My First Open MX Race - what was yours ????????????

[Rosco86]

1970 Bill Patterson rally at Wallan on a SL70. 1972 first race Sub Juniors 14-16 yrs at Barrabool on a KTM Sachs 125. Graduated to Opens at Ballarto Rd Frankston track 1974 on a Maico 250 and also swung for Russell Bergmier on his dad's 500cc Triumph Wasp. Gee wish I could do 4 practices 3 solo races and 3 sidecar races today. (3 laps sees me out) Looks like a few of us were at Ballarto Rd that day.

[brent j]

First ever MX. 1973 or 74 at a place called Jackson Farm in Wainuiomata just outside Wellington, NZ.
Any other Kiwis remember Jackson Farm?

It was the first school boy MX in the area. I raced my Suzuki TS90MX and holeshot the first race then worked my way to the back.
The only difference in my riding style now is I no longer get the holeshot, the rest is the same

[tony27]

First round of the Kiwi vmx series at Fielding in 2010. Never raced prior to that as I was a trials rider all through my 20s & 30s,  now I'm lucky to get more than 1 trial in a year due to work but have done every round of the series since bar 2

[shelpi]

if we go back to the very 1st race ever it was Honda minibike club @ Cavan on a deltec grass grub and carby fell off put it back on and finished the race
I remember the start vividly with the sound of 2/ and 4/ industrial engines reving and smokein rubber band start, some kid tangled in the rubber band (his reward for jumping the start) roaring down the straight into the 1st corner dust, mud and bikes everywhere pached in like sardines all on 5 inch wheels and no suspension on the rear, they were the days!

[shelpi]

My first meeting in AU was the night MX in Avalon . Was quite a buzz to run under lights and race against  pairings I never met before . Sure Hoony would remember that one .

Yep sure do, and it was a Night MX (not supercross)  i rode that one too. was it 1982? i seem to think i saw leisk and Mike Landman on 1981 CR's 125 and 250RB models? maybe my memory is going it was many Beers ago !

that was my 1st supercross in 1981 rode the RM250X and YZ465H it was so cold you could see steam rise of the rider as the hit the apex on the main jump

[EML]

I Agree Jerry that run to the first corner is what its all about to me, what a rush as everyone sorts themselves out.

Imagine a race meeting where you only do the first 4 corners of a track then line up to do it again 3 more times straight after that.

it's what an adrenaline junkie needs 

For me too, even now 30+yrs on. I have a brother-in-law that was a good jockey (Caulfield Cup winner) and he shares the same rush when the gates close and the starter mounts the podium....that's what we're there for, the 5sec card and I step on the plate.
 

[GMC]

I was a slow learner and never did the minibike thing.
My first race was a club day in 76 but it wasn’t until 79 that I rode in my first open event which was the Mallee Rally
81 would be my first open Enduro

After riding the 81 & 82 Enduro series I was a bit disillusioned with keeping my KLX running for a whole day at a time then near the end of 82 I saw an ad in the Trading post for a 82 CR 250; will trade.
So I handed over $150 and my KLX and was now ready for my MX career.
After many years of practice, club MX and trailriding  I turned up to Barrabool at the start of 83 for my first Open MX
Bugger me if there wasn’t a forking huge set of doubles on the track
wasn’t ready for that.
I sat and watched how others were doing it and even the bloody sidecars were clearing it.
Disillusioned I went back to trailriding for a couple of years.

Started a competition comeback in 85 and rode my first Four Day in 86
Remember at riders briefing the feeling of awe at being involved in something so big so didn’t really hear anything they were saying

Retired serious competition at the end of 88 due to some health issues but would go on to ride my first Open Trial at Glenmaggie in either 89 or 90

Ironically I rode Traralgon open MX in 90 just to be sociable and had my best finish which was around 7th or 8th in C grade

[80-85 husky]

"and he shares the same rush when the gates close and the starter mounts the podium...."

I rekon he is just poohing himself wondering what the horse will do next!! bloody gee gee's

[Jumbo J]

First ever MX. 1973 or 74 at a place called Jackson Farm in Wainuiomata just outside Wellington, NZ.
Any other Kiwis remember Jackson Farm?

It was the first school boy MX in the area. I raced my Suzuki TS90MX and holeshot the first race then worked my way to the back.
The only difference in my riding style now is I no longer get the holeshot, the rest is the same

Hey Brent I was at that very same race at Jacksons farm in 74, I was 13. My Dad, me, my brother and mate next door piled into Mums trusty Kingswood 4 abreast on the bench seat, no seat belts. Yamaha JT1 60 in the back with the seat removed.  Never forget the smell of dripping fuel all the way there and back from Otaki.  Mum said never again! I remember the Coleman boys on their fancy TM75's and me on my mini enduro with trials tyres. don't know how, but i managed 2 firsts and a second. My next race after that was 40 years later last year on a TM250 but now the finishing positions  are reversed - small world.

[TC91]

August 14, 1977  14 yrs old at a club day at Ravenswood, YZ80D. Mum sewed a yellow stripe down the leg of a pair of dads old leathers and I used all my saved up pocket money to buy a new Nova helmet complete with Barrafauldi goggles. fair dinkum I thought I was as cool as cat shit !! An intercentre at Ravenswood on September 1977 was a huge meeting. Full pits and a full grid of mini's, holy shit. I can still recall shitting myself on the start line. Bill Dixon was the starter, ( still is). My first open meeting was a VMBA Vic championship at Barrabool in 1979. YZ80E. I have a notebook with all the races I competed in, what I rode and where I finished from 1977 till about 15 years ago. Cant remember why I stopped filling it in, how dumb am I