One of the most awesome One-off Motocross tracks ever raced on.....

drmarkr
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drmarkr 3/22/2021 8:50pm
3/22/2021 8:50pm
I was in that pic back there somewhere by Moates. That track was by far the most real motocross track I've ever ridden. Bauer rode the 250 class that day.
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MyBobbym
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MyBobbym 3/22/2021 9:41pm
3/22/2021 9:41pm
G-man wrote:
Notice I did not say "made" as this track was laid out on a natural Hillside in Southern California. I believe they only raced it for...
Notice I did not say "made" as this track was laid out on a natural Hillside in Southern California.
I believe they only raced it for this one National, it was all grass during practice.

Name the track, year and as many riders as you can spot in the picture. This was taken by my good neighbor and friend the Legend--Tom Cosley. 😎

I know Bauer raced it that day so he needs to wait for the others to chime in first and he will set the record straight. Woohoo



Picture is hanging in my Factory and this is the best angle I could get at it. Smile
Trabuco canyon or better known as the "only raced a national once" track.
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MyBobbym
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MyBobbym 3/22/2021 9:42pm
3/22/2021 9:42pm
Nairb#70 wrote:
You might be thinking of a race at Sears Point, I believe it was around 1977 and was natural terrain on the hillside near the road...
You might be thinking of a race at Sears Point, I believe it was around 1977 and was natural terrain on the hillside near the road course. I can picture grass and serious rolling hills with elevation.
That is def not sears point.
FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 3/23/2021 12:55pm
3/23/2021 12:55pm
MyBobbym wrote:
That is def not sears point.
But this is (Sears ran Trans AMA/USA/Nationals into the early 80's when the ops got sick of dirt bikes).



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jbrownmxr
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jbrownmxr 3/23/2021 1:07pm
3/23/2021 1:07pm Edited Date/Time 3/23/2021 1:08pm
Id be curious to know location as I spend a fair amount of time in the area.

I finally found where saddleback was. I’d probably still ride moto if that track were still open.

Great thread.
SLAPAHO
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SLAPAHO 3/23/2021 1:27pm
3/23/2021 1:27pm Edited Date/Time 3/23/2021 2:01pm
Stuntman949 wrote:
Where exactly was it at in Trabuco Canyon?
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome track and huge riding area with camping. we went there to go riding that day of the national, it was a total surprise...


...


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xrmark
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xrmark 3/23/2021 1:43pm
3/23/2021 1:43pm
SLAPAHO wrote:
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome...
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome track and huge riding area with camping. we went there to go riding that day of the national, it was a total surprise...


...


Have pedal’d up that road to ride the luge many times. Had no idea there was a track back there back in the day
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Stuntman949
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Stuntman949 3/23/2021 4:36pm
3/23/2021 4:36pm
Been to lots of rich kid parties at Robinson. Never knew there was Moto history!!
G-man
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G-man 3/24/2021 9:52pm
3/24/2021 9:52pm
Stuntman949 wrote:
Where exactly was it at in Trabuco Canyon?
SLAPAHO wrote:
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome...
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome track and huge riding area with camping. we went there to go riding that day of the national, it was a total surprise...


...


Nice picture, can you mark where the track was?
G-man
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G-man 3/24/2021 9:56pm
3/24/2021 9:56pm
Also I think RacerX should do an article on this amazing track and day.
I'm sure they can dig up some info and photos and I can get a better picture of that first turn. Are you listening Davey? Cool

I think I remember hearing the 125 guys never got out of 2nd gear as it went STRAIGHT UP after the gate! Woohoo

SLAPAHO
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SLAPAHO 3/24/2021 10:07pm
3/24/2021 10:07pm
Stuntman949 wrote:
Where exactly was it at in Trabuco Canyon?
SLAPAHO wrote:
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome...
it was up the winding uphill past cook’s corner.It was on the Robinson Ranch. Spent Lots of time at that place, raced there a ton, awesome track and huge riding area with camping. we went there to go riding that day of the national, it was a total surprise...


...


G-man wrote:
Nice picture, can you mark where the track was?
The regular track was right about where the green Trabuco lettering is. That National track would have been above the green tear drop shape thing. Not real easy to tell with all of the houses there now, but that’s going to be really close from what I can remember. And you can’t tell from the map view, but there was a decent bit of elevation change in that area too.
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G-man
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G-man 3/24/2021 10:15pm
3/24/2021 10:15pm
Above the Green Trail Marker teardrop?
SLAPAHO
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SLAPAHO 3/24/2021 10:32pm
3/24/2021 10:32pm Edited Date/Time 3/24/2021 10:41pm
G-man wrote:
Above the Green Trail Marker teardrop?
No, that would have been pretty far out. I believe it was above the green tear drop after the word Highlands. That green tree line looking stuff is actually a creek that ran through the park. There were sandy trails that ran all through there. The track would have been to the left of that and up.
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Spudnut
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Spudnut 3/24/2021 10:39pm
3/24/2021 10:39pm
These beautiful hillside tracks are getting very rare...


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robkinuk
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robkinuk 3/25/2021 3:19am
3/25/2021 3:19am
MyBobbym wrote:
That is def not sears point.
FreshTopEnd wrote:
But this is (Sears ran Trans AMA/USA/Nationals into the early 80's when the ops got sick of dirt bikes). [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2021/03/23/484636/s1200_EFC25A03_5544_47D8_872C_2CB570E14B65.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2021/03/23/484637/s1200_DecosterNoyce.jpg[/img]
But this is (Sears ran Trans AMA/USA/Nationals into the early 80's when the ops got sick of dirt bikes).



Was it Sears Point where Mike Goodwin, of SX infamy, promoted a National and there was a long delay when someone rolled a truck tyre off top of one of the steep hills, flying into the crowd and seriously injuring several spectators?
FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 3/25/2021 8:00am
3/25/2021 8:00am Edited Date/Time 3/25/2021 8:04am
robkinuk wrote:
Was it Sears Point where Mike Goodwin, of SX infamy, promoted a National and there was a long delay when someone rolled a truck tyre off...
Was it Sears Point where Mike Goodwin, of SX infamy, promoted a National and there was a long delay when someone rolled a truck tyre off top of one of the steep hills, flying into the crowd and seriously injuring several spectators?
That was the 75 Carnegie Trans AMA, the same day DeCoster’s bike broke at the clamps on a high speed section. Don’t believe Goodwin had anything to do with that race. Pretty surreal day, and the track at that point was a hell hole after a couple of years of drought.

You had to walk a long way up those legendary Carnegie Hills from the valley floor to reach that track. The first year in 73 when they moved from the valley track it was a beautiful taped out virgin grass track but for a couple sections. . . Pomeroy was incredible that day, but ended up DNF DNF

Sears did run a few nationals, and there was a ridiculously long wait at one early 80s because no ambulance or doc showed in the morning. Try standing around a Nat for five hours before a bike first hits the track
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FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 3/25/2021 8:11am
3/25/2021 8:11am
This is a crappy pic from 73 but, hey, I was a kid. The wheel came down through the crowd in 75 just to the right of the uphill section. You can see how steep the hill was. Some clown rolled a spare with rim from the top of the into the crowd, it had a 100 yard run or so. Pretty messed up.
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Bearuno
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Bearuno 3/27/2021 10:17pm
3/27/2021 10:17pm
FreshTopEnd : "That was the 75 Carnegie Trans AMA, the same day DeCoster’s bike broke at the clamps on a high speed section. Don’t believe Goodwin had anything to do with that race. Pretty surreal day, and the track at that point was a hell hole after a couple of years of drought."

So, Livermore was Carnegie? Was at Carnegie?

Just asking. The only name I had in my brain with regards to Rogers fork snapping off, was Livermore. Happened on a ultra high speed downhill (ski jump type) jump landing, in dreadfully dusty conditions?

I remember seeing pictures of RDs face after it, and, how the next race he was in a full face helmet (and, I think for the rest of his career?). He was lucky that day, in his bad luck, that's for sure .

I remember the spare wheel idiocy too - a fair few, and serious injuries came from that. Not sure what happened, if anything, to the utter f*ckwit(s) that did that.
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FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 3/27/2021 11:41pm
3/27/2021 11:41pm Edited Date/Time 3/27/2021 11:52pm
Yup, the races were at Carnegie Cycle Park, just east of Livermore over the Altamont Pass. It’s now a Cal State OHV park like Prairie City, the current Hangtown location. The Carnegie comes from the old Carnegie brick works in that valley, and you could still come across a Carnegie brick on the valley floor, for whatever that novelty is worth.

Yeah, that was about as darkly weird a day as any I can remember being at the races.

The jump De Coster crashed on was not really a downhill ski jump as much as a huge pile jump about mid way into a very high speed straight that swept downhill across the valley back on to the start straight and then continued in in a sweeping left, probably 200 yards plus long flat out. I didn’t see it, was on the back side, but my pop said he just went down like a ton of bricks instantly when he touched back down and went right into that hard baked adobe face first wearing an open face helmet.
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FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 3/28/2021 12:11am
3/28/2021 12:11am
And yeah that track was shot in 74 and 75, then the round went to Sears in 76, and that track was heaven at the right time of year (Summer is just baked in Cali, even burnt). Here’s a couple pics of that day. The last one of Tommy Croft is the jump at issue with De Coster’s crash.

[




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Bauer
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Bauer 3/28/2021 1:43am
3/28/2021 1:43am
Here are some shots from that day in 1978...



Think the ruts were deep? I had to be lifted off my bike the second moto because both ankles were sprained.
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