, Dmitry Khitrov from RuRiders.com who traveled to Olds all the way from Russia.
The Pro Judge Panel determined, using the same scoring process as the Builder-to-Builder competition, that Roger Goldammer from Goldammer Cycle Works to be worthy of 2007 Canadian Championship winner and the First Runner-up title went to Freakshow Choppers with Screamin’ Demon coming in as Second Runner-up. (See more of Goldammer’s bike ‘Nortorious’ on page 54 of this issue) Congratulations to the Queen of the Riding Beauties, April Ireland; Runner Up, Katherine Butler and Miss Low Maintenance, Lisa Henriksen.
Precision Frameworx took home a well deserved People’s Choice and Best Paint awards.
Also congratulations goes to Marcel Trudel for snagging a first place spot in the Metric Bike class and also winning the ‘Media Award’ for his ‘Canada Bike’. The media award is decided and given by a media type, that would be me, and is determined on the basis of a good story. Marcel built this bike himself in his garage over the course of one year and eleven months. The tube/pipe bending, the gas tank forming and welding, the way-too-many-to-mention one-off hand crafted parts and much more are all hand fabricated by Marcel. What’s more; never has there been a more fitting bike to win a good story award than the Canada Bike on July 1, Canada Day.
The event, unfortunately, did see a less than huge crowd though, possibly because of the July long weekend. Saturday seemed to have a better attendance than Sunday as people have many commitments on long weekends making it hard to draw the deserved crowd through the gates. With this event being only three years old, as well as being held in a brand new location, growing pains will ensue. Belt Drive Betty has an unwavering deter-mination and next years Champion-ship is already in the works for a bigger better event. Word has it that it will once again be held at the Olds Fairgrounds, possibly the third week-end of June in new buildings and a redesigned layout. I’ve already got it marked on the calendar for next year.
For more info about the event go to www.beltdrivebetty.com
