Posts
58
Joined
8/14/2016
Location
Kennewick, WA
US
Trae_Arnold
4/30/2018 2:27pm
4/30/2018 2:27pm
Edited Date/Time
5/4/2018 7:42am
Looking for good tracks around the Washington/Idaho area. List your favorite tracks and maybe rate it out of 10?
Washougal just implemented a spectator fee. So if you plan on bringing your family make sure you bring extra cash.
Washougal is my favorite place on the planet. There are people who don't jive with the track due to the dirt, the shadows, or the wait-time between motos on practice days... The dirt will be tilled deep and watered heavy for the first practice and at the end of the day the track will morph into a hard-packed clay surface with blue-groove and some dust up at the top of the hills on a hot summer day. The whoops are big and can be gnarly. The track gets rough in places and it's a long lap time (around 2:15). The roost hurts more than anywhere else you've ever ridden. ....But, if you gel with the track layout and the scenery, there is nothing better than flowing around Washougal on your dirt bike.
Ward Creek MX (Raymond, WA) is an awesome track. It's a little narrow in places, but it's just a whole lot of fun.
Horn Rapids (Richland, WA) is a great sandy track with a hard base. They do a great job and hold some awesome races out there, especially the P.R.O. series rounds hosted by Devol (those already happened this year). They have a FAST sand track called "Area 51" that you can also ride on the other side of the property behind the main starting gate as you enter the facility. Both tracks are a lot of fun.
There's another track in the same complex with Horn Rapids... I rode it when it was brand new in 2016, it was pretty fun, but more of a stadium track than the fast, rough, tough horn rapids.
OPMC (Port Angeles, WA) One of my favorite tracks to race on. It's a club-owned track, but they have a couple of practice days a year and some awesome racing with the Washington State series and their own Fall Series. This track has a section where you can get just about any bike tapped in 5th gear up the hill, but it's fairly safe too and lots of fun.
Grays Harbor ORV (Mccleary, WA) (I haven't ridden at this track (formerly Straddleline) since RV2 and his buddy took over the lease. They've changed the layout and softened up the soil too, so I can't really say much, except that it used to be a lot of fun, even though it wasn't very demanding on skill level.
Pacific Raceway (Auburn, WA) I haven't ridden Pacific in a couple of years. It's run by Lance Smail, the former pro racer and kind of one of my local heroes growing up around here... Which is why it pains me to say that it isn't even close to the glory days when it was called Seattle International Raceway back in the 1990s. They still have a fun, safe place to ride if you're near Seattle, so I can't bag on that.
MotoWest (Bremerton, WA) This track is close to where I live, so it's nice to pop over there on weekdays and meet-up with my buds to ride practice. I think they've switched from Tuesdays to Thursday practice this year. The track layouts vary from great to just average. The trouble with MotoWest is that they lack a good understanding of the soil and how to prep the track. I have the same soil on portions of my private track here and it's no problem. They repeatedly get it wrong and it seems like they either don't know, or don't have good leadership in that area. I have been off the bike for a year (for college), but I would still go there for sure. It's close and almost always fun despite the less than perfect prep. It's not a destination track like Washougal, but it's great if you're in the area and need to get some laps in.
The Ridge Motorsports (Shelton, WA). I haven't ridden at The Ridge yet, but I plan to get out there to watch a race this summer. When I get back on the bike next year, I'll hit this track for sure. All my buddies say it's a lot of fun, fairly fast and flowing, good soil and prep, even though a lot of rocks come up to the surface during the last motos of the day.
Albany MX (Albany, OR) This one is a long haul for me, but I head down there for the P.R.O. series round most years. The track is so much fun, especially the way Devol preps all the jumps (he often makes everything a little steeper at his races).
Woodland MX (Woodland, WA) This is a winter-only track. They have a pretty good racing series during the winter.
I-90 MX (is near I-90 where it crosses the Columbia). My pals go there... I haven't been yet, since I've been off of the bike for a year.
Airway Heights (Spokane, WA) I have never ridden at this track.
Mt View- In Sandy, Oregon. Fun layouts great play track. Not a huge fan of racing on it though as pretty narrow and technical since they do a lot of option lines on jumps. Red clay so can get extremely slick if not prepped/watered right. Ran by some of the best people in the business
Territorial MX - Eugene, Oregon. Another red dirt track but really tacky. Not many big jumps but lot's of fun corners. Pretty narrow in some sections depending on what layout they run.
Oregon Dirt Park - Prineville, Oregon. Haven't been yet but looks really cool. It's part of a Mt Bike park.
Eddieville - Goldendale, WA. Fun hilly track. Also has a 7 mile or so off road loop. Can be hit or miss on prep. Definitely has massive potential if Scott cared more about MX vs off-road. The things he could do there would put and NW track to shame.
TNMX - Portland, OR - Fun event every Thursday from spring to fall. Unfortunately the track has gone from fun & challenging to boring & lame. Same layout for about 5 years with just a rip & drag every week. Sad to see it going the way it is but probably not going to get better anytime soon.
Woodland, MX - Woodland, WA. Volcanic ash dirt. Great winter track gets really deep ruts. Can run when raining or wet. Prep is hit or miss.
I-90 MX - Semi public track in WA. heard good & bad but never been. Too far for me.
High Desert MX - Another semi private track in Central Oregon.
Alderdale MX - Somewhere in the Columbia gorge hidden. If you know, you know & miss it. RIP to one of the funnest tracks around.
Most NW tracks suffer from a lack of prep & understanding of how to build. I've built quite a few over the years including my own private track and am amazed at what passes for "product" at many tracks. I have no problem paying but the value needs to be there to get me away from my well built & prepped home track...........
The Shop
I agree on some of the tracks if i could do a layout myself the track owners wouldn't know what to do with the increased turn out.
The track has been around for ever and has a long, long running Thursday night series that i've raced on and off since the early 90's...
For people in Seattle or farther north, maybe the drive up to Bellingham is more realistic.
Alderdale MX, was that the track in the apple orchard (down in a valley overlooking Hanford) that I used to go to between 1998 through 2001 with some friends? That place was one hell of a fun track.
To bad burnt ridge closed at end of 2016.
Fun idaho track would be fossil bowl.
I searched for an image of Alderdale... Different place entirely, but not that far away.
I used to go to this private apple-orchard track with some old-timer friends. It was in this ravine east of Hanford. You could see part of the Hanford complex from the track. I thought maybe they opened that up to the public.
That track is still like a unicorn-track in my memory.
Yep, Over in the middle of BFE. Tracks is still there and being ridden from what I heard recently. Lot's of good memories from there. Goodnoe Hills, not so much. Only track I was actually scared to ride a second moto on!......
Albany also changes a lot with prep, but can handle a much wider range of conditions IMO. The dirt can be concrete like when washing your bike later. Back in the day layouts were changed constantly, new sections added, and maintenance was really good. That slipped a lot in the mid 90s. I'd really like to get back there.
Clarks Branch in Roseburg is really fun, but I believe is only open for special events now.
Pit Row
Here's what I've got Idaho https://mapmoto.com/tracks/in/idaho and Washington https://mapmoto.com/tracks/in/washington
Nice list you got going there.
also Straddline is now Grays Harbor ORV GHORV
I-90 I rode for my first time 2 weeks ago and that place is awesome only one track but it flows really nicely and the atmosphere is nice and laid back for pro practicers like myself. I’ll definetly be going back there
Airway mx Park is super fun as well they have a summer sx series I always liked a lot and the layout doesn’t ever seem to get old
Welcome to the upper left!
There are kind of two ways to go up there though. Sometimes you go all the way down "Crandall's Cliff" while other times you just blend back into the straight before the ski-jump. I love it when they do both added sections.
I've seen Huffman hit the edge of the track on the right where it banks up to the grass up there on top in a moto. Pretty sweet vet-line; you get a tiny bit of air, skip the edge of the drop and land on the down-slope.
The vintage race
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