tell us about your first race ....

Feb 1970.Burlington Iowa. Local club's annual mid winter 2 Hour Hare Scrambles on a 500 Triumph. 3-4 inches of mud on frozen ground. Slicker that greased turkey snot. One hour in I broke a throttle cable at the far end of the course. Had to push that monster through the mud back to the truck. Only got better after that.

I was about 16 in1968. Somewhere near the current Perris raceway, a club called Hi-Jinx Family Motocross put on a race, just on a piece of vacant ground. I rode a DT1 with a GYT kit. 19" trials tire on front and a knobby on the rear.
When I crossed the finish line, they handed me a can of Coors beer, that I cradled in my lap on the way back to the van! I kept the empty for years as my only trophy.
Jimi J

1977, it was a harescramble at Danielsville Ga., and I was aboard a 77' YZ100, not exactly the best woods weapon ever built. Since there was no 100 class in HS, I got stuck racing against the 125's. On the second lap, a caught my front brake lever on a small tree and got dumped pretty hard. Once I caught my breath, I limped back to the pits and loaded up.

My first MX race went a little better as I took fourth in the 100 class at Rolling Ridge MX in Homer, Ga. that same year. You could have thrown a blanket over 2nd through 4th in that entire race, still one of my favorite race memories.

1974 on my #7 KX 250, nervous as hell, don't think I'd been riding 6 months, track had big hills too. I got good starts but always crashed in the first turn, and a few more times during the race, overshot one corner and went into the bushes, don't know how I survived it, but I learned a lot and had fun...

1999, it was a harescramble in Cuba Ill. It's always MUDDY in Cuba. I've never been a good mud rider, but thought, how bad could it be?
After my first lap(I think it was a little over 4 miles) I pulled up to where I was supposed to gas up and get fresh goggles, and told my buddy I was done!!!.... He looked me in the eye's and SCREAMED the hell you are, get your ass out there and race.. Lot's of people will give up and you'll end up getting a trophy.....
So I took off like a Goon on a mission!
I rode the track in first and second gear, flopping around in the mud like a fool.
I weighed about a buck ten at the time, and had prolly two hundred and fifty pounds of mud on me and the bike. It was a two hour race plus a lap.
When I finally crossed the checker's, I thought I was gonna die.
Rode back to the pits and started hammering beer's!!
Later we wen't up to the scoring tower to see how I finished.... Scrolling down the sheet, I finally saw my name....DNF.... I asked WTF, and was informed, You have to do sixty percent of the leader.. I did five lap's and he did seventeen.....
I was devastated.. I bitched at my buddy all the way home for not letting me quit after the first lap. He laughed the whole time.(Which made me madder). I've never been back to Cuba... We talk and laugh about that day all the time. When ever there's a mud race, He alway's say's, At least it wasen't like Cuba! Good time's!!

I guess it was 1997, Mosier Valley...I putted around the track for my 5 laps each moto. Tried to stay relaxed but if there was coal between the cheeks, I'd of popped out some diamonds. In the second moto, coming up to the finish, the last section wound in and out of some trees. The spode in front of me falls down at the last corner. I put around him, he jumps up and we both actually found the throttle as we charged to the finish line table. Beat him by a wheel...So I was 16th out of 17 overall. I was happy just to get that one position.

Good stuff. My first race was at White Oaks mx in Fredricksburgh Va. in 79. I was on a 77 yz250 D. Full gate in the 250 C class. I got a great start, led for half a lap and then proceeded to crash 11 times in the first moto. Just pin it, thats what I did and crashed some more in the 2nd moto. The first trophy didnt happen till 3 races later. I got 4th place and I was on top of the world. Proudly displaying my dinky trophy on the dashboard of my clapped out Dodge Van so I could oggle it on the long drive home.

I found out what ARM PUMP was at my first race in 1983

I remember reading about it in the mags for years but had no clue what it was.

wow you people have been racin way before i even knew what a dirtbike was.

1974 Golden Sands Speedway Plover WI Intermission halftime race on minis. I lapped the field of on my XR75. Oval track. Thought I was king shit. The next week, did my first motocross at Tombstone Pizza Medford WI and got my ass handed to me. Loved it. Win lose no matter, as long as it is fun.

First MX race was 1994 Mammoth Motocross. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I knew it was tough to put in a few laps on that track, nothing compared to race speed. It was a disaster. I cross rutted and fell at the bottom of the downhill, then slid out around the tree turn. Four laps of agony when I looked up it was the leader coming around to lap me on lap five. Out came the checkers. Moto two didnt go any better but I didnt fall down. I remember falling asleep in my lounge chair after the second moto. I was hooked from then on. Bahhh Enduros were for old guys then on! Now im old and Enduro racing looks a lot better.

1976 Cycle Haven, Terminal Island, L.A., CA. Had a '73 Elsinore 125, first moto holeshot and endo in the whoops. The first thing I saw was my dad yelling get up and go. Finshed 3-2 for 2nd overall.

Dang, I'll be the new school kid here. After years of BMX racing, I borrowed my dad's friends 96 YZ250 and raced at Hawk Point, MO in August of 2000, about a week after learning how to use a clutch. The bike had no idle screw, so I had to blip the throttle to keep the thing running. I killed it on the start in the 1st moto of 250 Beginner, and wheelied over on the second moto. Dead last, although instead of pulling off after I had been lapped and the checkers were thrown, I putted around for another lap to make sure I got my 5 in.

4 races later I won my first race and I've been hooked ever since.

You probably missed all the cool years of TransAMA racing in St Peters, Mo at the "original" Cycle World track (not somebody borrowing the name).

Jimi J

I did, but my dad used to race there all the time and always talks about the original cycle world (theres a car dealership there now). Back when my dad worked for St. Peters Suzuki he used to race out there with Jay Clark, The Sheckels, Stahlmann's, Casper, etc etc.

I kind of wish I would've raced there so I wouldn't have to hear about it all the time...haha.

A buddy said "you think it's easy? Here - you try" when I was 11.
I hopped on his Yamaha 100, and holeshot and won that moto having never ridden a bike before in my life

Moto = easy.

I was at the '72 Tran-AM there. Part of Ake's undefeated year. Great sand track.

1986, allen ranch mx, bixby, oklahoma. back then beginner was an open class-any size bike. i went to the races and timed the beginner class. after the races, they had open practice so i had my g/f, later wife, now exwife, time me. my times would've put me in third. i came back two weeks later to race. i was on an '84 cr125 and i had to race against 250's. i was already an old guy at age 27. i got a third place start and on the third lap, the two "fast" guys tangled and went down. when the white flag came out, i was leading. one of them passed me on the final lap, leaving me with a 2nd place in my first-ever moto. in the second moto, both those guys beat me and i ended up with a 2/3 for second overall.

i'm still racing.

1976 Irwindale Raceway in so cal,100 novice finished dead last in all 3 motos (yes they had a 3 moto format) the crankshaft broke in the 3rd moto.My moto fit was levi's hand me down boots,jersey,helmet.

My first race...



I did that 6 or 8 times in two motos, still got 8th O/A out of 40 in the 125C and lead both motos, I won the next time out.

1981 Enduro race. 11 years old, riding a IT175, my feet were a easy foot from the ground on both sides. My mom took the bike in the trunk of the Dodge ST Regis. I made it about 500ft, fell about 10 times, and cried all the way home. Very simliar to now!

2007 day in the dirt was my first race. My friend talked me into racing even though i had only rode the tracks two or three times. I raced three different races at a day in the dirt and in my second race which was the moto a go go,a team race. I was doing alright for not ever using the back brake and pulling the clutch in with all my fingers and then all of a sudden a fast guy past really fast over a jump and my handle bar hooked his jersey. OUCH!!!! i finished that race and right after the race was over it was time for the COUP de GRACE a two hour long race. I made it through the race and when i was done my wrist was really swollen, turns out my wrist was broke in two spots from the crash in the team race. But anyways after i healed up i ran a local series here in so cal (VET X) and i have been hooked ever since! Now i race as much as possible.

Now THIS is a great thread.

1978, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, 250 Junior (30 mins + 2 laps motos) on a 1978 CR250. Got a bad start (flag start) and passed about 10 guys to get to the front, won the moto. (with my goggles still on my helmet lol.) I was hooked forever!

Won the second moto and a cheap ass plastic trophy which I still have.

tunnel hill mx dalton ga. around 1986. rode 125 beginner class on kx 125. it was also my last race ther in 2006. it was called twin peaks mx.

1976 Crockett MX, Crockett, TX. Mini Jr. 1975 YZ80. The track was on some farm land and went through a creek twice and the big berm was the damn of a pond. 1st moto, 9 riders, rubberband start, I got the holeshot and led all 5 laps. Second moto the same. Still have that trophy and I've been hooked ever since. My dad thought it would scare me and I would not want to ride anymore but it back-fired on him. We had some good times at the tracks here in East Texas in the 70's and 80's. He wasn't a rider, but he was a great supporter and sacrificed a lot of his golf time for me to race.

One of the best threads on here in a long time, Thanks Foo.

Was a pit bike race...Some bad luck, but for the situation, it couldnt have gone any better...A couple of weeks before the race, I blew my piston of my most pized possesion race bike...So my only option was to use the crf150f that was sitting in my garadge for a while. When we took it to the track, the throttle cable was stuck...Opened up the carb to see if the spiring was workin...Fixed that except that now the bike wouldnt start...Opened and closed the carb about 10times and came to a conclusion that the jets were cloged only we didnt have a needle to poke it with....Missed practice and was about ready for the race to start and for me to pack up and go home...Then the guy parked next to us just came out of practice who also happened to be a mechanic...Had all his tools with him and got the bike up and running...With no practice, i walked the track and studied it the best i could...Got a bad start but made it in the top 10...Luckily i didnt get a DNF as a few guys did...Overall a great first experience.

Was a pit bike race...Some bad luck, but for the situation, it couldnt have gone any better...A couple of weeks before the race, I blew my piston of my most pized possesion race bike...So my only option was to use the crf150f that was sitting in my garadge for a while. When we took it to the track, the throttle cable was stuck...Opened up the carb to see if the spiring was workin...Fixed that except that now the bike wouldnt start...Opened and closed the carb about 10times and came to a conclusion that the jets were cloged only we didnt have a needle to poke it with....Missed practice and was about ready for the race to start and for me to pack up and go home...Then the guy parked next to us just came out of practice who also happened to be a mechanic...Had all his tools with him and got the bike up and running...With no practice, i walked the track and studied it the best i could...Got a bad start but made it in the top 10...Luckily i didnt get a DNF as a few guys did...Overall a great first experience.

Feb of 1972. Riding a Hodaka B model that I rode to the track, and then removed the headlight and tail light and installed my number plate. Oh yea, and I removed the spark arrestor from my pipe.

Went 3/4/4 for 4th overall. They didn't give trophy's, but I got $5 in cash for 4th.

I wore my Easy Rider helmet with bubble goggles. Jeans, mid shin high construction boots and a sweat shirt. Standard issue leather gloves.

I was hooked. Bought a new 72 Yamaha 100 the next week and it was on.

MR

1989 maplehurst, il. Had a '84 yz125. i was up until 3am "milling" the head on a cabinet table with 60 grit wet and dry. i had ported the cylinder earlier in the day with my dremel.

my buddies that had already had a year under their belt racing told me they were picking me up at 6am.

they woke me up, i told them i'm to tired and i'm not going.. they loaded my bike up for me and dragged me into the truck.

125c stacked gate against those potentent cr125's. but i thought i had the fastest bike out there because of my .020" head mill the night before.

i got a top ten start, probably because i wasn't smart enough to realise it hurts in a first turn pile up and i didn't have any fear at that point.

maplehurst had this big uphill right after a double double.. i remember vividly to this day racing with a cr125 charging towards the hill and thinking i'm going to show this fool what a fast bike is... i was in second trying to shift to third and i accidently kicked it down to first wide open. can't belive how tough those 2strks are! lol

i finished 9th o/a... first race and first trophy. i was so stoked and hooked. i think i bought a honda couple weeks later!