BEWARE RIDING AT MENAI

[jimg1au]

thats plan b plan a already has houses on it all sold.new illawarra road is had its upgrade now all new and wide
jim

[VMX247]

I never saw Joel Roberts at Menai,even Decoster failed to give the place a try when the Belgian Suzuki team hit Sydney in the early 70's.
Bike tester,weekend racer,wheelie jockies,posers,wankers,dirt track heroes,trail plonkers and impressionable young blonde females who wanted to learn to ride a CT2's made up the bulk of the chientele........   .......... to read more drag your #9 vmx magazine off the book shelf and turn to page 78 and have a read of what the last three pages these vmxer's are posting on about 
cheers A

[firko]

I saw my first dead body at Menai. Back in the early seventies there was a reasonably simple 'motocross' track marked out adjacent to the quarry area. It was basically a football field sized circle with a couple of S bends and and three or four little jumps. This particular Saturday afternoon I'd been "racing" my Bully Lobito GP around the track and had stopped with a couple of mates adjacent to an old dumped FJ ute for a rest and to watch the other punters racing around. One of the 10 or so bikes circulating was a bloke on a fairly new SL350 Honda twin who thought he was pretty hot stuff, chucking big roosts out of corners, wheelying on the straights and generally looking as out of control as a punter could on an SL350. I recall telling my mate that the blokes front wheel landings off the jumps were going to bring him unstuck when all of a sudden he hit one of the foot high bumps sort of sideways, the landing resulting in a big high side getoff whith him coming to rest almost in front of us. We all laid shit shit on the bloke for being so stupid on such a stupid bike (I should talk) but he wasn't moving. After thirty seconds or so we tentatively ventured over to see how he was and saw that his head was twisted in an unnatural position.His eyes were wide open so we tried to talk to him but it soon became obvious that he was as dead as a dodo. As I said, it was the first dead'un I'd ever seen in my life and the look on his face will stay with me forever. Needless to say it put a damper on the days activities and it was a few weeks before we returned to the place.

[Mike52]

Along the same lines.
When they built INALA in Bris they went in circles and left the centre part bush.
Needless to say all the local kids learn,t to ride there.
Next thing the signs went up " No Vehicles ".
Mate of mine lived there and used to pinch the signs and hide them.
Then the RSL , or whatever, was built and a huge carpark was put in the very spot where the signs were.
Now the powers to be had to pull the " No Vehicles " signs ,which were magically reappearing , DOWN.
My mate had kept the lot and was putting them back UP in the same spot.
 Every one used to stand and watch them pull them down. 

[DOK]

Mid to late seventies there was an acu santioned trial comp or demo held in one of the gullies there.
Think it might have been Mick Andrews or similar.
Anyone remember this?

[mx250]

Mid to late seventies there was an acu santioned trial comp or demo held in one of the gullies there.
Think it might have been Mick Andrews or similar.
Anyone remember this?

Mick Andrews run a demo/school at Amaroo - I can't remember him been at Menai.

Sammy Miller rode at Menai in about '69 I think. If it was a comp or demo I can't remember.

[firko]

Mick Andrews did a Yamaha demo at Menai to coincide with the release of the TY range in 1974.

[suzuki27]

Anyone remember Kev's Oasis? Kev's caravan was like a welcome mirage some days. Hot Dogs,drinks etc on a hot day. A few of us would side saddle/walk/ride the XR75's and SL's,YZ's from Padstow out to Menai on weekends. Great times and memories.I remember a couple of raids on the place by IT mounted state police and the odd visit by the Feds in P76's from memory. A lot of stolen cars were dumped out there and a couple of more entrepreneurial mates would take some special tools in the backpack to remove the odd nice car piece for sale later. once we down riding behind the reactor area and came across what looked like a dead forest. As we walked around the area someone layed an alpine star into one of the trees and it just fell over in a cloud of dust. Between us we kicked over and through a heapthese powder dry trees- and they were 6-8in across. A couple of old mates (Rex & Dave) and myself found a dead guy in a burnt out car one day. We had spotted a "guy" sitting in a car,off the track and a long way from the road, from a 100 yds or so and started calling out to him but got no answer. We started to move a bit closer and someone thought it would be a good idea to throw some rocks in his general direction. There he was sitting up in the front seat stone dead and slightly burnt. Of course we bolted back to the bikes and found some older guys to tell.
Without Menai, my life in the suburbs would have been a lot less exciting . We still need areas like this for young and old alike,its just a shame we rarely get them- or get to keep them.

[mx250]

Dead guys - geeze .

I squeeze past a car parked on a narrow track deep in the bush. As I squeezed past I looked into the back seat and there was a pair of knees with a bare bum thrashing up and down between the raised knees .

No one I recognised so I keep going .

[The Wombat]

Anyone remember Kev's Oasis? Kev's caravan was like a welcome mirage some days. Hot Dogs,drinks etc on a hot day. A few of us would side saddle/walk/ride the XR75's and SL's,YZ's from Padstow out to Menai on weekends. Great times and memories.I remember a couple of raids on the place by IT mounted state police and the odd visit by the Feds in P76's from memory. A lot of stolen cars were dumped out there and a couple of more entrepreneurial mates would take some special tools in the backpack to remove the odd nice car piece for sale later. once we down riding behind the reactor area and came across what looked like a dead forest. As we walked around the area someone layed an alpine star into one of the trees and it just fell over in a cloud of dust. Between us we kicked over and through a heapthese powder dry trees- and they were 6-8in across. A couple of old mates (Rex & Dave) and myself found a dead guy in a burnt out car one day. We had spotted a "guy" sitting in a car,off the track and a long way from the road, from a 100 yds or so and started calling out to him but got no answer. We started to move a bit closer and someone thought it would be a good idea to throw some rocks in his general direction. There he was sitting up in the front seat stone dead and slightly burnt. Of course we bolted back to the bikes and found some older guys to tell.
Without Menai, my life in the suburbs would have been a lot less exciting . We still need areas like this for young and old alike,its just a shame we rarely get them- or get to keep them.

Hang on 27 are u sure that wasn't the moofie "Stand By Me" 

[vmxrider]

Anyone remember Kev's Oasis?

Remember it well, he was always seemed to do a good business especially on hot days. He'd be parked on the left half way along the tar road at the bend near the opening to the oval track. He had a few basic spares, levers and stuff, as well from memory. I heard someone rode into the back his caravan and died.
We'd get dropped off by someones parents about 9am down near the fenced off waste dump area , a bit of fuel, couple of bucks in the pocket for a feed, and away we'd ride till we were picked up about 4pm. There was always some regular shit hot rider out on the track that someone would try to have a run with and provide some entertainment.
As Firko mentioned previously, that smell, especially when it was wet, was unique to Menai.

 

[suzuki27]

Yer VMX sounds very familiar.Good memories. One day at Kev's a local hero was pulling wheelies up and down past the crowd at Kev's on a pretty new YZ400. He had a helmet, jeans and boots on and a flanno shirt tied around his waist, and on about the 10th pass he flipped it flat on his back. Man that had to hurt.
I sold that story to Steven King, Wombat!!

[vmxrider]

This was in the local paper this week, I had to read it twice. Would be a dream come true. Sent off an email to the Gandangarra land council for some more details, not holding my breath tho'.
 

http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/west-menai-needs-a-manager/2386376.aspx

GANDANGARA Land Council is still searching for a "significant land conservation group" to help manage the 500-hectare reserve, chief executive Jack Johnson (pictured) said.

He said the reserve would be the "opposite" of a national park because it would be aimed at encouraging as many people as possible to use it.

"The best way for this land to be loved by all is to be used by as many as possible," Mr Johnson said.

In a statement sure to upset environmentalists already concerned about how the reserve will be managed, Mr Johnson said the land council was open to applications from the trail bike users who currently illegally enter the west Menai lands about a possible track in the reserve, as well as from mountain bike riders.

He said there would be fewer restrictions on how the reserve was used than were in place for proper national parks.

[jimg1au]

seen that thursday as well i thought that would be good but what hoops would need to be jumped through to get this off the ground.there is a large anti bike feeling in the area by the locals
jim

[vmxrider]

The minibike club near the tip has run successfully for a number of years, so if this Jack Johnson bloke is really on the side of bike riders and has a bit of weight within the land council then maybe there is a glimmer of hope, then again could be a red herring.