Your First moto win

I didn't get a bike until I was old enough to buy one with my own money and drive it to the track in my own vehicle so I missed the amateur stuff. 

I won the adults novice class in an enduro in 2019, it was at my absolute favourite track that I rode nearly every week. Amazing mix of tight woods, a Motocross section and a few 'pro' lines you could gain loads of time on, and because I was a better technical rider than speed I was taking them pretty much every lap to make up what I lost on the Mx section.

I was leading the class and well into the next class up by the end of the second lap but I didn't have any race fitness so by about an hour thirty in I had dropped a few places and was just trying to survive. On the last lap second place made a mistake and I passed them and got a glimpse of first a few straights away. I dug in as hard as I could and gave it everything I had and managed to make a pass in the nastiest part of the woods for first. Just about held it together through the rest of the track to win. 

It felt like I'd done what I had to do, I was still young and stupid enough to think I could make it to pro level so I just felt like it was a step to the next class and I didn't really enjoy it.

After a few years of not riding so much that is still my only win to date. I've been hitting it hard the last two years and am training now to race the 2025 hard enduro and hare scramble series, I'm up a class now and aiming for a podium my first year and to try and get the championship the second year

Year was 2001, was at Silver Springs MX in NY, in the WNYMA district.  Class was 125 Beginner which doesn't sound too impressive but we had full gates for this class regularly in this time frame. I believe there was 38 on this particular gate. I won the 1st moto, got a good start in moto 2 and was in 2nd behind the leader. Knew I was in good shape for the overall and backed it down and finished 3rd in moto 2, so went 1-3 for 1st overall. Was a pretty awesome day for a 17 year old kid that wanted that day more then anything. Now as a 41 year old kid, I still cherish every win as you never know when you'll get your last one.

2004, Elko Speedway. I was 15. First real summer of racing. First year on a big bike. 125C class. Got the holeshot in the first moto, led it all the way! 2nd Moto I holeshotted again and was leading with moto 2 runner up on my rear fender. Yellow flag comes out over a big tabletop. I roll it, he jumps it and passes me. I'm on him the rest of the moto, only a 4 lap race. Lost by 2 bike lengths, he wins the overall. Protested he jumped on a yellow, his dad was a track official, so nothing happened. Fkd up my first ever 1-1.. Got a 1-1 a few weekends later, felt really good.

80 beginner 1978. It was a qualifier for the world mini Grand Prix at escape country, but it was a mud race and they basically set up a track in the parking lot near the entrance. I crashed about three times and I high sided into a tree.  I was shocked when I saw the results. I won that moto and my class!

11 yrs old, 1976, Crockett TX., Mini Jr., on a 1975 YZ80.  Never raced before and it was muddy.  Got the holeshot both motos out of 8 riders and just motored on.  My dad told me years later that he thought racing might scare me and I would quit riding...naw, I was hooked after that.  At 59 1/2, no more racing, just track riding with friends.  I tell non moto peeps that it is my "golf".  

Skeeter MX for the "Spook Flook" Halloween race in 1990 which at the time was a very well attended race for us Houston people. There was always a big party at the track the night before and that year the Spin Doctors were hired to play a set. I showed up and won both motos of 80cc beginner. I had been racing for a year but no luck on getting a win until that day.

Village Creek, probably 2002ish, 250D (beginner)

Had raced 3 or 4 times on an 80

Raced probably 5-6 times in 125 beginner with mixed results, sometime top 5 sometimes 15th out of 20

Went to Village Creek for the first time and raced my dads 250, major holeshot and major win. Was most likely a fluke, did a few more beginner races on a 125 before moving to novice and never had another win like that

Nov. 1976 at OCIR in Irvine, Ca. for the High School Motocross finals.  Brand new 1977 XR75, holeshot and went wire to wire all 3 motos. Prior to that I was racing a clapped out 1974 Yamaha MX80 and getting smoked. I was a freshman and it was my first year on the motocross team. I was hooked for life after that night. We won our division and the school did a little write up about us, we were heroes for a couple of days 😀

High school motocross sounds so badass - very jealous 

I hate to say that I have no idea. 1994, if not earlier, on a 50. I never think of it, but it kind of bothers me now that I have and can’t remember. Oh well. Lots of hits to the head since then. Still going strong. 

I don't know the exact day but it was in 74. I raced a 73 TM250 Suzuki. It was at the county fair grounds in Greenville NC. They made a track and ran 5 or 6 races during the summer there for a few years.

My first race in 72 I got second place trophy riding my Dad's 58 BSA Gold Star 500 single. Don't remember the track name. It was basically a trail cut through a farmers field. I still have that trophy.

1968, worked at Sea Tac Cycle Renton WA, the owner sold me a used 68 AT1 with a 21" front wheel and the GYT Pipe. On a Saturday I went to the Gary Bailey School at Orting Sports Park and the next day was a MX. Entered the beginner class and was winning it! Came to the finish line and let off not realizing that 2nd place was right there....hmmm  2nd place was certainly a LESSON!!!   Got my first win the next weekend.

Not a moto win but 1st O/A.

Corona Friday night racing..went 4-3 for first overall. Who knew?

Woodland Mx park, Woodland Washington. 

1996 80 Beginner class on a YZ 80

 

I just looked it up 6/27/1982 Happy Hollow MX Hillsboro, Ohio-250B 1982 YZ250. I don't remember anything about that day, but I'm sure I was super pumped along with my parents.  I started winning quite a bit after that first win. Bonus I still have and race my 1982 YZ250. 

I gotta admit – after years of lurking I’ve jumped in simply to say: 

This thread rocks – Thanks Nairb#70 ! 

To me, this is moto.  

And - mumbles has some of the best stuff  - OMG !!

Carry on - 

Edit: Sup Evo !!!  - Killer pic ! 

Thanks for the good words MXsharc! I started this thread 10 years ago. Lots of good posts and likes over the years, worth reading through them all! Feel good topic for sure, what Vitalmx should be about.

Post and pic of the day!  

I loved my 82 yz250, jealous that you're still riding and racing yours.  Right on.

2005 Elsinore GFI Track. Novice class. One week on the brand new 2006 KX250f. COMPLETELY weeded myself in practice and raced with bent bars. 3 weeks later broken tips of tib/fib and femur and torn ACL from a windy night at Starwest.

Thanks for kind words MXSharc. I've done and seen a lot in the last 58 years of dirt biking. I'm glad I have some stories to tell and old photos to share.

My first moto win was at Capeway Rovers in the 250C class  (450 class now) NESC.  I had just started racing , I did the opener at Southwick and tore my ACL. And DNFed. My Dr. never did an MRI and told me it was a sprain. Later on in  life I found out that I had torn it.  So I was off the bike a month or so.

      My first race back, second race of my life on a Dirtbike ( I did some MTB racing)  was at Capeway.  I was out late the night before hanging out with a girl I was into. She had gone to my first race and saw how badly I did, she made a promise of something she would do if I won the race the next day.  So I was extra  motivated to do well.  I finished second in my first moto,  so when she showed up and heard how well I did she was surprised.  I got a top 5 start in the second moto, and passed into second pretty quickly, and was leading by the end of the first lap. And won the moto and overall. 

   It was the first race I finished ,Iat the next round I saw the rider that got second. His bike was on a trailer that had #1 plates on it. AMA Pro  national championship plates.....  I went over and talked to him and surprisingly they were his #1 plates. He was a Pro hill climbing national champion. He was in a Terrafirma video and sponsored by Fox and than  Troy Lee. I was surprise that a Nation champ  that was a Pro was riding in the C class. But he said that was what they told him to do. David Watson is his name.

  I made enough points to be moved up to the B class 4 races later.  I got a 6th OA in my first 250B ( 450 class now)class race and a 3rd in the last moto of the year in either an open B or 250B moto.   And then raced an AMA arenacross. I was out until 1Am or so the night before the race, I was at the pro race watching. And had to be awake at 5AM to go back and race myself. I should have not raced. A lot of the guys in the B class were riding in the C class. I rode the B class since I felt like that was what I should ride. I ended up crashing on the finishline double and destroying my left foot after a dumb mistake.

       I raced the next season but had a lot of pain and was never the same. It took 11 years and 7 more surgeries to get my foot back to a point I was not in constant pain. A MRSA infection , and getting so sick I thought I was going to die. But I've been good for a while now and starting to ride an EMTB to get into shape, and see how that goes.

^Haha, now I want to know what that girl promised you. Did she deliver? 

LOL,   I can't remember the exact favor , but I was a 21 year old guy. And she was a perky young blond  ( of age too , not that young) . I was really into her, so any type of getting close with her was motivation  . She did  deliver though.  And years later we are still friends .   

 I really wanted to do well too. That extra motivation was just that a little bonus. Might have been just enough to help me not crash out. That first race at Southwick, I crashed in the first turn, They restarted the race and a couple guys had crashed halfway down the start straight and I remember going into a dust cloud thinking that here was no way anybody would crash here. As I finished the thought I saw the swingarm of a KX up in the air, as I crashed into him and another rider. They restarted for a third time!  I tried to ride around , my friends were top B riders and Local Pro level riders that had more faith in me than I did, or liked to watch me crash.  They kept at me until I tried to ride. My knee was so swollen and hurting. I rode a lap or 2 and pulled off.  I was always able to ride better on non race days. 

                  I found out that a friend of mine had been putting Eye drops in my drinks at the races e for the entire time I was racing. I always thought I was just very nervous . I was always making last second runs to the porta poty. I had gone to 1 race myself  and did well and it felt strangely easy. And I wasn't sick and visiting the toilet often. After I stopped racing because of the issues with my foot. I read an interview in the local Motosports magazine that Paul Buckly put out. In it my friend was asked the funniest thing he's done , or seen at a race. His answer was that he put eyedrops/laxative in my drinks for the entire 3 or 4 years that I had been racing.  If You don't know eye drops  will work like a powerful laxative.  I was very shy and just thought it was nerves. I never thought that somebody would be doing something to cause it.  

  And NO it was not his Girlfriend , or sister, etc. that is the girl in the story .      

1978 Friday Night Dunes on the mini track

I raced there in the 125 & 250 novice classes in 77. Here is a photo.

I have a story from Bee Line. I heard about it and decided to go out there and check it out. I had my 76 RM 250 and a 74 TM 125 with the shocks moved up. I was in the Air Force at the time. I was 21. I had my brother-in-law with me and he was like 15. We pulled up to the track and it was all locked up. There was nobody around and we found a big enough gap in the fence to get our bikes through. We rode for 30 minutes or so and then a pickup truck rolls up. I see it has some kind of lettering on the side. Two guys got out and started waiving at us to come over. We go over and then I noticed they were Indian reservation cops. I new I was in trouble. They said they were going to confiscate our bikes and take us to jail for trespassing. I told them I was in the Air Force. They said let me see your ID. I showed it to them. One of the guys got on his radio in the truck. He came back and said the owner said to let you go, but don't come back and do this ever again. I said thank you and we left. Got lucky that day.

1976, Track in Northern Ca. Track called Argyil. 100cc novice class, 1976 RM 100. Started 3rd worked into the lead and held it to the finish I was so stoked.. 2nd moto, started around 10th moving through the pack, going into a  turn with big braking bumps, end up going over the bars, bike land squarly on my back and head, breaking my nose, and shattering my shouder blade into eight pieces, first ambulance ride. Finally get home, mom is stressed out and pissed and all I can say is, "I won the 1st moto!"  still racing at 63 years old, vintage MX, but it's MX racing.            

So glad to see that my 10 yr. old thread is still getting some attention. Amazed at the number of posts about wins from the 70's and 80's. and the variety of locations. Makes me wonder what the average age of a vital member is.

My first moto win was very similar to the OPs. I was also at a NEMA race in New York, this one in 2004 at Walden Playboys in the 65C class. They had the 50s and 65s race on the mini track separate from everyone else. First moto I remember my buddy at the time, cutting the track in the back to pass me where no parents could see for 3rd. That must’ve got me fired up because I was a different rider in moto 2, it was really the first time I ever felt true pressure to get it done, and I did. Holeshotted and had the kid who won moto 1 all over me the whole race and I didn’t crack…last lap was weird though because all of a sudden no one was behind me…. Those fuckers didn’t know who I was because I was new to racing there so they just assumed I was a lap down and gave the checkered to the kid in 2nd. I was in tears when my dad told me this I guess they didn’t believe him either when he told them they messed up. Enough parents told the trophy people and they did end up switching me to 4-1 for 2nd.

That win did change something in me I was a lot faster after proving to myself I could do that. This was a double day race and on Sunday I fuckin dominated my way to a 1-1, graduating me to 65B. 🏁

Wilber, Nebraska 1974. Second race on my 250 Elsinore. My Dad snapped this as I took the checkers. I went 1-3 for 2nd OA. Fun times. 68 years old and still racing vintage a couple of times a year .

Only win that comes to mind was at Antietam in Hagerstown Maryland in 1979.

While sitting in staging the guy that had won the 1st moto on the CR125 that had the 23 inch front wheel I asked him how he liked the new bike and he got all cocky and said I didn't see you in front of me! 

Pissed me off and after my typical bad start  I caught and passed him and won that moto.

Felt good enough that I will always remember that race.