READY, SET, GO: Ski Anthony Lakes hosts the first snowmobile event of the new year Sunday, with eight additional events in the following months. (Submitted photo).

Cameron Parkinson

The Observer

What better way to spend the new year than racing snowmobiles?

Aparently, Ski Anthony Lakes agrees as it makes final preparations for Sunday, the first snowmobile drag race of the new year in North Powder.

Anthony Lakes in cooperation with Harmon Racing Productions is putting on nine snowmobile events starting with Sunday’s Drag Race No. 1 and going up to a Hill Climb April 15.

"We’ll probably get anywhere from 30 to 60 people Sunday. The most we ever get is around 85 and they come from all over," said Anthony Lakes Promoter Jason Harmon. "It’s a pretty well known event and it’s the fourth year we’ve held the event so a lot of people come and bring their friends."

Anthony Lakes is hosting three days of snowmobile Drag Races in January, starting Sunday and continuing on Jan. 21 and 22.

"It’s pretty casual. Two people race about 300 feet and they get up to 70 or 75 miles per hour," Harmon said. "Last year the faster guys were finishing 300 feet in about four seconds."

Anthony Lakes offers three racing classes, stock, limited and modified. All courses and tracks are built in an attempt to moderate skill riding level.

Anthony Lakes also will have live music from Jim Basnight on Saturday, Jan. 21 from 3:30 to 6:30pm in the Starbottle Saloon.

A trophy will be awarded to the Most Valuable Rider. The award will go to the total points leader from all of the 2006 snowmobile events at Ski Anthony Lakes.

"The Most Valuable Rider trophy is given to the rider who enters the most races and finishes well," Harmon said. "They get to take home a really nice trophy for the year."

The points will be based on how each rider places in each event, and the number of events they enter throughout the 2006 season.

Sunday’s event has a $25 pre-registration fee and $40 due on the day of the event.

There is an 11 a.m. mandatory meeting next to the race track, and helmets are required.

"We just tell everyone to be safe and explain what they can and can’t do, and then we start racing at noon."

This year, there has been additoional interest from a filming crew who has come to tape selected events.

"The filming crew has been to Anthony Lakes twice, and the film is supposed to come out sometime this winter," Harmon said. "They have been filming a little of everything, and they are putting it together into one film. It shows people how fun it is to ride and places that they can ride."

For more information or to register, call Ski Anthony Lakes at 541-856-3277 ext. 12 or Jason Harmon and Harmon Racing Productions at 541-663-0567 or 541-910-3898.