Posts
247
Joined
6/20/2009
Location
Zionsville, IN
US
cloverdale
11/27/2010 8:26am
11/27/2010 8:26am
Edited Date/Time
11/1/2012 9:16am
The very first National Amateur Championship was in 1975 (Magoo, Barnett, etc). Anyone else out there that rode the series.?Millville, Indianapolis Raceway Park and Effingham, Ill were the Midwest locations.
I attended the Millville '78(or so) qualifier as part of Jimmy White's support team. Took Ben Decker to the final at Lake Sugar Tree in '77, in the Open class.
A few years later I attended a qualifier at Red Bud. again as support.
I was at the second year for the LL location, thinking "this will be the last time is is here"...joke's on me.
The Shop
NMA World Amateur Champiohship
Rio Bravo, Houston
From what I hear, this is where Ponca started.
Ward, Myerscough, Dutiot others made the trip.
What was your buddy's name ? He beat Barnett to win it IIRC.
The first Amateur National was held in 1975 in Kansas. It made a lot of sense, it was a fair mid-point for East coast and West coast riders with limited support to get to the event. It was a cool wet day in October 1975. The 125 class was dominated by Mark Barnett. I didn't make that event because in qualifying I broke my ankle at Budd's Creek. Pete Wolfe, a friend from District 7 Maryland went. A first turn pile up in the 125 class put him in the hospital, he lost his spleen.
The first several Amateur Nationals (Pre-Loretta), riders were required to qualify in one of the 3 classes 125cc, 250cc or Open class, the US was divided into three areas: the East, Mid and West. Those that made the top 15 in each area went on to the Amateur Nationals. A total of 45 riders in each class lined up at the gate.
The second Amateur National was at Carlsbad Raceway, Calif., October 1976. It was sponsored by Can-Am and Jimmy Ellis, riding for Can-Am, was present that day for awards and lots of small talk. I won that 125cc event by a wheel length, literally. The checkered flag line judge didn't declare me the winner until after some discussion with the scoring tower. The motos were 30 minutes plus 2 laps and I think my conditioning won it for me. Just before the checkered I went high in the berm, Bartley (not Barnett) went low and somehow the lapped rider got knocked over and Bartley and I had a full sprint to the checkered and I won (2,1). Bartley collapsed from exhaustion.
I recall the open class had a debate over the winner - possibly the track was cut by the winner, Pettigren??sp??. I think the protest was from a guy named Appleton.
The third Amateur National was at Lake Sugar Tree. With support from Can-Am I rode the 250cc class and won. Does anyone recall the name Gene McKay? I believe he rode the 125 class and was the favorite. Also, there was a guy in the 250 class that was a favorite Mickey? he was a friend of Mickey Boone's. David Bailey also raced open class and would have won except he got penalized for jumping the gate. Also I recall Troy Bradshaw rode 250cc that day. Jeff Callihan won the 125 class.
Gene McKay out of Tenn, was a 2 time mini champ, rode a nougouchi? Yamaha
Mickey Boones friend was it possibly Micky Wetzal? from North Carolina
Steve Appleton sent letters to riders after the national looking for witnesses to the other guy that cut the track. I talked to him on the phone, he was determined to get the title.
Carlsbad was hardpacked and slick, much different from the fla loom. I can understand your friend being out of his element. What was his name?
In 1983 i moved to Clarksville,Tn and Steve Appletons Dad Owned a Honda shop, they later moved and became a Yamaha , Honda shop, then a Tornado came thru, and it took there shop out,and about 6 mons before they had also be came a Harley Davidson dealer, so they took the insurance money and built a huge shop across town, and its still there however they sold they Yamaha and Honda part to another dealer, now its only Appleton Harley Davidson, and i think Steves brother owns it, his dad passed away years ago,but they have a memorial toy run every year in his name. RIP Buddy Appleton
This picture of me was taken at the Fla Winter series, in 1978 at Sunshine Speedway MX in St.Petersburg, Fla.
I never was as good as Joe, or Kippy Pierce, Monty McCoy, Steve Martin or ALOT of other racers, but me and my Dad loved going to the races, and i have some great memorys of them "Glory Days".
1976 Carlsbad, CA - Barnett rode in this event and did not figure into the top finishers. What happened to him ?
Did you ever race any AMA Nationals or aspire to ? What happened with your racing career after winning the title in 77 ?
Pit Row
a Honda cr125. I weighed in at 165 lbs a bit heavy for that class, ended up getting a 19th
overall that day. I remember going to the track the day before the race and they gave me
200.00 gas money and we got to draw numbers for the gate. I reached in and pulled out a
#2. I figured that I would line up on the inside of the guy that had the #1 pick.Got up the next morning of the race and when it was my turn to go to the gate they called my
number first to my surprise, I told the gate keeper that I drew the #2 gate pick and he said
you are the #1 gate pick because no one picked the #1 out of the can. I was 17 years old
and it was an experience I will never forget!!!!!
Dave
.
TG130 - actually I don't think Barnett was there, if he was I wasn't aware of it. There was a rider named Bartley, he went (1,2) If you recall the second national was sponsored by Can-Am and Jimmy Ellis, was present that day for awards and lots of small talk. I won that 125cc event by a wheel length, literally. The line judge didn't declare me the winner until after some discussion with the scoring tower. I knew I had passed Bartley in the final turn but nevertheless it was still a tense 15 minutes. The motos were 30 minutes plus 2 laps and I think my conditioning was better than his.
After the nationals my dad wanted me to go to college. Impossible to do both so I decided to go to Univ of MD. John Beasley owner of Budd's Creek would run into me on campus and say "I want to have a pro National at Budd's Creek" That was his dream for so many years. He's still living his dream today.
In the 90's I started manuf. bmx bicycles, actually street and flatland bikes, I sponsored 4 riders to the X-Games. We won that year.
bulldog - man what a story, love it. Do you recall a rider in Ohio named Jeff Nit. I think that was his name. We had a good race at the mid-ohio qualifer.
He was from West Virginia but came to Honda Hills in Ohio all the time.
That dude could run with the best of them. Ferrell a friend of mine moved out to Maryland
his name was David Allan fast b class rider do you know him? I think you lapped me at Carlsbad and I saw that crazy finish in the last moto!!!!
Bulldog424101
Going to college was definitely a wise decision, nothing wrong with that.
Great stories by all on this thread.
with his beer years ago.He stills drinks a cold one about 2 times a month. I stopped
drinking 21 years ago.
Dave
The track Winchester!!!! They had a huge jump back in the day call the widowmaker?
I hit that jump so hard back in 77 on a RM 125 that the pipe came off the flange on the cylinder with the springs still intact just stretched out I thought i was never going to come
down !!!
Time sure flys seems just like all that happened just yesterday. Hope everything is going well for you. I have a son who just turned 14 he used to race, started him out at
Kenworthy's at 4 . He made it to Loretta's in 2003 on a Cobra broke his collar bone
at 8. I didn't want to be broke and him all broke up so he is a Pitcher now throws
a baseball in low eighties!!!
Take care,
Dave Mohr
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