LEWISTON – Holly Williams said Friday night that she was eyeing the studs on the tires of the professional ice racers with a bit of nervous envy.

As one of four amateur racers in the four-wheel ATV division at the Lewiston Colisee, the Durham resident was limited to a mere 100 studs screwed into four tires. Race organizer Gary Densford said the amateurs were restricted to keep their speeds down.

Not so the professional machines. Those tires bristled with the sharp silver studs.

But Williams said she’d taken some tips from the pros.

“You have to turn the screws the right way to help you out,” she said. “Like the rear ones, you turn them so that they help you grip and go forward. The front ones you turn them so they help you turn on the ice.”

And turning on the ice was what Friday’s event was all about. The Colisee hosted the International Championship Events, or ICE, a 30-year-old racing series pitting, drivers and their studded-tire machines against local ice rinks. It’s the second year the series has stopped at the Colisee.

Racers in all divisions jockeyed and pushed for position as the races wound around the tiny Colisee ice rink.

The tips from the pros didn’t help Williams much, after all.

“I wish there were a lot more studs,” she said. “I really wanted to go faster, but when I went faster, I spun out in the corner. So, I have to keep it slow in order to keep from spinning out.”

At the same time, the pro racers in the four-wheel ATV and the motorcycle divisions took turns having their way with the Colisee’s ice. Their deeply studded tires left piles of shavings 4 inches deep on the outskirts of the track – piles deep enough to choke the Colisee’s Zamboni on its first maintenance trip around the ice.

Densford said the race requires riders to use specially designed studs, called Silver Rocket Racing studs. They look just like half-inch long machines screws, but with wider slots in the top. Riders screw them into the thickest part of the tread.

“They’re specially designed for speed and traction on the ice,” Densford said. He keeps a box filled with hundreds of the studs at the registration desk and a handful of plastic bags holding exactly 100 pieces. Those were for any amateur racers that Densford said might show.

The motorcycles are stock-framed motocross bikes, with up to 20-inch front wheels and 19-inch rear wheels.

“It just steers better having a bigger wheel up front,” Densford said.

The tour regularly features three kinds of races – professional motorcycles and four-wheel ATV and amateur ATV. The event also features motorized bar stool races, with modified go-karts and smaller engines.

“But those are just for fun,” Densford said. Saturday’s night’s race featured local motocross racers Vertical Outlaws and on-air talent from radio station 99.9 The Wolf and 106.7 The Bone.

But the professional races are serious, and the racers take them seriously.

“You gotta do well on your heat races, and that gets you good place on the main event,” said motorcyle racer Kevin Anderson. He began Friday’s race at second place in the overall standings and finished in third place Friday night. Heat races feature three or four racers in a single row but the final event features eight racers in two rows.

“You definitely want to get a front-row start,” said Jake Mataya, who finished second. Racers in the front row have an easier time guarding the turns and finishing with a top time. Racers in the back have more to struggle through.

“It can get pretty gnarly. Last weekend, there was a lot of banging going on,” Anderson said. That was at a race in Bloomington, Ind., and Anderson said he made it to the final event before getting bumped into the boards by a rival.