BIG LAKE "AURORA" LIONS CLUB
Introduction to Big Lake Aurora Lions Club
120/260 kids racing program (3 – 10 year olds)
We start our sign ups at 10 AM, during sign ups we set up the oval race track and start at noon.
Entry fee is $ 25. If the parent is a member of a lions club the entry fee is $10. All who donate 3 nonperishable food items receive a $5 discount.
Required equipment - working tether switch, helmet, eye protection, chest protector, shin guards, and racing bib.
We race them by age class and when we have rookies we try to race them together as well.
We set the 120 cc classes by age, stock, Improved Stock, modified class is all ages .
We recently permitted a 206 class and race them together as well ( all ages ).
Most of our events are at the Big Lake Lions Recreation center, snow allowing.
There is a big parking lot that they don't plow so we use this area for the oval races.
We race them in 3 lap heats then 5 lap heats then we take a warm up break inside.
We provide hot dogs, soda, water, hot chocolate and coffee ( for the big kids ).
We also have a split the pot and sometimes a raffle to help pay for these expenses.
While the kids and parents are inside we set up the cross country course.
We take all the kids for a guided trail ride so they are familiar with it. We mark it well with trail stakes and have volunteers at locations on the trail. The younger kids make two laps the older 3-4 laps, depending on conditions. Every once in a while there will be moose along the trail, when they are there and we can’t chase them off we repeat the venue of the oval track.
When we race at the Islander lodge on Long Island, Big Lake it's an ice race.
Last year most of our events were on the lake due to the lack of snow.
We use the race track that is put in and maintained by Mat-Su Vintage Racers.
We allow screws in the track, no ice picks or studs, and they should also have carbide skags.
We race them in laps as above but there is no cross country course so after break we run them several more laps, depending on conditions. Break time is in the Islander lodge, where we have hot dogs, snacks and drinks.
After the races are over we have our awards, we announce each place winners in each age class and machine class. Every racer wins a trophy and a toy prize they get to pick from awards table.
For many years we were the only ones we knew of that offered “Kitty Kat” races. These were the old 60 CC two stroke engines. Rear suspension was “none” and 8 – 12 MPH was the average speeds depending on the engine governor setting.
In 1996 the Millers reach fire burned through many areas of Big Lake. One of the major losses was the Klondike Inn where my father, Bert Kleinenberg, who owned and operated it and started the “Kitty Kat” races here. Now he had nowhere to hold the events.
After rebuilding the Klondike inn the kitty kat races resumed but mainly after the start of main event races as the Klondike 300 and of course the Iron Dog with a few races thrown in for fun.
In the year 2000 we saw a major change to “Kitty Kat” races with the introduction of the 120’s.
They were lapping the kids on the old machines after the first lap so we split them up. Over the years the Kitty Kat machines became obsolete at the races and the stock 120’s, well all the kids had them, raced them and some raced them well.
Racing them by age class used to work back then however with time Dads were wrenching on them, changed gearing, etc. we found ourselves having to add classes, stock, improved stock and modified. As the classes expanded so did the turnouts. It’s not unusual to have 30 – 40 machines at an event.
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