Shortly before Emma Chorney was due to retire from quarter midget racing, the Langley driver achieved multiple wins at the Western Grands, the “Border Brawl” event that drew competitors from Canada and the U.S. to the Langley Quarter Midget Association track in Aldergrove.
By the time the event wrapped up, on Saturday, Aug. 19, Emma, 15, a Langley resident who began racing when she was five, had won both the Heavy Honda and Heavy Animal divisions, and placed second in two other categories.
Emma rolled her car while she was racing in the heavy world formula division, but wasn’t injured, and got back in the race to finish seventh.
While she will now be retiring from quarter midgets, Emma isn’t leaving racing.
She is moving on to the 600 restricted micro class, which features bigger and faster cars driven by older drivers.
She has “lots of great memories” about her 11 years of quarter midget racing, and describes her feeling about retiring as a mix of “happy and sad emotions, because I’m so excited to be moving on to something else, but I’m also kind of feeling sad because I won’t be racing with [my] friends anymore.”
She will still be at the Aldergrove track, serving as a mentor to younger racers.
Emma was one of several Langley racers who did well during the Brawl, considered as the Super Bowl of quarter midget racing, which drew more than 200 cars to compete in different classes at the only dedicated quarter midget track in Canada.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: ‘Border brawl’ underway at Aldergrove quarter midget track
Ken Shrimpton, LQMA promotions director, said local drivers were going up against some of the best racers from across the U.S. and “represented very, very well, placing in the podium in every single class.”
Feedback from the visitors was uniformly positive, Shrimpton noticed.
“American families said that it was the best event they had ever been to, that their kid had an absolute blast and we definitely went above and beyond to put on the show,” Shrimpton told the Langley Advance Times.
“It was absolutely fantastic.”
Every day, he said, there was a non-racing event, for the kids, including a movie night – projected on an inflatable screen in the track infield (Disney’s Cars) – a games night, and a carnival.
More races are scheduled at the LQMA track as the season winds down, with the last big event in early October, LQMA Turkey Night.
“That’s kind of the end of the year race, where we have a great big huge turkey dinner with the kids,” Shrimpton explained.
“[They] light up their cars with glow sticks and Christmas lights and all that stuff, and it’s just a fun day.”
Quarter midget racing cars are about one-quarter the size of an adult midget car, racing on a track that is a quarter of the adult length.
In addition to safety cages, young quarter midget racers wear protective helmets, neck braces, and fireproof racing gear, and are secured to their seats with a five-point harness.
More information can be found at www.lqma.ca.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Quarter midget drivers raise $4K for Autism B.C.
Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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