Posts
10048
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Newark, OH
US
Edited Date/Time
5/22/2020 6:49am
Who, what, where, when and why ? How far did you have to travel ? Bring girlfriend, family or pack o’ goons ? Who won ? *Best of health to you all, these 
old pics unrelated to my first, 1976 at Southwick, had to look up and see in Racer X Archives that it was Pierre Karsmakers that won.....
old pics unrelated to my first, 1976 at Southwick, had to look up and see in Racer X Archives that it was Pierre Karsmakers that won.....
I drove about 2 hours but officially it was 1 hour if you're asking my Military Training Leaders.
Justin Bogle and AC won that day but ZachO won the title.
Here are some pics I took.
Mudbud was an unforgettable experience
https://youtu.be/PfMflw4IrE4https://youtu.be/PfMflw4IrE4
The Shop
A notable thing about that race: Doug Henry was on his YZ400F. It seemed just like all the other bikes on the track except it was LOUD. You could hear that thing at all times, no matter where you were on the track.
That weekend was epic! Me and my sister caught our favorite rider, Travis Pastrana, walking around in the infield and grabbed a photo and some autographs. Earlier that morning, we we saw the Factory Honda truck and some mechanics hanging out in our hotel parking lot and they invited us into the truck to check it out! My mind was blown. I believe it was Ezra Lusk and Sebastian Tortelli riding for Honda at the time.
The next year (1980) was even more epic as just me and my brother-in-law drove to Carlsbad for the GP and we took our bikes. We rode at Saddleback Park on Friday and got to meet Brian Myerscough who was testing the RH250 Full Floater. He was going to ride the support class at the GP. He actually ended up winning it. It was another super hot weekend as usual at Carlsbad. But we got to witness the biggest single moment in US MX history as Marty Moats won both motos.Standing on the side of the track waving the little American flags they gave us at the gate and screaming every time he came around. It was amazing. I still have the program and ticket from that race.
Jeremy McGrath was basically trying to give away signed posters sitting with the Peak Honda Pro Circuit team, nobody knew what was about to happen in the coming years.
I was amazed by the intensity of the racing, Jeff Emig's corner speed was unreal. He went on to win the day and the championship.
The two videos should start on the highlights of the two 125 and 500 motos.
Stanton (my hero) stood with a cold stare at all times, pretty intimidating at 14 years old. But the title on the line and his distrust in his team mate JMB, was going to be a tough day
Jeff had to win and Mike kiedrowski had to get 3rd for Jeff to win the title. Yes it was the 500 title!
The video tells the story, that track and those conditions had JMB whipping everyones ass, but rode like a cold fish, which i believe was on purpose.
The highlight of the day though was that after the races were over and people were just hanging around, two red headed identical twin sisters started having a fight over some guy and the fists and red hair were flying as the crowd cheered them on.
A massive berm gets built up in the middle of the big right hand sweeper in the infield. About 20' down the straight from the exit of the corner, four of us are in lawn chairs with our feet about one foot behind the thin pickets holding up the ribbon at the edge of the track. Every rider is railing that berm at warp speed. Magoo had gotten a terrible start or was in a crash, so he was back in the field. In an attempt to pass a handful of riders in one corner, Magoo flat tracks that big bore Honda on the outside of the berm in that long sweeper. He has the bike sideways and pinned, and wipes out every picket down the straight with his rear wheel hanging out. He missed our feet by about 6 inches as the ribbon floated to the ground. We all looked at each other, picked up our lawn chairs, took one step back, and sat back down. Great day of racing!
When my parents moved out to Phoenix from Anaheim in '91 the autobraphs got inadvertently thrown out. I was so pissed but l hadn't marked the box or kept it with me so l had to smile and eat it.
Edit, a little research leads to '71 Trans AMA. Damn l was 7, why did Pops let me run wild all day alone?
Remember like it was yesterday, the big steep step down into the woods. It was so steep you could barely walk off or get on top off it. There was a big rope on the side off the track so you could pull yourself up the hill or get slowly down. On top off it you couldn’t see the landing until a few footsteps before the take off. Only just some big green trees.
That got me like WTF are they racing this? And even more crazy, some guys jumped that step down to! Fans got wild and crazy when someone jumped it and it got me cheering to!
Amazing first GP, i dont even remember who won, but who cares? It’s a weekend i will never forget
Pit Row
Learned to drive and did 125/250 stuff here too, didn't miss a 500GP until about 1990. first Nations was Valkenswaard in 1991, first Foreign GP was Valkenswaard the following spring.
I did a 250 GP at Arbis in France for my honeymoon, and my daughter did 2 GP's in Kester, Belgium, and Holzgerlingen in Germany in 1996 , as an 8 month old, with her 3 year old brother.
Since then we did Gp's in Germany, France , Italy, Belgium and Holland, and Switzerland.
My Son hasn't missed a Nations since 2010 ( I think I have missed 3 cos I had a race myself) , and he has added Portugal to the GP list.
Add to that I have done 8 races a year in Germany/Czech/Belgium. Since 2011, we have done some miles from the UK
Anyway back to Farliegh… Heiki Mikkola crashed in front of us , on the first lap , and took an age to get going. When he did , he rode through the pack in the 45+2 race like I have never seen.. up until that day I had never seen a race live, or a bike bigger than a 125 , only schoolboy MX (we were racing local stuff) . The bit where we sat , I don't even think they changed gear in our sight. I was underwhelmed at the time, but looking back it set me on the path. So many people , such a great day.
And as a footnote , we raced there this year at the Vets Des Nations, 40 years later, and did Rewind at Unadilla too.
I'll never forget the first time seeing pro level speed. First lap of first moto Donny Schmit was leading and the top 10 were just soo fast as they flew past us.
Notable moments, Hannah coming off a practice, not sure if he was pissed off or happy, but he wheelied all the way from the exit lane to the widow maker hill and bombed the hill on a 125. If you know the hill, you understand.
Another was Barnett finishing with a broken footpeg. He rested his foot on the clutch cover.
(Now stuck tear offs throw them off, pfft)
Got to see Howerton win at home. Him and Stackable out lasted every one in the Texas Heat.
Yes, home field advantage.
All great times. Finally got to take my son to his first there.
At 9 years old, I really liked riding my Mini Enduro, but I didn't know a damn thing about dirtbikes. During the first 125 moto, I decided I liked the red bikes and not the yellow ones. So whenever the leader on the yellow bike would come by, I would give him the thumbs down. When the 500 class took off, I was happy to give the thumbs up to the guy on the red bike. I repeated this in the second motos. My dad told me some guy named Broc Glover on the yellow Yamaha won the 125 class, and the guy that won on the red Honda was Chuck Sun (hey- that sounds like Sheheen announcing a SX race). While that meant absolutely nothing to me, I sure did love watching the races.
As the years wore on and I became a real fan on motocross, I came to realize that Broc was not only one of the all time greats, but everyone save Bob Hannah really liked him. I decided that if I ever go the chance to meet him, I'd apologize for the thumbs down.
A couple of years ago at Hangtown I got my chance. Broc was walking around doing his Dunlop duties and I stopped him. Introduced myself and then my son to one of the greatest MX racers ever. My son had heard me talk about Broc's accomplishments, so he was suitably impressed as well. I recalled the Sears Point story from 35 years ago, and let Mr Glover know that I was sorry for being a dumb ass kid. He laughed it off, saying he certainly didn't remember anything like that (not that I expected him to). Broc then spent the next 30 minutes bench racing, telling stories, and just being an amazing ambassador for the sport as well as for Dunlop. I've been told that it's best to never meet your heroes, but Broc proved that saying wrong.
Watching Rex Staten take the lead in moto1 we thought there was history in the making but it was not meant to be. Was a great day at Carlsbad for sure.
Watched the Sunday national on top of the hill next to the grandstands, running back and forth so I could see both sides of the track. Ended up bumping into Ryan Sipes who was out injured, watching in the same spot. It's still burned in my brain seeing James go over the bars, and the whip RC threw over the leap on the last lap. Great race for a first race.
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