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I agree there should be more southern rounds, but I do like alot of the historic locations on the calendar as I pointed out in another thread. Ideally I'd like to see 14 SX and 14 MX rounds with Southern rounds in May.
I hope we can find a place in Texas again (or maybe go back to Freestone at some point) but it has to happen in the heat of the summer, and that has affected the success of a lot of motocross races all along the southern part of the country. I'm not sure how to change the fact that most people don't like being out in the sun all day when it's really hot, unless they are on a lake or beach.
And Millville is way, way more than 13 hours from Morgantown. Four races are within a six-hour drive: High Point, Muddy Creek, Budds Creek and Ironman.
DC
Racer X
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I actually went there and had a look around with Mel Harder when he was running COTA. It's a beautiful place, and Austin a great town, but it would still be mighty hot in late summer.
DC
Racer X
According to the Texas Almanac, the Lone Star State extends 801 straight-line miles from north to south and 773 miles from east to west. Add a few more miles to that if your driving.
And the closest outdoor national to me is Thunder Valley, which is a 14 hour drive from San Antonio. 941 miles.
BTW, I'm not a Texas native. I was more than a little shocked at how far apart everything is out here.
DC
Racer X
Used to drive San Antonio to Tallahassee 2-3 times a year. With toddlers.
I've almost recovered 20 years later.
93 degrees at 11 pm in August yea somehow Glen Helen and High Point not so much. (:
Is that track long enough and wide enough for a national? Serious question, I don't know.. And where the hell would the spectators sit?
I wonder if they would have enough parking if they flattened the vet track.
I think a reason Freestone had issues was that it wasn't really near anything, including an airport or hospital...I know first hand because I had to take a whirlybird all the way to Parkland from there.
Cycle ranch is within 3 hours of 3 of the top 11 most populated cities in the country. and about 4.5 hours from Dallas... I guess you could say the same for Freestone but geez there's just nothing cool at all within the vicinity of Wortham, TX.
Pit Row
Rio Bravo - Houston
https://youtu.be/5IRHSq7VOhU
Cycle Ranch - San Antonio
Swan - Tyler
Murphy's - Red Rock (Austin)
Spoaks - Lockhart (Austin)
That being said most of the summer series races are night races and a lot of the tracks have lights, so maybe that's something to think about. It would be cool to throw in a night race for the outdoors.
Try getting in your car at 5 pm on a nice hot sunny day in Texas. You might think you just sat down in Hell !!!!! LOL
3 Palms does have the space and facilities to pull it off and the track would be insanely rough by the final moto, could be fun to see. Still not what I'd call a national caliber track though.
I think Freedom would be better than both Rio or 3 Palms.
Swan, Cycle Ranch, Oak Hill, and Freestone are the only tracks I'm aware of that I'd say are national caliber. Maybe Red Rock.
A race at COTA would be badass, I've got connections there haha. Funny thing is, they may be open to it. They try to host as much as they can there. It could be the ideal location for a US GP round.
Plenty of spectating areas and with the elevation changes you can actually see over half the track from pretty much anywhere.
The major problem with Cycle Ranch is the narrow road to get into and out of it. I'm pretty sure that is what held it back when they were seriously pursuing a National. It has been paved since that time. Still, it handled a good sized crowd for the 4 stroke races back in the day and they have had mud runs that drew a claimed 10,000 folks to the property. Logistically, the road could be converted to one way in from the Floresville side and one way out heading towards Houston.
The beauty of having it at Cycle Ranch is that San Antonio is a tourist destination. Plenty of hotel rooms, lot of restaurants, the River Walk, decent airport, and the track is only 30-45 minutes from the center of town.
Freestone was a failure because you couldn't see anything. Almost everyone I talked to that went the first year (as I did) said they wouldn't come back because they couldn't see the racing on more than one corner or straight at a time. It wasn't a bad racetrack, but it sucked to be a spectator there. God Bless Tony Miller, he did the best with what he had and nobody in Texas wanted it to be more successful than he did. It truly was a track that was better to watch on TV than to attend in person.
I would pay good money to see the best in the world hit that single down the hill, sharp right up the hill and then sharp right back down the hill.
edit: The best of who's left racing in the U.S. series.
I got to see Pastrana and Reynard ride the track with each other one day. And Andrew Short was a pretty regular visitor when he was on the Suzuki 125. It's a level of speed that has to be seen in person for sure.
Post a reply to: Will Texas ever host another pro national?