Washougal OTMX...21J's Thoughts

All my Old timer Moto Cross friends (Both of them) have been telling me I need to at least once make the trek up to Washougal WA to experience the incredible venue and race on this iconic track.

Last year at this time I was just beginning to get out and around after having suffered with vertigo issues for months. I’ve been riding and racing a lot this year, because I can and none of us know when we won’t be able to.

So I decided to make the drive and check it out. I’m a little odd in that I enjoy the getting there and back as much as I enjoy being there. And what’s not to like about driving up through Northern California, Oregon and just a little bit of Washington. It’s very easy to see why some call it god’s country.

Pulling into the Washougal MX Park for the first time is amazing; it’s like pulling into a state park. The trees and grass are all manicured with lots of carved out flat spots to park and camp on and winding through out all this beauty is a MX track.

For those of us who have only seen it on TV, as they say can’t appreciate how serpentine and up and down it really is. The venue and setting are truly nothing like I’ve ever seen before and I was well aware of the beauty and setting while I was riding.

Based on the horror stories I’d been told I didn’t know what to expect regarding track prep and watering. (They apparently have a well deserved reputation for over watering before and during the races) Because of the stories I didn’t make this trip just to experience the track, actually I had made up my mind that the track wasn’t going to define my trip.

Well, the weekend before the event it had been in the mid nineties, the weekend of the event it was high sixties mid seventies and over cast almost the entire weekend. The weather was perfect. Having only seen this track on TV and no practice on Friday along with only two laps of practice Saturday morning at 7:15AM and I was in the first race after practice it was a little daunting.

They have made a number of changes to the track that the real riders who show up in a couple of weeks for the National will experience; it will be interesting to see how they attack these new sections.

As they say TV can’t do justice to the actual elevation changes you experience, you see horse power hill on TV and how far they fly off the back side of that but to actually experience it, it’s quite a thrill. (And for the record I may have flown a whole fifteen feet down the other side of horsepower hill) I thought the track was fair and by that I mean it wasn’t set up to test your testicle size, (Going up and down the hills did that) it didn’t penalize you big time if you didn’t make something. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t challenging far from it, it was very challenging. I liked all the elevation changes and the twisty tourney sections. It seemed more like a rhythm track where you could over jump (Not me of course) and that could put you in a bad position for the next corner. There were lots of fun fall way downhill ski jumps and there weren’t any high banked bowl corners. You always had options of going inside or riding around the rim on the outside. And the start straight dirt and prep was the best I’ve ever seen. And for the first time this year I actually got some good starts. Problem was I’m not used to doing that and when I got to the end of the straight part of it I didn’t know what to do. (You know like make the turn with some speed, I got passed like I was standing still) Oh and the famous Washougal whoops was all it was cracked up to be. For me it was second gear, occasionally jumping one or two. Some of the talented support riders showed us how it was supposed to be done. (Amazing to watch them skim over the tops like that)

My first race was pretty muddy and slick and I was still learning which hill you jump over and which you couldn’t. By my second race the dirt was just about perfect. And because of the weather they hardly had to water at all. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday.

A lot of the regulars who make this event every year say this was the best the track had been in years. I lucked out with perfect weather and track conditions along with first place in my class. I won’t be going back, been there done that as they say, besides no sense tempting fate.

Next up in the fall Glen Helen another iconic track in Southern California.

Doug 21J