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353
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12/2/2009
Location
Aromas, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
7/11/2019 7:12pm
I live in the Santa Cruz area and years ago I heard about a moto event that was held in the local mountains (De Laveaga) in 1968, where there is now a golf course and world class frisbee golf. I found a cool website that chronicles lost and forgotten moto tracks http://www.vintagemx.us/forgottentracks.htm and it is listed on there as well, but no pictures or info. Anyone ever heard of such a thing? Photos?
I grew up in the Bay Area, lived in Soquel in the summer of 1973 -(then had to move back to San Jose)...
I remember hearing about De Laveaga back then, and that it had turned into a golf course.
I could swear that I heard that it had some big events, with the Euro's showing up for races too.
Sorry I really dont have any info other than to confirm that it exisited based on how my moto buddies who were from SC would talk about it.
I never heard of it, myself, and I am a pretty big deal, ya know!
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Those bales are "hugging" the trees to comfort them from their horrific past as props for a barbaric sport that involved loud motors that belch out poisonous fumes and disturb the tranquility of nature for the amusement of a few humans.
Thank God now that area is now a golf course where one can commune with nature as a bloated Mountain View business exec can puff on a Cuban cigar, piss on vegetation, scream obscenities, bitch to high heaven that the drink cart chick is late and walk through acres and acres of grass festooned with all sorts of glorious chemicals to keep the grass green.
All we ever did was put some water on the dirt......
The second of these is Dave Bickers and Bryan "Wildman" Wade coming up the far side of the ravine downhill/uphill, during this race:
I didn't take these pics, I got them from another guy that was there too. As I recollect it, the race started in a cleared area along the road, curved back to the right into live oak woods, did a u turn, then turned right and went down the ravine that I think had small second growth redwoods in it, and came up the other side where the Bickers/Wade pic was taken, then curved around into the cleared area out by the road again where the Adolf Weil pic was taken, did a long left/right/left, and around to the start straight again. The thing I remember most about riding this track was the big humpback jumps with no landing ramp on them, brutal on short travel bikes, and what I remember most about these Euros racing there was that the ground shook when they landed--they hit hard. This was in the days of CZ and their bullet proof trannies, and rubber band hand-on-the-head starts--the CZ guys alwas just stomped down with their hand still on their head, so maybe that is what you remember. I am sort of frustrated, I had pics or Robert and DeCoster and lots of others too, and I can't fine them. If I do I will post them. The DeCoster pic is a classic horizontal crossup, a Bubba Scrub 40 years early! Also I think I have a Chuck Clayton Cycle News article about this race, hope I can find it too. If so, I will put it up too.
http://vault.racerxonline.com/1972-06-18/250mx/tahoe-recreation-park
Pit Row
250 International
Aberg Hus
RDC CZ
Valek CZ
Wade Greeves
Karsmaker Hus
500 International
Roberts CZ
Hammergren Hus
RDC CZ
Valek CZ
Wade Greeves
Article shows full results for all other Jr. classes as well.
Issue 48 shows Saddleback Inter Am on 12/1/68.
The course was laid-out on an existing golf course that was scheduled to be demolished after the event. The plan at the time was to build houses, but it appears that never happened. The track layout and surface was perfect for European type moto-cross, and the international riders liked the course. I think Dick Mann was entered, but I'm not sure.
Chuck "Feets" Minert did race a BSA Victor in the Main. I know that for a fact because he let me take a spin on his race bike ... about an hour before the main! No kidding. All he knew about me was that I knew Bugs, and that was good enough for him to turn an almost stranger loose on his race bike.
Anyway, the race was well-attended, and run in great weather. The Scandinavian Alien MXers lived-up to the hype, and really put on a show. The MX promotion worked great, too. I was selling bikes at Karl's Motors in Richmond, Cal at the time, and that event started a strong buzz right away, and it grew in a hurry. I would say that the plan worked perfectly, since the entire MX madness in the USA can be traced right back to that event. It's great to see that some people still remember it.
Highsider, this one was before my time. My folks were not into bikes, and I didn't really catch the bug until my buddies introduced me in 69-70, making it to my first race in 71 at the Carnegie Trans AMA.
Hiya, Fresh. I can't recall knowing Bruce Bradshaw. When I was there, Souza, Mann, Karl and Karl's son were there. I was an ex-road-racer, and scrambles rider, still learning the ropes on dirt. Dick got me into the Richmond Ramblers, and talked me into going pro. He and Lawill wrote a waiver letter to the AMA, which allowed me to skip the Class C Novice division and start as a Junior. I guess it helped that I raced BSAs. By 1970 I had moved to Reno. Need I say that working at Karl's with those guys was life changing and a total blast?
PS: ... My first main squeeze lived in El Cerritio, Carol DelGreco. I went to Alameda High, so El Cerrito HS was a football rival.
...OK, please give me a few minutes to catch my breath. I'd totally forgotten that Torsten Hallman was there, which is crazy since he was the Big Attraction back then. All of us mere mortals only got our information from a few magazines and Cycle News, plus a few first-hand tales from guys who'd seen them race on the other side of the pond.
For us, even the name "Torsten Hallman was synonymous with "real" moto cross, ... the real deal, with two 45-minute motos, on natural terrain, on bikes that could pull tree stumps and scare the bejeezus out of you with their hair-trigger, explosive low-end torque and power-bands that looked more like needles than curves on a chart. You all know what I mean.
The "here's your chance to make this an annual event" line is kinda funny, since we all knew that this track was a very lucky, one-shot deal, so any further events would have to be held elsewhere. I very vaguely recall that one of the issues that the promoter had with having more such events had to do with the AMA stamping their big feet (they were way more powerful back then) and making loud noises about suspending the licenses of US riders if they ran in Edison's FIM events.
Again, it was a long time ago, and I may have my facts wrong. I think some of it had to do with the AMA wanting to start their own version of moto-cross, using their own rules. The problem was that, in those days, if you were an AMA pro racer, you ran in just one National Championship series, which included road-racing and flat-track, and adding a few moto-cross races to that series would create a mess, and the AMA was not ready to start a separate MX series from scratch.
But, here's a HUGE thanks for posting that poster!
I was there too in my hometown of Santa Cruz. Started my love affair with Cz's after seeing Robert, Bickers, DeCoster, Valek. The Swedes were fast too but the Cz guys were wild with their wheelies and crossups. This is my photos of Weirtz, Robert and DeCoster.
y love affair with Cz's after seeing Robert, Bickers, DeCoster, Valek. The Swedes were fast too but the Cz guy were wild with their wheelies and crossups. This is my photos of DeCoster, 
Priceless! Thank you for these pics Jim!👍👍
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