Chris Sorin, Of Family Tradition and Triumph

Team Sorin photo
Chris Sorin may very well be the next big name in Manitoba's Open Wheel racing scene.

In Manitoba's Open Wheel racing community, the Sorin family embodies the spirit of initiative and active involvement. During the off-season, the familiar #1 Team Sorin Lightning Sprint can be found on display at local Spring events such as World of Wheels and Rodarama.

Team Sorin photo
The Sorins are always willing to chat about the Northern Lightning Sprint Association and dirt track racing with motorsports fans and curious onlookers.

A family-owned and operated racing team, the #1 sprinter is piloted by Chris Sorin. He is cheered on by his wife Corissa and his children Miley, Dominic and Ryland.

His parents, Darlene and Jacques, are no strangers to Open Wheel racing in Manitoba.

Jacques was involved in Mini Sprint racing at New Bothwell during the 1980's. In his early years, Chris would watch his dad race.

Team Sorin photo
Now the roles have changed with dad, Jacques, wrenching and sharing his wealth of knowledge with Chris.

Darlene also took on an active roll within the Northern Lightning Sprint Association as Secretary/Treasurer under NLSA Presidents Darren Pallen and Chris Unrau.

With everyone's willingness to learn and grow, Team Sorin has earned it's place as one of the top competitive teams in Manitoba's Lightning Sprint class.

After purchasing Eric Guyot's Henchcraft Lightning Sprint in 2010, the Sorins began their growing pains in a very competitive field of Lightning Sprints lead by Roland Bernard. They struggled racing at Red River Co-op Speedway in their rookie season, finishing 9th place in points.

2011 was a different story. In 11 starts, Chris put together a run of six Top 5 finishes, including a career-best three 3rd place finishes at the end of the season. This performance would earn Chris Sorin 3rd place in Lightning Sprint points and Most Improved Lightning Sprint Driver at Red River Co-op Speedway.

Kaz Grafix photo
2012 was considered Team Sorin's breakout season. After a slow start out of the gate, Chris Sorin earned consistent Top 5 finishes for the balance of the NLSA season at Red River Co-op Speedway. Included in Chris' accomplishments was back to back trips to Victory Lane early in July. Had the #1 not endured the slow start, Chris Sorin may very well have been in the run for a points championship. Sorin also earned consecutive wins at North Dakota's Devil's Lake Speedway.

Even though Team Sorin ran a limited schedule in 2013, the #1 Lightning Sprint produced consistent Top 5 finishes, including 3 trips to Victory Lane. Once at Red River Co-op Speedway and two times at Devil's Lake Speedway.

Although it is not certain what their 2014 racing schedule will look like, one thing will be certain. Expect to see a strong performance from the #1 Team Sorin Lightning Sprint as they race towards their next checkered flag.

After paying his dues, learning his lessons and improving his skills, Chris Sorin may very well be in position to take that next step to be the next elite driver in the Lightning Sprint class.

Perhaps one day, one of the Sorin children may want to get involved in racing just like dad.

On that day, a new chapter will begin in a story of family tradition and triumph.

NLSA 2014 Schedule and Other News

Roland Bernard photo
Winnipeg's MTS Centre hosted it's annual visit by Monster Jam and once again the Northern Lightning Sprint Association was present for the event. Murray Temple's #33 Sprint was on display for the crowd of motorsports enthusiasts. NLSA drivers who were at the event included Murray Temple, Roland Bernard, Brent Steg and Amber Balcaen.

The Northern Lightning Sprint Association released their 2014 schedule and it's looking a lot different than in the past 5 seasons.

Instead of placing all of their eggs in one basket, the NLSA has spread itself around the territory and will hold sanctioned races at 5 different dirt tracks this season. These will include Manitoba's Red River Co-op Speedway and ALH Motor Speedway. North Dakota's River Cities Speedway and Devil's Lake Speedway, plus Greenbush Race Park, Minnesota.

If you only look at this change from the perspective of car counts, the new-look schedule makes sense. With the NLSA moving south of the border, they will have the benefit of adding US-based teams to the field each and every race night when they tour Greenbush, Grand Forks and Devil's Lake.

In 2013, Morden's ALH Motor Speedway hosted the first annual Watermelon Cup. This event drew additional cars plus plenty of positive feedback. Hopefully this will translate into more competitors for Morden this season. The advantages for US teams is that Morden hosts it's races on Sunday afternoons plus the speedway is close to the border making travel easy on race day.

The biggest question mark for this season will be Red River Co-op Speedway. The 2013 Monday night campaign was a disaster. What will have to be determined is if the move back to Thursday nights is enough to get the Lightning Sprints back in the right direction. At this point, a stable field of 10 cars would be considered a success.

Until next time...