Past Events Home Page
2003-Ontario-Lyndsey Monster Trucks and Tough Trucks
2003-Ontario-Canadian Truck Nationals
2003-Ontario-QDMA Mud Drags
2003-Ontario Off Road Racing Association Round 2
2003-BC-Kamloops Short Course Racing-Round 1
2003-Ontario Off Road Racing Round 1
2003-Ontario-Gopher Dunes Good Friday Mud Fest
2002-Ontario Off Road Racing Association Round 4
2002-Ontario-Oshweken August Long Weeken Mud Races
2002-Alberta-Lethbridge Tough Trucks
2002-Ontario-Canadian Truck Nationals
2002-BC Kamloops Short Course Round 2
2002-Ontario-Oshweken Canada Day Mud Races
2002-Ontario Off Road Racing Association Round 3
2002-BC-Kamloops Short Course Round 1
2002-Ontario Off Road Racing Association Round 1
|
|
|
GOPHER DUNES GOOD FRIDAY FUN FEST!
Article & Photos by Wes Kibble
More photos at Off Road Action and CJ Jack's webshot albums.
What started out as a fun day between a few friends has turned into the largest 4x4 event in Canada. The 9th annual Gopher Dunes Good Friday FunFest was a resounding success with 301 vehicles and a hell of a lot more spectators. Luckily, I showed up around 10:30 in the morning. By 11:00 the line-up to get in was 30 cars deep and by noon, it was a half-mile long. After a short briefing of the rules by organiser Frank Shuster, and a dedication of the event to long time area four wheeler and Good Friday Fun Fest participant Moe Barnim, who passed away last year, it was time to let the mud start flying!
The Gopher Dunes facility is unique in that it offers a motorcycle track, pee wee track and miles of trails. The track is located near Courtland, Ontario, which is about a half-hour below Woodstock, between London and Kitchener. For this event, there was 4 main mud bog pits with a tractor at each, just in case you did not make it out the other end. There was also two trails in the woods. The first trail was relatively easy, but the second had some nasty holes where we often saw four or five vehicles stuck at once.
Even with the odd rain shower here and there, it was fun event. This was the largest gathering of rednecks that I have seen in one place! There was some very beautiful rigs there and some....well...plain frickin ugly ones too! It is unusual to see a car converted into a 4x4, but I seen at least 4, including two Chevettes. Some folks removed the bodies and just ran cages, while others picked up some cheap beaters just for this event. Overall, it was a safe, fun event and my hat goes off to the organisers. Make sure to come early next year as they cut it off at 301 vehicles and had another 50 capable rigs in the parking lot! Check out their website for more information.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
