Foster Park NSW

[TT]

I was just reading the March 1974 issue of U.S. Dirt Bike and their track of the month was Foster Park near Newcastle apparently.
Cool photos of Per Kitland, Chris Dixon & Gary Flood too. 

Does anyone know about the history of this track and exactly where it was?
Don't suppose it's still used?

[JohnnyO]

That sounds like the track that used to have a big national mx at the start of the season in the 80's, all the stars would turn up for it.
Think it was just outside Foster/Tuncurry

[Ktm181]

T'was the FAilford track, turn right off Pacific Hwy about 3k after Nabiac when heading north, couple of Ks along that road, track was on left, a good OLD 500 track, fast and rough by the end of the day.  That track was the first track a young Craig Dask beat the big boys fair and square on a YZ490, Glen Bell finished around 6th on a RM465, a modified one by Frank Pons no less, same as my old girl, although Belly was a whole lot faster than me!

Failford Summercross i think the January meeting was called, the guy still lives in the house that was near the pits, the rest is GONE.

Cheers,
Kt

[090]

It was the first meeting of the year. I did it for a few years myself. I have a permanent memory etched in my brain of Beetle rounding the corner onto the straight leaning over and sideways. Goes over the jump on the straight like that all over the shop, in the air turns the bars to the left and pulls the bike straight just before landing. Bloody awesome.

[JohnnyO]

I have a permanent memory of spending the Saturday before the race at Foster beach watching a bikini comp followed by a wet T shirt comp.. was better than the next days race!!

[firko]

Foster Park was in the Hunter Valley/Maitland area. It was a very good natural terrain/cow paddock style track. I raced there a few times in the early 70s and remember it well. I think it closed in the mid to late seventies.

[AjayVMX]

Foster Park was in the Hunter Valley/Maitland area. It was a very good natural terrain/cow paddock style track. I raced there a few times in the early 70s and remember it well. I think it closed in the mid to late seventies.

Firko is, as usual,  closest to the money here.

The actual location of Foster Park was adjacent to the village of Mulbring, which is south of Cessnock.  It was closed in the mid 70s as an MX track and became a grass skiing facility for a while afterwards.

Also in the same area was another track called "Dunlop Lea" which also closed in the late 70s.  I saw my first MX race ever at Dunlop Lea and I remember it vividly.  Every time I drive past Dunlop Lea (and the last time was on Wednesday this week), I have fond memories of that day. 

An interesting side issue - my parents were looking to buy a property in the Hunter valley in the very early 70s and we drove around the district looking at recent land releases.  One area we looked at was near the Cessnock airport - which we decide not to buy.  That area was sold to someone else and went on to become the Curroo MX track.  Probably lucky for the MX community that we didn't buy it - in retrospect!

[firko]

That area was sold to someone else and went on to become the Curroo MX track.

Simon Currant and Paul Rooney ran Curroo and the property later became a part of a winery, perhaps Pokolbin Estate. Even during its days as a motocross track it was connected to the wine property through Currants connection and anyone who ever raced there would remember that grape skin pulp was plowed into the soil to alleviate the dust. The problem with that was the tannin from the grapes left strong acidic purple stains on your bike that were difficult or near impossible to remove if you left them for too long. The tannin also played havoc on anodized rims and parts if not immediately washed off. I've got a white cotton Maico jersey that still shows remnants of the dreaded purple stuff.

You're right Ajay, Foster Park was at Mulbring near Cessnock, not Maitland. Another great Hunter Valley track was Mt Sugarloaf which was an interesting track located on an extinct volcano. In 1975 I was involved in a race there where a rider hit a tree and was killed directly after passing me which upset me quite a bit and didn't leave me with nice memories of the place.

[AjayVMX]

Firko, was Mt Sugarloaf at or near the Mt Sugarloaf lookout?  If so, not that far away from Chad Reed's original supercross practice track...

Nasty story about Mt Sugarloaf.  :'(  I can well believe that would have a very sobering effect on your racing outlook. 

[BultacoMacca]

Sugarloaf MX track was situated just behind the north spectator viewing mound of the current Newcastle Go-Cart track. It was a rough, tough old bit of ground with lots of rock shelves and dust to contend with as it wound across the creek bed, which turned into bogholes when it rained.
Foster Park and Dunlop Lea were both at Mulbring, and were my old Belmont Club tracks which was headed by President Ken Thornton (an avid Greeves rider).
Foster Park was the site for the Aust Titles back in 1973 or 74 and had a huge turnout of spectators and full local TV coverage with a half hour broadcast, mainly showing the 50metre mudhole which swallowed up a lot of competitors. My first time seeing Roy East, Dave Basham, Terry Gunter and a Honda Elsinore!
We young blokes in the club used to run the club races at these tracks and used to be proud to say that Foster Park had a four and three quarter minute lap time....it was long...and we used to try to do 10 laps which just about killed most of the members, so we cut it back to 4 lap races by 3 heats.
Only till just recently you could sneak in the back way on trailbikes and do a "memories" lap, which was great.

[mx250]

I only rode Mt Sugarloaf once - a dreadful day. Continuous rain and a dislocated shoulder that keep popping out  . The ride was a Mud Fest: I remember it for mud like porridge - everywhere.

So was Foster Park the one that was basically adjunct to the village of Mulbring?  A flat grassed cow paddock on the side of the river bank where the track dropped down into the sand of the river for half a lap then back up on to the cow paddock for the other half of the lap?

[zorroz]

Sugarloaf MX track was situated just behind the north spectator viewing mound of the current Newcastle Go-Cart track. It was a rough, tough old bit of ground with lots of rock shelves and dust to contend with as it wound across the creek bed, which turned into bogholes when it rained.

I remember going to Cameron park raceway in the late 80's early 90's where they had an enduro loop and a dirt track. Then when it closed in mid 90's but you could still use the dirt track for a few years where it is now an industrial area. Lucky we still have unlimited riding area's in Newcastle

[montynut]

"Foster Park", I beleive, was located just 2 Km south of the village of Mulbring currently there is a home with several dozen cars parked in neat rows located just about where the entrance to the property was the track was located at the rear of the property and could not be seen from the road although the pit area could. I have also heard it refereed to as Sugarloaf because it was located basically at the western foot of Mt Sugarloaf but I do beleive there was another circuit closer to the Mt Sugarloaf reserve access road. I rode at the track near Mulbring several times and was located in a very rugged gully with many step offs and uphill jumps etc. It was a very unforgiving circuit with a very difficult start area which caused many mishaps. The last meeting I know of was in the very late '70s. I remeber the Grass Skiing ventur it was a very extensive setup and went bust in only a few seasons.

"Dunlop Lea" which I beleive was a property name was located around 3Km west of Mulbring toward Cessnock and was a long natural terain grass track layed out in a paddock running in, out and around a natural gully system. it was very fast but did not take rain well and turned to a kind of soup in wet weather. It was only used once or possibly twice a year and the last meeting was mid '70s

Curroo Park was a great circuit layout and always well ran meets really enjoyed racing there until the 'grape pulp' surface. It stopped the dust and was a magic surface to ride on except it corroded your bike, stained your cloths and skin. It also made around 40% of the rider loose their breakfast and lunch along with everything else they ate or drank.


  Ooops should have read AjayVMX before posting

[Moto]

MX,
     The track adjunct to Mulbring that jumped in and out of the creek bed was Dunlop Lea.You can still drive past it and see bits of it from the road if you know where to look.
      Foster Park is where Montynut described it.The Fosters owned the property.Every second person in Mulbring was a Foster.
       My first experience of FosterPark was seeing the Internationals ride there.Can still see the Husky and Cz 400's wheelstanding the length of the back straight.No mufflers required in those days.
       

[xl59]

Hi guys,foster park and dunloplea were awesome tracks.Raced the with belmont club back in 1980same as bultacomacca.Shame their not still their.Macca should remember the likes of the fast Derrick Mussgrove,alias FUZZ.Or Graeme BIONIC Boyd Newcastle Suzuki,are the good old days.  CHEERS GREG