Hello Manitoba Dirt Riders Community!
2018 was not only our 10-year anniversary of off-road racing in Manitoba but the most successful season in Manitoba Dirt Riders history! To think we only had 48 members and 2 venues all the way back in 2008 when the club first started, to grow to over 300 members and 7 venues 10-years later really makes us proud and all the hard work worth it! This season boasted 2 brand new venues, Black Diamond at Birch Ski area and Fisher Branch Rocks N Logs! There was blood, sweat, and tears over hard-fought battles which made for lots of excitement and excellent turnout!
This season wouldn’t have been possible without our outstanding board of directors!
President – Brent Macdonald
Vice President – Paul Swiscoski
Secretary – Kurt McCullagh
Treasurer - Richard Baril
Officer Rep – Cory Sidlar
Rider Rep – Ryan Krause
Unfortunately, Kurt McCullagh has stepped down for the 2019 season but we are looking forward to seeing him and his family at the races for years to come! Thank you for your years of outstanding dedication to our club Kurt, you have been a vital part of this club’s history and will not soon be forgotten and always missed! With Kurt stepping down we would like to welcome our newest editions to the board for the 2019 season Kelly & Tracy Mauws and Orlando Thiessen! We are looking forward to you guys being part of the team and the great things to come for the future of our club!
We would like to say a big thank you to all our loyal sponsors from the 2018 season! This club would not be what it is today without your amazing support, we couldn’t do it without you! Mike Chudd, and Jon Thompson from Chudds Powersports in Gimili stepped up huge this season as our series sponsors coming out to several events setting up shop and being there every step of the way!
Here’s a recap on our race weekend sponsors:
Capitol Motosports was our weekend sponsor for round 1 in Oaklake!
Axalta/Rondex was our weekend sponsor for round 2 in St. Lazare!
Wheat City Cycle was our weekend sponsor for round 3 in Miniota!
S.A.R. was our weekend sponsor for round 4 in Birch!
FXR was our weekend sponsor for round 5 in Fisher Branch!
GWB Auto Sales was our weekend sponsor for our final round 6 in Melita!
Our medic sponsor for the season was Can West Rail!
Our Water sponsor for the season was GWB Auto Sales!
Our community meal sponsor for the season was Wheat City Cycle!
We had strong support from our partners as well:
Arnason Industries
Badger Creek Plumbing and Heating
Baril Tax Services
Prairie Mobile
Quarry Ridge Racing
Riley Contracting
Temple Roofing
Trans-Canada Motorsports
Watson Roofing
Last and certainly not least our irreplaceable volunteers! From our track owners and the families that prep our tracks, to the people who run the gate, set up and tear down the trailers, cook, carry, lift, push, sweep, lap count, help in the pits and pick up bikes! You are the true hero’s; the heartbeat of our club and I’d like to extent a huge thank you to everyone from the entire MDR Community for all your hard work this season!!!
In closing, as far as the schedule for next season goes, we already have the wheels in motion and are hard at work and hope to release it early in the new year! Stay tuned, there’ll be some big exciting changes coming for the 2019 season!
Have a great winter, try and stay warm and pray for lots of snow!! From everyone at the Manitoba Dirt Riders organization, we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year! We look forward to seeing everyone at round 1 of the 2019 season!
Cheers – MDR