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doug, if you dont remember, i was over at your house in about 94, we bought that YZ400 off you with the extra frame. the bike ended up getting sold to another one of my friends. i ended up riding it quite a bit, and let me tell you, that thing hauled serious ass with a 105lb 13 year old holding it wide open. you had a green streak 100 that was pretty sweet too, if i remember correctly.
The Shop
Several of you have mentioned the old Clewiston track, I was a founding member of the Glades Motocross Association and one of the people that built, maintained, ran and raced at that facility.
It's been said that the 70's was the boom of MX and I'm sure that most places across the country had it's share of MX nuts, but the glades area of south Florida seemed to have a real die hard bunch of hard core riders that didn't mind building a race track as well as travel to them and race. There were small tracks built in South Bay, Moore Haven, out at Highlands Hammock and Flaghole before this core group of enthusiasts struck a deal with Morris Ridgedall and secured not only the use of his land, but several pieces of his construction equipment and built that track. The first race was an NML sanctioned event that was a huge success in many ways, including for me personally as I holeshot the first moto of the 250 novice class and held it until the last lap, finishing second. I did the same thing in the 2nd moto for a second overall and was the highest placing "local" that day.
Because it was my home track and because I helped design and build the track as well as practiced there a lot during the week and on off week-ends I obviously had the place wired. That helped me out in a lot of ways, including landing my first sponsor, Gables Yamaha in Coral Gables. The MX team "manager" Dwight Stapleton (if I recall correctly) was at that first race and stopped by my pits after the race and handed me a card telling me to call him the following week. I did, and was added to their team roster. At that time the team was huge and consisted of many riders, but the pro that most of you old timers will remember was Joey Gratton. Gables helped me out for well over a year and up until I had a crash while practicing at Clewiston that did some pretty severe damage to my left knee, which put me out of racing for a while.
When my knee healed up and I was ready to get back into racing one of the locals who had been a big part of the Clewiston track as well, Smitty Pohill, was getting ready to open a Suzuki shop in Clewiston. Smitty agreed to set me up with a new bike as well as some help financially and with parts but it was going to be a while before he would get the shop opened and get his inventory. To help my transition from the old style Yamaha monoshock to the conventional two shock set up I bought a well used (can you say clapped out) '76 RM250 from my buddy Bert Barnes when he made the jump over to his Polish Parts Company sponsored Maico. I praticed with that worn out thing up until my then new '78 and a half RM250C2 came in and then went racing again. I rode with Clewiston Suzuki on my Jeresy and F.R.E. (Florida Racing Enterprises) on the bike. F.R.E. was a business my "wrench", Ronnie Sparkenbaugh and myself set up in an effort to get parts and supplies cheap as well as buying, selling and wrenching on old bikes to help support the racing.
I've got lots of other photos, including some from '75 when I started racing in organized events out in California on my '74 Elsinore. I just need to scan them one day soon and I'll be able to post them if anyone is interested.
So, what about it Bert, surprised to hear from an old buddy from back in the day?
Bruce McCrary
Lexington, NC
Thanks for posting the photos.
TIA, and thanks for sharing the memories!
I had 77 , 78 and 79 RM 250s
The name of the place I was actually thinking of was Cannon's Hammock, which was located out on S.R. 832 outside of Clewiston. There was a small MX track built there in the early 70's where the locals would have rides and races. It was where I saw my first "euro" bikes because many of these guys rode Husky's, Bultaco's and Maico's.
Highlands Hammock is a state park located in Central Florida just outside of Sebring, and until you mentioned it I had completely forgotten about hearing some of the guys talking about another small MX track that was located close to there in the late 60's and early 70's. I never visited or rode it myself, only heard other people mention it.
Bruce
Later we changed the jump from a gradual climb up the face to the drop off in the photo to a dual, not double, jump. There was a small jump with a steep face and drop off into a valley of sorts, then another steep climb up the face of the jump pictured. (And where I injured my knee the first time btw) A lot of people thought that we made the change in order to change up the track or make it more challenging, and that was the end result. But the truth is that we got a huge rain storm a few weeks before a race and the grounds were flooded. So we borrowed a track hoe and front end loader and opened up a "channel" so the water could drain into the rock pit. Then once we stepped back and looked at it we all went "Haaaay, you know what?" And a new design was born! *lol*
Good times...
Bruce
The YZ was FAST, lawdy that thing would fly! I'd have to say it was my favorite just because of the good times that my bud Ronnie and I had traveling all over and racing it.
On the other hand, I was given the opportunity to race a '77 AW400 Maico for a bit and that thing was definately SWEET! Earlier in the thread there was mention of The Polish Parts Company and Jim Zmistowski, the bike came from his shop and I raced it wearing one of his jersey's. I raced that bike in the same class with him at Clewsiton and at the old West Palm Beach track (across from Pratt & Whitney) and we had a great time. I remember after the race in WPB we were laughing it up and he said "I saw you behind me, saw you do this (he motioned going WFO with his right hand) and knew that you were either going to pass me or crash!"
Bruce
I also remember sitting on the starting line next to Joey before a practice when our starter for the day pointed out that there were a bunch of people standing on top of that berm that shouldn't be there and asked us to run them off. Let's be clear here, Joey waited on me... but we railed that berm high, tight and fast, nearly in tantem, spraying huge amounts of roost in the process.
No one stood up there the rest of the day...
BTW, in reading another thread yesterday I just found out that Joey and Monte are no longer with us. I didn't know Monte outside of seeing him at the races from time to time. Joey on the other hand... was a huge inspiration to me. A coach, a friend, a mentor. I lost touch with him over the years but had read about him being involved with off shore racing last year sometime I think. I spent yesterday afternoon in a real funk after reading of his passing. He was a great guy and someone who's memory always makes me smile.
Bruce
Pit Row
Bruce
Bruce my friend...it's so good to hear from you. We have some catching up to do. I was googling Jim Zmistowski of Polish Parts when I ran across your post here.
You should get a kick out of some of these old photos.
Here's a picture on me on your old RM 250 before it was "Clapped Out" getting ready for a race at Hiatt Cycle Park in Pompano Beach. You can't tell very well, but that's a GMA (Glades Motocross Association) patch in blue on my left Shoulder.
Here's another of me once I sold that old "clapped out" RM 250 and jumped ship to a Maico.
This one's on my 77 Suzuki RM 250 at Clewiston.
Yes Sir, I can see a ride coming up in our future my friend.
If you really want to have a laugh...I still have lots of old 8mm film taken from Clewiston, Chicken Farm, Hyatt and other places unknown. We should grab some pop corn and sit down to watch a few.
Bert
"What ever happened to Karl Jordan? That kid was swift. "
I was racing with him this weekend at the FTR Hare Scrambles event in Ormand Beach. He's still swift (211)
And me today...I'm still fast...In my own mind
Bert
Look forward to doing some catching up, but I haven't riden a dirt bike since '04 when I gave up racing hare scrambles here in NC. These days I'm riding on road instead of off road and have gotten real involved with LD or long distance riding. I'm on a Yamaha FJR 1300 sport tourer that has been set up for LD certified rides and rallies.
My son and I just recently completed a ride called tge Saddle Sore 2000 which required us to go at least 2000 miles in 48 hrs or less. We left Charlotte and went to Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and finished up in Jacksonville, Fl.; 2128 miles in just over 44 hrs including a 6 hour nap in Texas.
Good to hear from you!
I PMed you with my contact info but you can reach me at eabarnes48@gmail.com.
in the meantime....check out these ride reports. I'm sure we've visited many of the same spots.
NC to Maine and back
http://forum.dixiedualsport.com/post/Berts-quotLets-ride-New-Englandquot-Tour-2009-3682512
Utah
http://forum.dixiedualsport.com/post/Red-Canyons-White-Mountains-Blue-Skies-4718846
NC Adventure ride 07
http://forum.dixiedualsport.com/post/Berts-2007-Balsam-Mt-North-Carolina-Adventure-2130245
NC Adventure 08
http://forum.dixiedualsport.com/post/Berts-2008-NC-Adventure-report-2940463
NC Triumph Tiger ride last year
http://forum.dixiedualsport.com/post/Berts-quotWhite-Knucklequot-Tour-of-NCTenn-5537616
Enjoy...
Bert
I'm in the process of adding a second GPS and having a 4.5 gallon auxiliary fuel cell built that will mount on the rear of the bike near where the tag is located in this photo. Refreshing, re-valving and re-springing the suspension while I'm at it.
Bert
Nice Tiger btw!!!
I'll be contacting you off list or calling you soon! I was forced to go back into the trucking industry last year and am working some really crazy hours. Was up until 1:30 this morning dealing with a broken down truck in WV and back at my desk at 6:30 am...
Bruce
Bert
This one's from 2007
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