40th anniversary mr mx 1974 to 2014

[KTM47]

A few years ago Kevvy was talking to Geoff Udy and me at Echo Valley and he mentioned that the first Mountain Man was 1974, I corrected him then. Kevvy quickly said I bet you $100 it was in 1974. Udy said too Kevvy not to take me on due to me being a Life Member and historian of the Toowoomba Motorcycle Club, and he would be losing his money. To support my claim I also rode at the first Mountain Man event, plus I have the first program. He wouldn't believe me and I didn't get my $100. Now Kevvy, ,the first Mountain Man was held on the 25th of May 1975, the first winner was Gary Flood from Victoria. Now can I collect my $100.00?? 
Lawrie

OK

So were there two MMMX's in 1975?

While Gary Flood won the 1st one Peter Boyle won the 2nd one on a 1975 RH Suzuki. Also I don't remember being shown a program from the 1st MMMX.

Kevin (since when did my name become F@#$ing Kevvy)

[vintage815]

Sorry Kevin, every time I've talked to you I would say G'day Kev or Kevvy and you never complained, so from now on it's Kevin. I don't know where you got the idea that we ran Mountain Man twice in 1975, unless you are basing you assumptions on Peter Boyle winning the 1976 MMMX on a 1975 model bike? Gary Flood won the first Mountain Man in 1975, Peter Boyle won in 1976, Steve Gall 1977 and the list goes on and on. I've got the programs. Also I never stated that I had shown you a program, only that I had the program. The fact remains Mountain Man Motocross first ran on the 25th of May 1975, the second the 26th of September 1976. When can I see the colour of your money Kevin, LOL.

[KTM47]

OK, I don't doubt you have a program from the 1975 MMX, so what brand of bike am I on. No 030 in the main class. I would also like to see that program.

Kevin

PS I don't mind being called Kev, but I have never liked Kevvy

[VMX247]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Been a member for some time but never got involved. Recently I have been sorting out 1000s of negatives I have accrued over 40 yrs of taking MX photos and thought I better let others enjoy them. So today did I put up on my OzVMX page some photos I took back in 1974 when I attended the first Mr Mx final at Amaroo Park? Many of the riders I do not know so I am hoping some can identify them for me. Already Dave Alsop has helped me but if someone has programs from the 1974 and 75 Mr MX rounds I would love a p/copy of them so I can identify the riders. I do have most programs of races held in NSW between 1976 and 1977 before I moved to West Oz in 78.
Any way enjoy the memories
Cheers  Peter

                                TAKE A LOOK AT OZ VMX PHOTO PAGE BOYS 

Thanks for posting the photos up Peter ,brilliant clear action shots of the best years of Australian MX were and are hard to find,
                                            Well done mate, keep em coming please
Cheers KB171

I look at these gems and then look through Scrambling Downunder by Roger Harvey and see the race numbers and bikes are still around today racing.
Just outstanding to have this history.
Thanks for dropping in PeterK ,hope you hang around the best OZVMX site for basic knowledge needed for vmx era archiving. 
cheers

[vintage815]

G'day Kev, according to the Program in 1975 you were a B grader riding a 250 Suzuki. Did I pass the test? You and I were also listed together in Race 3 Round one of the B Grade motocross. I was C grader riding a TM 250 Suzuki. other names in that race you may be familiar with are: W Kendall, also know as Sam Kendall, Billy Bunter, Vince Strang and Geoff Udy plus many more. If I were a bit more of a "geek" I could scan some of the pages and post them on this site, or send me your email details.
Lawrie

[KTM47]

Yes. Thank you Laurie you did pass the test. In 1975 I was on a 1975 RH Suzuki and so was Peter Boyle.

I don't know where you got the idea that we ran Mountain Man twice in 1975, unless you are basing you assumptions on Peter Boyle winning the 1976 MMMX on a 1975 model bike?

Why would Peter Boyle a sponsored rider race a year old bike, when the other Suzuki riders would be on RM370 As.

My guess is the program you have is from the 2nd year of MMX. Maybe you didn't race at the first one. I raced a 1974 250 Maico in the first MMX in September or October of 1974.

Please donate the $100.00 to a charity of your choice.

Kevin

[vintage815]

Kev, the facts are quite simple, and then I'll say no more on this issue. Irrespective of what bike Peter Boyle rode and when, the Official Toowoomba Motorcycle Club records state that the first Mountain Man was held on the 25th of May 1975 and was won by Gary Flood. 1976 peter Boyle, 1977, Stephen Gall, 1978 & 79 Pelle Granquist, 1980 Robert Bailey, 1981 Anthony Gunther, 1982 Stephen Gall, 1983 David Armstrong, 1984 Jeff Leisk, 1985 David Armstrong, 1986 & 87 Craig Dack, 1988 Jeff Leisk, 1989 Glenn Bell. The Club then lost it's lease with the Auto Club at Echo Valley. A number of years later we ran a One Off Mountain Man in 1997 which was won by Troy Carroll.
Just a couple of sidelines, we used to run MX events at a venue called Connole Park and I'm sure we ran a round of the Qld Championships there in 1974. We stopped using Connole Park for open events at the end of 1974, and the track was located near Withcott, are you getting the two venues mixed up? I have also confirmed with other Club committee members of that era that the Echo Valley track was only completed just prior to the first MMMX in 1975.

I hope this clarifies and finalises the issue.

[KTM47]

It certainly doesn't finalise it for me.

Yes I did race at that track at Withcott, it had two creek crossings. I even have a photo of riders battling to get out of the second creek crossing. There is a rider on a Yamaha with the No 815 on it. Is that you?

And I don't care what you say, I did race at Echo Valley on my Maico 250. I remember it rained for one race. I fell off going up to the Mattahorn, I had to crawl up the grass on the side and then slide down to the bike to get going again.

In the program you have what brand of bikes are Gary and Trevor Flood on? Or are they even in the program?

When I get a chance I will ask Peter Boyle what year he won and what bike he raced in 1976. I can also ask Noel Harker what he remembers.

Kevin

[vintage815]

Against my better judgement I'll respond to you and try to correct your beliefs and clarify a few points. Not once have I said that you didn't race a Macio 250 at MMMX at Echo Valley. You rode a 250 Suzuki in 1975 as a B grader, and in 1976 you rode an RM370 as an A grader, according to the programs.
In 1975 the year Gary Flood won MMMX the program list Gary riding a Bultaco 360, and Trevor riding a Husky 360. An interesting note here is that the program lists Peter Boyle as riding a Suzuki 400, his riding number that year was just the letter B.
The 1976 MMMX has Gary Flood riding a Bultaco 250, Trevor didn't ride in 1976.
You are indeed correct in saying that it rained and the year was 1976 when Peter Boyle won, it did rain on other occasions, I'm not sure what years. The program lists him riding a 370 Suzuki, and I have a photo of him at the presentation holding the MMMX trophy and it clearly shows him standing next to his bike and he and his bike look cold, wet and muddy. The bike is a RM370 Phil Thew Moto riding number 55. I can't at this moment find the program for 1977, it's here somewhere. However, I do have the 1978 Program and it lists Noel Harker riding a 250 Suzuki, riding number 54, Peter Boyle is listed as riding a Suzuki 250/400? riding number 55, I don't know what size bike he actually rode. It look like Phil Thew was covering all bases by entering two capacity bikes. I then scroll further down the program and I find one K. Mortimer riding a Maico 400.

This has been an enlightening experience, and I hope it clarifies a few more issues.

 

[JohnnyO]

Vintage815 if Kev rode a 250 Maico at MMMX then hes thinking there was a race in 74 cos that was his 74 race bike. Either he is wrong or the records are wrong, either way it would be interesting to find out which..
It's cool to see the results of the early MMMX races, i first raced there in 77 and have competed there in every decade since.

[vintage815]

John, no argument from me regarding what bike Kev rode and when, not my concern. However,  the facts are quite clear and straight forward, the first MMMX was in 1975, not 1974. The track was not completed until early 1975 and our first open event was MMMX in 1975. All our event programs reflect the first MMMX was won by Gary Flood in 1975, and each consecutive program until the last MMMX would list the previous years winner, with an empty space for the next winner. We never ran two  MMMX events in the same year as previously suggested. I was on the MMMX organising committee and helped build the track, I also rode at the meeting and I am a Life Member of the Toowoomba Motorcycle Club. So now we have people stating that we, the Toowoomba Motorcycle Club don't know our own history and what we did! I think not.
You can believe it or not, as far as I'm concerned the subject is closed.   
It's been fun.

[Stan S]

This was in Australian Motorcycle News on the 30th of May 1975. Sorry about the bad scan but if you blow it up you can still read most of it.

[JohnnyO]

Vintage815 I'm not implying you guys dont know you're history, If the track wasn't completed until 75 then we obviously know the answer.
I've got some pics from Mountain Man 77 somewhere, from memory Geoff Worrell was the pacesetter but crashed and Shane Kirkpatrick ran in the top few in one moto with only one shock on his RM370..
I still have several program's from MMMX events in the 70's/80's

[vintage815]

Tis all good John, if others would only take a leaf from your book and accept the facts. Yes, great track, great memories. I'm going through the Clubs history back to 1911 and I plan to do quite a bit on Echo Valley and in particular Mountain Man. The Toowoomba Auto Club ran cars there from around 1964 through to the late 80's. My late Uncle was the President of the Auto Club in 1987/88 at the same time I was the President of the Motorcycle Club. The Auto Club lost control/ownership of the property a number of years ago. I've just located some old footage of the 1982 Australian Titles which was a two day event back then, and we will be putting it all on CD. If you want to part with any programs please give me a call, 07 46356354.

Lawrie

[JohnnyO]

Sounds good Lawrie.. Would love to get one of those cd's from the 82 Aussie titles, I was there spectating that weekend, was a great meeting!
Don't want to part with the program's as I have most of the program's from the races I did in the 70's/80's but we can scan them sometime..