Jill Giorno was skeptical the first time she went to the motorcycle races on Lily Lake — that’s right, “on” the lake.
“It was interesting,” said Giorno, 43, of Kenosha, whose husband, Tony, races and builds engines at his shop, Redline Cycles, for several Lily Lake competitors. “It was cold, but you get better traction with the studs on the tires.”




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When the temperature falls and roads become covered with ice, many motorcyclists take a cue from the elements and hang it up for the season. Not so for the ice racers on Lily Lake, who run competitive heats around an oval track on the lake throughout winter, as long as the weather allows. Conditions were ideal Sunday. Snow dusted the 15-inch blanket of ice that topped the lake, the frigid waters underneath no more than a black shadow. ‘Had to try’ Wearing snowboots and a snowmobiling-style jacket, Jill Giorno walked carefully across the ice. A half-dozen bikers circled the track as the sun slid halfway toward the horizon. Two years ago, Giorno began riding with them. “(It was) something I just had to try,” she said. “I want to go out today, but there’s too many people. I don’t want anyone to see me if I fall. I think I need to crash once so I can get over it.” For most riders, the goal is to avoid crashing. To do that, racers screw small studs into their tires to create grip. As a result, driving a motorcycle on ice is often easier than driving on a dirt track, said Marty Bushman of Oak Creek. “It’s awesome,” said Bushman, who began dirt-biking as a boy and now enjoys ice racing. “You can just go in the corners and grab a handful. You wouldn’t think you’d get much traction, but you do. Anybody can ride on ice.” Bushman still gets around the track, but most weekends it’s his sons — Scott, 23, and Adam, 21 — who race competitively on the ice. Both have won the Central Wisconsin Ice Racing Association’s annual race. Bushman hopes to bring a similar event to Lily Lake. Informal competition For now, a group of about two dozens motorcyclists and their families visit the lake each Sunday for a taste of competition. Six to eight bikers run a qualifying race, with the top finishers graduating to the final. Four or five classes of motorcyclists participate in separate races. “They go from (age) 7or 8 on up to 60,” Tony Giorno said. “It’s just pure fun,” said Mark Martinich, of Greenfield, who regularly brings his 13-year-old son, Mitchell, to the Lily Lake races. “Like Mitchell said today when he came off the ice, he said, ‘Dad, I got perma-grin. I can’t stop smiling. My face hurts.’” “It’s really calming,” said Mitchell, a seventh-grader. “It’s nice because it’s just you and you’re riding and you control what you do. It just builds your trust in yourself. It’s good life experience.

Source: Ice Bikers - Lily Lake Races