OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: Davey Crocket on December 28, 2009, 10:50:47 am
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My 1st ever involvement was in 1970 or 71 when I was 11 or 12, they had a motocross meeting in the hills at Porirua (its now a suburb....Waitangirua). My dad was in the Lions club and they where helping with the catering and flaging. I remember seeing CZeds (had those saddles for seats with the floppy sides!!), orange tank TM's and an aray of pommy stuff!!. Man they where noisy.... no mufflers. I instantly fell in love with the smell, the noise and the look.... leather bib and brace, boots etc.... Before this I didn't have any sort of interest in bikes at all- keen rugby and other sports mad player. Any way after that I was hooked, I'd catch the bus and train to Wellington and walk for miles to motorbike shops to have a look ( nothings changed - I just drive). I saved my money from working after school and a couple of years later bought my first bike... Yamaha CT2175 trailbke, and the rest as they say is history!!!. Also at this MX meeting I had my first ever hamburger!, a meat patty between 2 peices of bread - Mc'Shit didn't exist back in those day's in NZ, ( funnily enough the first Mc'Donald's in NZ was built at Porirua shopping centre a couple of years later and I remember seeing people lined up outside the shop to buy it), I can still taste that hamburger, nearly 40 years on!!. Still eating hamburgers too. Any way thats my first recollection of Motorcross - whats yours.
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1974 My eldest brother bought a brand new TM125L and what makes this memory remain so vivid is it was also my first smell of R30 8) my MX addiction was born. I'd ridden bikes for years prior but had nothing to do with 'competition' models until my bro guided me in the right direction ;)
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Hey not that far removed from yours, my Dad took me to the round of the world champs at McKays Crossing north of Wellington in summer of 1975, I remember seeing lots of yellow & that very same year I got my 1st real mx bike a kitted 74 TM125 at the age 12 ( I could just touch the ground if I lean my ass off to one side of the seat :-[, I must say not alot has changed today as I still have do that on 08 RMZ250 ;D). Just seeing all the top riders & works bikes was mind blowing, if I was not hooked before I was now.
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Well, I started scrambling, back in 1975 on a TM75, but 1-2 years later our club started building man made jumps, then the same year almost, it was Stadium Cross in ChCh New Zealand. Motocross was born.
I still prefer the slow sweeping TT style tracks. ;D
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I moved up from an XR75 in the local minibike club to a 76 CR125 - because of this dad took me down to Christmas Hills (if I remember rightly) where I saw my first MX meet - 76/77 CR250's and RM125S (with the downswept pipe is that right?). My addiction started then ;D
Rossco
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My Dad took me to a scramble at Moorbank in what was most likely 1960, I must have been around 10 or 11 as Dad still had his FC wagon, as he bought a new EK in late '61. I can only remember one bike from that meeting, it was number 17 Greeves owned by a workmate of my Dad. I can't remember the blokes name for the life of me but he wasn't much good. I remember being a bit disapointed as my Dad had built him up as some sort of champ during the car trip out to the track.
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I can't recall my first interest in bikes because it seems since before I could walk ;) But I do recall my first "big" motocross event I attended and there was a guy there that was an up & comer that just blew away all rivals and outjumped everyone by far. The place was the monza masters held at ballarat and the new guy was Craig Dack........
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First memory is mid 1970s somewhere near Nerang (Gold Coast, Australia), I think it was called Broadwater Estate and there was a very wet muddy MX day and many people couldn't even get around the track.
Soon after that the place was covered in houses.
That was pretty good but the most memorable were 1975 at the Echo Valley (Toowoomba) MX track (Mountain Man event) and the day at Tivoli that Gaston Rahier and the pommy bloke on the flying 125 Bultaco (Vic Allen?) raced against the top Aussies.
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Hey not that far removed from yours, my Dad took me to the round of the world champs at McKays Crossing north of Wellington in summer of 1975, I remember seeing lots of yellow & that very same year I got my 1st real mx bike a kitted 74 TM125 at the age 12 ( I could just touch the ground if I lean my ass off to one side of the seat :-[, I must say not alot has changed today as I still have do that on 08 RMZ250 ;D). Just seeing all the top riders & works bikes was mind blowing, if I was not hooked before I was now.
Don't wish to be a wet blanket, but that wouldn't have been a world championship meeting, NZ has never had one. The sea of yellow would have been caused by Gaston Rahier, Jimmy Ozaki, Peter Ploen, Ivan Miller, Greg Brinck and Peter Boyle, all carving it up on Suzukis.... ;)
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1979. River Heads, Hervey Bay QLD. My step brother raced there and my mum said I should give it a go. I was 12 on an RM50. Yes I am a short ass. Kept getting smoked by a kid on an Italjet 50. Bloody thing was so much faster, but hooked ever since.
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Another Wellingtonion here. It's funny that a few of us could have been at the same meetings.
I can't remember where my first MX meeting was but I went with the Boyles (which is why I had SUZUKI's for so long, Lawton and Boyle Suzuki) from Wgton, probably around 1973.
Mark Boyle used to race and was one of the faster guys and I do remember watching this old guy in pudding bowl helmet on what we thought were CZ road bikes and having a great laugh. Of course looking back they were twin pipe CZ's, one red, one blue!!!!!!!!!
I did watch the meeting at QE11 park when Gaston Rahier was there and my most enduring memory of that meeting was Reg Dixon on his CCM.
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this hurts, but late 50's dad used to take me to the rickman Workshop, where they fed me marmite sandwiches (bloody hated them) and then seeing them race at beanham park
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Most likely not the first but the clearest.. Grand Nationals Scrambles at Christmas Hills Victoria.
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My first was Mr Motocross at the old sydney showground, must have been approx 1978.
Brett
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Hey Alison, I see you lurking there... whats your 1st memory? and Tossa that's legendary stuff, if only we new what we new now then!!!
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If memory is right 1986 was a big year with Enduro's and SX- Bell & Dack Port Hedland WA ,the MX was checking out some guys backsides :P while they where leaning on a Hilux ute tray with a RM250 and a IT490 at the Newman MX track. :-X
I picked the IT490 rider, some 20 odd years ago and as they say "the rest is history" ;D
cheers
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Another embarrassing question.............. :-[
I didn't have much interest in motocross until late 1979. There was a meeting in Mt. Gambier that I wanted to go to, but my Dad had stuff to do on the farm, so my Mum took me. ;D
My clearest memory is that of a magnificent KX420 in the pits! :P
Sometime prior to that, I have a clear memory of a hillclimb event on TV (more like Pike's Peak than Widowmaker) and the look and sound of a CCM hammering up there.
I also saw a V8 Triumph TR7 on the same show and decided there and then that I wanted one.
Thank Christ I found out what they were really like before actually buying one......................... :D :D
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in '79 I near bought a red '75 Triumph Spitfire like pictured below Tony, the guy wanted a grand for it, or, I could buy a hotty sideplate FJ sedan for the same price. I took the FJ but even today the decision wouldn't be any easier as both are quite collectable ;)
(http://www.carfolio.com/images/dbimages/zgas/models/id/2679/1975_spitfire_2.jpg)
sorry for the hijack.. :P
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With all due respect, Doc. I can't quite imagine you in a Triumph. :D
Not that they're not a cool car, but a little red Triumph convertible isn't quite "you".
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Have you still got the green sweater, Doc ? :D
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mmm..that was my problem Tony..I just couldn't picture the wind blow look and a 3 bike trailer behind the triumph :-\ if I'd owned a ccm things could have been decidedly different ;)
GD..you're not going to believe this! :D :D :D
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Mine was riding my gt80 down a different road that we normally go down and stumbling on a mx track. Went in and talked to the president who did a good job recruiting us. Right then I knew that this was for me! I was 12 years old. I'd kick my boys backside till it was blue if I caught him on the road. How times have changed ::)
Another memory came back to me where a local was riding his xr75 along the road when he spied a cop car and did a runner. Panicked and ran off the road and got all caught up on a barbed wire fence. Cops drove straight by him just shaking their heads :D
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I also saw a V8 Triumph TR7 on the same show and decided there and then that I wanted one.
Thank Christ I found out what they were really like before actually buying one.........................
I came very, very close myself Tony. A customer of mine had a TR7 fitted with a V8 Rover engine and he was desperate to sell it. On top of the engine swap the engine was also turbocharged so being a bit game decided it might be just the thing I needed. That was until I took it for a test drive and discovered just how horrible the car was. It handled like a Morris Minor and had a lethal turbo lag that gave you a choice of nothing or 400hp...nothing in between. I politely declined the deal purely for self preservation reasons.
Now, back to normal broadcasting....1st memory of MX.
I wrote a column on this but here's a condensed version.
Growing up in Maroubra in the 60s was great for anyone interested in motorsport. A lot of speedway and road racing stars lived in the area and as kids we'd ride our pushies past these racers homes hoping to get a glimpse or even a wave from our heroes. On one of these bike journeys we were riding up Alma lane which was one of those old fashioned lanes that ran behind the houses facing the main road (Alma Road in this case) to give access to the garage and the outside dunny for the shit cart bloke. This particular day one of the garages was open and two blokes that looked like Ricky Nelson and Crash Craddock* were working on a beautiful, shiny bike that we later found out was a BSA Goldstar scrambler. The polished engine cases and glistening British Racing Green tank adorned with big BSA and Union Jack stickers really grabbed me. After sitting on our bikes watching the two rockers tightening all sorts of nuts and bolts, they pulled it off the stand and wheeled it into the lane, asking us to help them push start it. It didn't take much effort for the big Beeza to fire up and the sound of that unmuffled Goldy has stayed with me to this day. "Ricky" rode the bike to the end of the lane, turned and hammered the bike, lifting the front wheel on the first two gear changes. The bike was ridden straight into the ricketty weatherboard garage and the doors closed without another word from our new local heroes. The show was over but that 1959 experience was the seed that grew to become my involvement with old bikes today.
I only saw the Beeza once more, at 5am one Sunday morning while waiting outside St Aidans Catholic church for the priest to open the door for my 6 o'clock mass alter boy shift, an FJ ute drove by with the big green Goldy and another bike squeezed into the back, obviously on their way to some exotic scramble meeting, probably Moorbank. I often wonder what happened to "Ricky", "Crash" and that magnificent Goldy.
*For you young folk, Ricky Nelson and Billy "Crash" Craddock were minor level pop stars who's star shone briefly in the late '50's. I referenced them purely so you'd get an idea of what the young blokes in my yarn looked like to a 9 year old in 1959 !
(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1062154/ricky%202.jpg)(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1062154/crash.jpg)
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Another one for the kiwis, my first evr MX race was a shoolboy meeting in 1974 at Jacksons farm in Wainuiomata. They ran a few then it seemed to peter out.
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I was always fascinated by things with motors so had an early interest in cars & bikes (had to be better then pedalling ;D)
I was always building trucks with my older brothers meccano set & powering them with an old windscreen wiper motor. I used an old car battery to power the wiper motor until Mum cracked it when I tipped the battery over in the lounge room spilling some acid :o
I was building up a bike from parts so was already into bikes, all I knew of MX was from a few kids at school that were racing juniors.
I went with a mates family to Broadmeadows (now a housing estate) to check out a DVMCC club day, I also went to Owen park, Wallan to watch an open meeting. Both these events were around 75-76, can't remember which one was first but both had me hooked on being involved & bikes have been in the blood ever since.
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I was about 8 or 9 when the Sunshine coast club started a track on a farm across the road from us. That was it for the rest of my life.
(http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww125/NoelSR/004-5.jpg?t=1262136298)
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Bloody hell isn't that Don Newell #44 on the cover..? riding the same bike he rides today!
Jeez Noel isn't that still your same address?? :)
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Yeah; I haven't found any where better to live. To be honest I haven't really looked. I wish the track was still there it was a ripper.
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not really motorcross but first experience of riding was at bowral southern highlands nsw,a property my grandfather used to look after as a caretaker.me and my brotther used to go there on skool holidays and hang out with the property owners son he had 4 bikes a deckson rockhopper a deckson grasshopper a yz80 and a yz100 witch i think were both b models.the bloke had his own paddock just for his bikes his name was david cottee his parents were then the owners of cottees cordials.i think i was obout 8yo at the time my brother a little older.davids mum still owns a patchwork shop an old house on the hume hwy just you come into mossvale from the syd end david owns some photography studio in sydney somewhere.cheers gary
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1974 was my first experience at Jeffersons farm Helensville in Unzud .
It was a natural terrain track with a hill side start with a first corner dropping down into a gully .
As I was an apprentice money was tight and had to wait another year before I bought a MX bike ( KX 250 ) in the mean time me Yamaha Dt 250 copt a flogging .
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Now that the youth has had a say---my first memories of "scrambles" was about 1947/8 in Kalgoorlie.The local ace was Ken Marshall a bike shop owner whose bike was called "Shafto".A 5T 500cc 1939 Triumph it was stolen [new] in Perth ,ridden to Kalgoorlie and dumped down a mine shaft. Marshall found it ,bought it from the insurance company ,and resurrected it enough for duty as a scrambler.
Also ,starting out in his career was a wild young talent called Bill Watson. Little did I imagine that 20 years later Bill & I would fight out the WA Speedway Stockbike C'ship , and 60 years on would be racing him at Classic MX .
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WARNING
I know some don't like to rehash old threads,but you just never know who you may have filled in "back in the day" ;D
cheers A
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The Kid down the road getting a CR 125. Going to Amaroo park with my Dad and seeing Mr Motorcross about 75 ish
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Gaston Rahier - Samford MX track - South Arm Tassie
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Gaston Rahier - Samford MX track - South Arm Tassie
Was that the Aust title meeting could never remember the name,
#8
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Mine was Ravenswood in 81, going to watch a school mate have his first race. He was a bit out classed on his 76 125 Elsinore against all the latest watercooled single shock bikes. He got a good start but ended up mistaking a berm for a jump, went over the bars and knocked himself out! That was when they still had the water crossing and was the track I most wanted to race on when I first got into VMX.
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My first memory,
In my day it was called scrambles and being a Newcastle boy (Novocastrian) I was in Belmont Club and the president was Ken Thornton and he ran some great events and even though we didnt usually get to ride them (guns only) I used to flag marshall a lot to get close to the action.
This was the turn of the tide from scrambles to motocross late sixties early seventies venues like Foster Park,Mulbring,Dunlop Lea and Mt Sugarloaf and some great riders Hans Applegren,Roy East whom both became great mates in later life....also Scaysbrook,Clarkson Ivan Miller Klitland and the list goes on.
The best memory from those days was Ivan Miller on a HUSKY at Foster Park where every one else were just riding over one of the jumps near a creek he just hit the gas crossed the the bike up waved to the crowd and this was unheard of in those days what a gun .......great days
Harro
PS also at the same time Frasers had Sammy Miller at Mt Sugarloaf riding a Bultaco Sherpa in a trials event and he made Warren Fraser (a gun in those days) look like a neville I know its not a MX memory but it was shit hot in those days for a 17 year old kid from Belmont to see the greatest trials rider on earth!!!!!!
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As an 8-10yo push biking down the Jeep track to the back of the Cross Roads pub scrambles circuit and watching 'uninvited' ;D.
Then attending the Moorebank circuit - Fisher's Leap on all that.
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Mr motor cross at sydney showground approx 1980 give or take, i reckon steven gall was on a yammy but i was ten years old, so i wouldnot debate the point. Dad drove us all the way from the Druit, whalan to be exact.
Brett
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My first meeting that I competed at was Christmas Hills Grand National meeting in 1973. I felt like I was thrown in at the deep end for my first meeting in C grade as I had no idea what to do or how to do it. The guys that supplied my ride for the weekend picked me up in Ballarat on the Friday night and took me to Melbourne to stay with someone that they knew that made motorcycle exhausts and handlebars. He and his wife treated me very well and took me to Christmas Hills the next day. My newly aquired sponsors turned up at the track with 2 trailers of bikes including 3 TM250's ,a TM125 and a kitted TS185 mxr. I rode about eight or nine races for the weekend and fell off about 10 or 12 times which wasn't the greatest outcome to impress newly aquired sponsors but luckily they stuck with me for the next four or five years.
Stan.
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D project i think i was there that day... my first memory of an actual race was at Ravenswood in the mid 70's, when elsinores and RM A's and YZ B's ruled the roost. c grade 125 had 3 full classess, c grade 250 had 3 full classes, c grade open was full, B and A grade had full grids of all capacities. i still have the programs somewhere.
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I first became bike conscious and aware of scrambles from a guy called Bruce Harper who lived across the street in Wanganui, had a bike called Marmalade and his son Gregory was my mate. Also we lived a bit later up the street from Rod Coleman at one point, so had the odd race bike test run past the house.
First meeting I went to was at Whakatane when Miller, Ploen and co on RHs were fighting it out. I got a double on a Velocette Venom that belonged to a neighbor called Graeme Lowe, who had been IOM rider. I got to be flag marshal and taught to ride a TS125 so totally hooked ever since.
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Slawesy - that track was Sandford.
:D
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that belonged to a neighbor called Graeme Lowe, who had been IOM rider
And went on to play and coach Rugby League for NZ and Manly ;D
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Is that for real about Graeme Lowe?. Unabashed Manly supporter that I am, I remember Graeme Lowe well. Never would have picked him for a bikie.
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I have 2 memories of mx the 1st was at moorebank in the late 60s watching my dad racing with matt dailey the Alderton brothers the 2nd was at mt kembla early 70s laurie & dennis alderton , they had a wheelie comp & dennis killed everyone he was my hero for many years but i changed to laurie about 15yrs ago after racing with him if I can go that fast at his age I will be a very happy man, cheers middo ;D ;D
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My first memory of motocross was in the early 70's around 1974 at Morgan it was easter and they had the big mile on the saturday and the motocross on the sunday, the main memory is seeing DAVE BASHAM on his CZ getting huge air over the main jump, i was hoocked instantly, i also remember YZA'S, MONTESA'S, BULTACO'S And the smell of two stoke, the noise f8uck they were loud ;D
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early 70's around 1974 at Morgan
Hey great memories,I believe Cowboy is still grading the MX track for MMCC since the mile meetings. :P
A few of us on here where after a few old photos of Morgan Mile.
Got any stashed away ?? ;D
cheers west side of oz
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Oooh, '73 my dad had a business next to a bike shop in Mordialloc (Vic) called Alan Lambert Motorcycles (who went on to 'Lambert Leathers'), then a Suz & Bultaco dealer, I started working there on Sat mornings while still at school.
Alan Lambert's son 'Roger' was racing sub juniors on a Suz TM125K, I went to a race meeting at Bairnsdale with them one weekend, the smell of methanol & R30 had me sucked in big time.
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YEP COWBOY IS STILL DOING IT ALL :) THE ONLY PHOTOS OF MORGAN I PERSONALY HAVE ARE ONLY THE MOTOCROSS IN ABOUT 1977-78 NON OF THE MILE, BUT I WILL ASK COWBOY AT THE FIRST MORGAN CLUB MEETING ??? AHH MEMORIES A STONE BROKE TWO LAYERS OF NUMBER PLATES, DENTED EXHAUST PIPES, BROKE FINGERS AND NOSES AND I BELIEVE ONE BLOKE GOT BLINDED IN ONE EYE, THATS HOW WE GOT STONED IN THOSE DAYS :-X YOU DID'NT FALL OFF BUT STILL CAME BACK WOUNDED, WE HAD ALL THE INSENTIVE YOU NEEDED TO GET A HOLE SHOT AND STAY THERE, DOES ANYBODY ELSE REMEMBER THE MUD HOLE AND THE DOUBLE JUMP(WAS IT CALLED HALEY'S JUMP?) ;D
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Shelpi, I think the Easter meeting was usually Port Pirie, the half mile long track on Saturday and the MX meeting on the Sunday at Backstrom's pits. The Pirie disco was Saturday night, Clarrie Jones used to play up no end and the bouncer was a big Maori boxer named Joe?, luckily he took it all in good fun. Pirie half mile was very scary with those big wooden posts all the way around the track, killed Brian Schultz - RIP. Morgan meetings were usually the May and October long weekends, the mile on the Sunday and the mx on the Monday. Many outfits came to grief on the mile but it was pretty safe for solo's. I remember that mudhole on the MX track very well! I've got a few Pirie half mile and Morgan mile photo's from the late seventies but can't post them up - I can scan them and email them to someone else to post though if you send me an email address.
My first meeting I ever went to....Roger de Coster, Joel Robert, Willi Bauer, Bengt Aberg, Andy Roberton etc at Basham Park (silver lake) Mylor in December 1972?....I think they lapped Dave Basham on the CZ who was at his peak then....Lester Rowley was wheelstanding his BSA Victor 441 the whole back straight...I made up my mind then and there that I was going to race "scrambles"- but my BSA Bantam was pretty slow!
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YEP COWBOY IS STILL DOING IT ALL :) THE ONLY PHOTOS OF MORGAN I PERSONALY HAVE ARE ONLY THE MOTOCROSS IN ABOUT 1977-78 NON OF THE MILE, BUT I WILL ASK COWBOY AT THE FIRST MORGAN CLUB MEETING ???
Thanks !! Great to see some more South Aussies (crow eaters) ;D on this site.
We have great memories of Morgan in 04 and 06 ASA Sidecar events..Road trip's :P :P though never got the time to venture into the Morgan Museum-bound to be some pics in there..
There was a pic on Laurie Boulters 1936 Ariel on the Motorcycling Aust website when we searched earlier,but its probably long gone now.
TT5 Matt on here also spent some time at PP and Morgan 20 odd years ago.
cheers A
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yes you may be right ??? but will look for me old race programes if the mice have not made a nests in them, but i do remember it was cold in the morning with light frost, but i can tell you my memory is not what it was either and it takes me all night to do what i used to do all night . :'( me old mate marty moose reconds the older we get the faster we was ;D, i too raced at pirie, motocross that is, hope more memories will return ahh yes i raced the mr motocross at claredon and got laped by Greg Toyama and all of his calibre, where the hell are those damn programs? we might have a chance i got the wife onto it. YAY The wife found them yep the Port Pirie 1978 motor cycle club Programme says Easter Sunday March 26th 1978 and hows this Morgan Big track and scrambles (not motocross) May 14th and 15th 1978, hmm make a mental note don't use memory :-\ what did i just say?
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Hey middo who was-is your dad at Moorebank? I probably rode at that meeting as I rarely missed a ride there in the sixties.
First memory- my cousin Jim took me to Henry Lawson drive on the back of his new matcho twin about 1949-'50. Saw this old codger named Stan Ward riding round in the mud wearing an old high dome Crommwell. Years later he was still riding round looking the same age!
Over the road from that place [Carramar] there was this steeep hill that blokes road up in organised hillclimbs that I watched after riding there on my pushy from Canley Vale.
The first Moorebank I saw was after a ride on the back of my cousin's Matcho to spectate about the same time, the stars that day included Charlie Scaysbrook, and the Jarvis boys screaming around on an outfit.
cheers pancho.
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watching the scrambles/mx at the cleveland show grounds and watching the ABC showing mx as a filler between shows i think the back ground music was river deep mountain from memory
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I remember watching Calder Rallycross on Channel 0 (now Channel 10), I had a TM125L so I was rooting for Gary Adams on the Suz 400 but I remember Karl Morlang & Bernie Ryan were up there on CZ's.
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As with Middo, Moorebank in the mid 60's.
I never really had much interest in MX or Scrambles as it was, my family were heavily involved in Speedway & Short Circuit.
I did follow it more when the Mr MX series was at it's peak.
A lot of people don't realise that there was a point when MX was the little brother to Road Racing, Short Circuit & Speedway, not in any particular order.
Dirt Track / Short Circuit is on it's way back.
I'm off my soap box, for now.
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Reading all the posts, it seems that nobody remembers a one horse town just out side of Ararat called Doby, my first memory of a scramble was in 1958, my mate & I rode our pussies about ten km to watch those awesome blokes dressed in black riding their striped down road bikes in the mud, I still remember this fat bloke riding a Trumpy & fell off twice, coming of a small jump & into a left hander, there was a little bit of off camber & when the back wheel hit it loosing the back-end, I thought he would have learnt from the first time.
Then another bloke going up the hill flipped the bike & broke his collar bone,I was hooked but I knew I would never be able to afford to do it for a long time to come, but in 1969 I did start racing scrambles I couldn't afford it but I did it anyway ;D
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My first memory was at a track i think it was at Narre Warren somewhere between Wellington rd and Heatherton rd. Bultaco's ruled Black and grey or Red they looked so cool they sounded and smelled even better. Bert was riding i know that cause my dad said gary and trevor may have but i cant remember pretty sure #8's dad may have been their as well must have been late 60's or real early 70s. thinking it may have been hallam scramble but i will never forget the real cool boots they were wearing laces with 3 buckles at the top i just had to get a bike to have a pair of those. I have always been a slave to fashion, now 40 odd years later i have to wear boots like that just to hold ankles together Ha Ha Ha!
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The smell of R30, the shitty pits at Amaroo both MX and DT. Terry Hills camping for weeks in mud and dust; same at Hungry Creek, Speedway at the showground and collecting the whynn stickers always inside the programe.
But most of all was going to the shop in the centre of Sydney and dribbling over the 73 TM250, hooked me right there and then for life.
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My first memory was at a track i think it was at Narre Warren somewhere between Wellington rd and Heatherton rd. Bultaco's ruled Black and grey or Red they looked so cool they sounded and smelled even better. Bert was riding i know that cause my dad said gary and trevor may have but i cant remember pretty sure #8's dad may have been their as well must have been late 60's or real early 70s. thinking it may have been hallam scramble but i will never forget the real cool boots they were wearing laces with 3 buckles at the top i just had to get a bike to have a pair of those. I have always been a slave to fashion, now 40 odd years later i have to wear boots like that just to hold ankles together Ha Ha Ha!
Chris,
There was a track at Narre Warren I remember going to regularly as a kid,
#8
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My first memory was at a track i think it was at Narre Warren somewhere between Wellington rd and Heatherton rd. Bultaco's ruled Black and grey or Red they looked so cool they sounded and smelled even better. Bert was riding i know that cause my dad said gary and trevor may have but i cant remember pretty sure #8's dad may have been their as well must have been late 60's or real early 70s. thinking it may have been hallam scramble but i will never forget the real cool boots they were wearing laces with 3 buckles at the top i just had to get a bike to have a pair of those. I have always been a slave to fashion, now 40 odd years later i have to wear boots like that just to hold ankles together Ha Ha Ha!
Chris,
There was a track at Narre Warren I remember going to regularly as a kid,
#8
+1 I raced there once.
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Yep, Narre Warren track was off Heatherton Road. (Kinda north-east of Harkaway, if you were heading up to Emerald.)
The track was consumed by the reservoir that was built there.
I hitch-hiked to it; have bugger-all memory of the actual races though!
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And again - back from the dead.
This thread. Too many good memories to let it die.
I'd loved bikes since my earliest memories.
One of the local "big kids" had a Kawasaki KZ75, he let me try and ride it a few times. A nasty exhaust burn on my leg when the bike fell on my leg during one "lesson" didn't even damp my enthusiasm one iota. (Probably the beginning of my my parents apprehension though).
Eventually I was lucky enough to get a KZ75 of my own.
Years later I got a new YZ80D. We would ride the local bush trails and read Minicycle BMX Action magazine. Trying to make our bikes like the ones in the mag, I put 7X on the number plate (had no idea the x was for expert)
Finally, after months of begging, I was driven to Lake Macquarie track with one of my friends. They took one look at our pimped out bikes(with hand cut "contact" stickers ) and put us on the line in B grade. I was hooked from the moment the rubber band disappeared.
Fast guys were Steve and Paul "Skin" Yorke. (Still faster than me - bastards), Peter Selback (his dad Eagle Selback was a champion from Europe and started riding again in his old age around Jilliby Park on a TT250). Peter "Nugget" Greathead. Chris Bilbourogh. Shayne Cheetham RIP. And some I've probably forgotten.
I managed to win the A grade 80cc club championship in 1979, and have progressively gone downhill ever since.
Skypig circa 1977
(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff310/skypig/image_9.jpeg) (http://s237.photobucket.com/user/skypig/media/image_9.jpeg.html)
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early 1970's...racing the "Gemini BOSS 80" at the edwards rd minibike park west of Bendigo and being smoked by a fat kid on a new XR 75...basically lost interest in mx and spent my time wanting to climb hills cross rivers etc.
saw Rahier and the crew at Ravenswood Park south of Bendigo in the late 70's and also flag marshalled on a very wet ravo one day watching a very young flying freckle carve the place up with some exciting new lines, giving Daryl Willoughby an MX lesson in the mud...not bad for a sandgroper I think trevor w was there as well as goof but no s Gall. it was televised live on "Channel 8" there are some good vids of that day about.
1980ish...borrowed a rm 125 S and raced at a club mx at Ravenswood...was still no good at it...got handed a lesson in track smarts by an old bloke known as "Donk" ...he would slow up a tad, I would go for the pass and he would cut me off and then roar off cackling with laughter...
attended a how to MX with Marty Moates at ravo, in the early 80's ...that was a good day...my special test times dropped dramatically
also attended the first round of the world mx at broady and watched Mr Husaberg (cant remember his name?) give the rest of the crew a lesson on what to do in the off season...not piss it up like they must have. was a very impressive display of riding and fitness. I reckon he could have picked the berg up and ran around faster than the rest.
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My first memory was watching Mr Motocross series at Amaroo Park in 74 or 75.
Rode a mate's 74 CR125 around the old Bilpin track.
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cemetary mx at samford qld
cemetary still there no mx track anymore
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My first was at Mt Majora (not sure of spelling ) near Watson in the ACT I raced a Honda 50 in a mini bike class about 1973 (came last )
Mum dropped me off left the trailer and fuel and something to eat and said see you in 4 hours . To this day she still hates the idea of me racing .
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1974 or thereabouts UK Cornwall,Dad took me to a scrambles on the side of Caradon Hill in Cornwall,Paul Pringle was the local Champ on a Bultaco.......right there and then I said I'm going to do that! Moved to Perth Western Australia mid 76,following year mum and dad bought me a used but current 77 XR75 on the proviso I join a club........like a duck to water I was hooked......40 years later still love it.....even though ive smashed the body up pretty bad.....but great memories and friendships forged ;-)
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My dad took me to a scramble just south of Waitara, dont recall the year exactly but cleaning up in all races were sparkling new silver YZ tank strap twin shock Yamahas. Must have been around '71 or '72. The smell of Castrol R and dirt bikes going flat out had me hooked. I would have been around 13 at the time. I, like a few others around here, went to the meeting north of Wellington to watch Gaston Rahier deal to NZ's best on his factory 125. I remember he needed a crate as a step to climb on it and seemed to never sit on the seat. Mind you, the difference between him standing on the pegs and sitting down would have been bugger all. The Dani Pedrosa of dirt bikes. I still have a couple of snapshots from my old instamatic camera from that day.
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early 1970's...racing the "Gemini BOSS 80" at the edwards rd minibike park west of Bendigo and being smoked by a fat kid on a new XR 75...basically lost interest in mx and spent my time wanting to climb hills cross rivers etc.
saw Rahier and the crew at Ravenswood Park south of Bendigo in the late 70's and also flag marshalled on a very wet ravo one day watching a very young flying freckle carve the place up with some exciting new lines, giving Daryl Willoughby an MX lesson in the mud...not bad for a sandgroper I think trevor w was there as well as goof but no s Gall. it was televised live on "Channel 8" there are some good vids of that day about.
1980ish...borrowed a rm 125 S and raced at a club mx at Ravenswood...was still no good at it...got handed a lesson in track smarts by an old bloke known as "Donk" ...he would slow up a tad, I would go for the pass and he would cut me off and then roar off cackling with laughter...
attended a how to MX with Marty Moates at ravo, in the early 80's ...that was a good day...my special test times dropped dramatically
also attended the first round of the world mx at broady and watched Mr Husaberg (cant remember his name?) give the rest of the crew a lesson on what to do in the off season...not piss it up like they must have. was a very impressive display of riding and fitness. I reckon he could have picked the berg up and ran around faster than the rest.
yep, rode at that Edwards road track, Watched Gaston ride, went to the dinner that night at the White Hills School hall where he was the guest speaker, shook his hand, still have his autographed poster, rode against Donk, have plenty of Donk stories, attended marty's school at ravo, picked up my new CR500 from Elliotts the next day and rode against him on it a month later, couldn't believe that someone could punt a bike that fast at broadford watching Joel Smets in qualifying, we must be neighbours !!
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you idiot, you live "behind me" not next door ;D ;D
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Is that for real about Graeme Lowe?. Unabashed Manly supporter that I am, I remember Graeme Lowe well. Never would have picked him for a bikie.
Graeme's brother Ian Lowe who lives in Redcliffe raced Motocross briefly. Graeme also coached Queensland in SoO. Also motocross racers are not bikies.
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First memories are of going to watch events in the 60s with my parents . The noise and the smell of Castrol R i can still remember.
Then watching the TV scrambles late 60s early 70s . Pestered my parents long enough till they bought me a Bantam and went racing :)
Then a kid who was a couple of years older than me and lived up the road by the name of Graham Noyce started winning all the big events and thtas when i started to live and breathe MX about 1975 :)
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Mid seventies Mr Motocross rounds at Amaroo Park. I was 15 and lived not far away, and was totally infatuated with dirt bikes and mx. Pored over every edition of Dirt Bike, MXA, Trail and Track and ADB. Per Klitland, the Floods, Anthony Gunter and Gally of course. Reed valves.....laid down shocks......monoshock....up pipes.....the first Elsinores.....
Such a heady time (especially when you include the 'other' type of glossy mags I obsessed over at that time.....).
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My very first Motocross was going to watch the Australian MX Champs at Tivoli in 1970. I had bought a Royal Enfield 350 off my Uncle (who passed away recently RIP Uncle Graham). I worked for Graham after school and on Saturdays. He raced Road Racing. Don Newell is the only rider I remember from Tivoli, but I got to ride my RE at Tivoli a couple of weeks after that. My first MX was at Cleveland at the strawberry festival on a stripped down TS125 in 1972. I bought a TM125 K the next year and that was were my full time involvement started.
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The early memories are by far the best and still Vivid,
I remember ogling the CR125 in a bike shop in Dandenong 1977?? before Geoff Taylor took over Honda.
The next year my elder brother and i drove up to watch what would be the last mx event at Wallan and to watch one of the Hill brothers race. The both went to my high school.
So vivid is the sound of the new 1978 Cr250 bark off into the distance at Larbatouche ride park,