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Used to truck to the races with Rocket Rex sometimes?
RB
On my 125 Penton at Saddleback around 1973
Sondra
CMC
Oh cool... sure go right ahead.
btw... did you know I'm on your Facebook profile picture... I'm in the back waiting for the 125 intermediate race... #12B. lol
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I'm getting my tail kicked out in 2nd. I knew when it was announced that they were re-opening that it may only be for a short time with all the problems going on. I told my Dad "we have to go this weekend in case it doesn't stay open". I don't think very many guys heard about the re-opening cause I don't remember many people there that day. It was so nice to get back on that track after it had been closed for a while. Never saw the Dunes closing coming either.........just a sad time in the golden years of So Cal MX.
Like everyone else says.........MX kept me out of trouble, gave me confidence, discipline, a healthy lifestyle, & many great memories as a kid.
That's pretty cool you rode the last event. Looked like the 125 class? This picture of the starting line is sweet! You can see where they cleaned up the first section off the gate, but they never touched the top and bottom. Do you remember the little run way back to the gate on the right? that was cool when you practiced the gate , as it looks like here. It just brings back so many memories of old Jack Denis pointing you down, and then running fast as hell to pull that handle. I can smell the Spectro!
Yep!............that little run way return back down the side ruled. I'm so glad I got this pic of just me on the start, showing the whole uphill, plus the hills & classic fire station in the background.........could only be Saddleback. This start hill was the BEST.......& I remember the butterflies really kicking in when he made the mad dash for that lever...........cause you knew in a couple seconds from then "it was ON". So much fun backing off the gate right before the lever pull & ramming it..........until they banned that action.
125's coming down the hill for sure, don't remember if the pic was 1st or 2nd moto......but it was sadly the last day.
I miss those early weekday mornings.........OH, damn I miss those days whether 100 degrees & track was just hammered & slick as snot, or groomed & packed with riders..............just give me those days again! Spend my time working on my bike & training instead of managing freakin emails & a damn smart phone. Could I please go back in time!!!
Pretty sure this pic was that last day as well, you can see how empty the pits were, I just remember it was very strange that day, I thought "where in the heck is everyone".
I remember my Dad was a major talker, he used to talk Ken Erb's ear off every week, then one day we happened to be parked next to the MX Kied when he was still on 80's & my Dad talked his dad's ear off.........oh man, he just loved Saddleback cause that was his social hour, while I was out pounding laps thinking I was going to be "someone"...........ha ha ha. Im serious, my Dad really didn't like going to the other tracks much, but he loved Saddleback & he didn't even ride.......LOL!
Then I'll never forget a weekday & O'mara flies over my head on Webco & hits the left hander & BRAAAP..........is just gone in a 1/10 of a second..............I'm just going "DAMN", as I continued around the track wondering how bad I was getting in the way as Team Honda continued to practice.
Hey Webco, here's one for you..........
coming off Webco.........................& the famous "street turn" trying my best Jonny'O imitation with gators & all..........oh man, so funny to laugh at yourself so many years later.
That street had everything you needed if you were going Saddleback...........plenty of places to eat, supermarket, Gas, Racer's Pit Stop, & Chapman Gen. Hospital.
It would always be a goal in the morning to try and time that light at the 76 station too right before climbing the hill.
much different during big events. From no woops to 3 big woops, muddy and hard.
Funny you mention the back sections of the park. Those hot summers days, pitted by that big tree near
Irvine Park. That was a good area, except when it rained. Rain was an entirely different
deal at the back, the place became hazordous!
Does anyone remember in 84, before they opened the gates for the world mini, the tractor being left in N and rolling down and binding Don/Denny Stephenson's van almost in half??
Viva la Saddleback, and Dunes, and Sand Hill, ....I loved those tracks Lake Huron can suck it!!!
Scott C.
Pit Row
Getting ready to pull a holeshot!
I believe this is '79.
Maico and Scott boots? Hell yeah!
Fond memories...I, literally, grew up there.
I don't know if it's been mentioned (didn't read all the pages), but another guy who really killed it there was Pete Snorteland. He was a good friend--RIP. And I think I remember Ron Turner winning 125, 250, and Open pro all on the same day a few times.
I remember riding my XR75 at Saddleback back in the good ol days, but never knew there was a *new* Saddleback that (tried) to open in 2001 just a couple miles down the road... until I found this old LA Times article:
Motocross Park Shuts Down
By DAVE MCKIBBEN
SEP. 7, 2001
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Less than a week after its grand opening in a dry portion of the Irvine Lake bed, the Saddleback Motocross Park has closed because of permit problems.
Since the park opened Labor Day weekend, motocross enthusiasts have flocked to the Woody’s Cove area to ride the three rolling courses carved out of the lake bed.
But the day before the official opening, the county planning department ordered the park’s operators, Saddleback Motorsports Partners LLC, to stop the bulldozers from finishing the course because the company didn’t have a grading permit.
Saddleback Motorsports opened the park anyway, believing it had the necessary approvals. The park remained open until Thursday, when course operators volunteered to close because of confusion over permits.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer said he is not opposed to off-road motorcycle racing, but he is not certain course operators obtained the required grading permit.
“I think motocross is a great extracurricular outdoor sport, but we want to make sure they follow the legal process,” Spitzer said. “We have the permit process in place for a reason. The county is saying, ‘If you’re out there and you have a bulldozer, there are stability of soil, safety and runoff issues.’ We issue permits for safety reasons.”
Jon Waller of Saddleback Motorsports said he believed his company obtained the necessary approval from the Serrano Water District, which co-owns the land with the Irvine Co.
“We felt that if you have a standing permit from an agency accepted by the county, you don’t need another one,” Waller said. “Based on the due diligence performed by myself and our attorneys, [we were] comfortable we had the right to open.”
Officials from the county planning department, the water district and Saddleback Motorsports met late Thursday afternoon to try to clear up the confusion. They plan to meet again early next week.
“I don’t think their interpretation of the permits was necessarily unreasonable, but I’m not sure it was accurate,” said Brian Murphy, a spokesman for the planning department. “They are putting together a package of their permits and their basis for interpretation. If we don’t agree with that interpretation, we’ll direct them through the proper process.”
Meanwhile, local motocross riders are left without a track in Orange County. The closest facilities are at least an hour away, in San Bernardino and Lake Elsinore.
The last motocross park in Orange County--Saddleback Park, an open-trail riding park that attracted national and international competitions--closed in 1984 after it was denied insurance after several deaths and serious injuries.
The old park, which opened in 1968, was two miles west of the new park, next to a landfill on Irvine Co. land. In the years since motocross left Orange County, the sport’s popularity has exploded.
“The off-road community is a close-knit bunch,” Waller said. “They are very supportive of this operation and quite a few have offered to do whatever they can.”
Planning department officials said they received about 200 phone calls and 75 e-mails Wednesday from disgruntled motocross riders.
Over four days of operation, the park off Santiago Canyon Road attracted about 1,500 vehicles and 250 riders, park officials said. That caused traffic and safety problems, Spitzer said.
“If you put 200 vehicles out there on a two-lane road and bring in 200 motorcycles, cars and pedestrians, you are going to have a problem,” Spitzer said. “The CHP reported that it was a mess. I don’t think the operators came up with a parking plan.”
But, how did you go to Escape Country to ride? They closed down a few years before Saddleback.
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