Does AMA or MXGP have the roughest track?

Continuing our series we take a look at the nastiest tracks on both sides of the pond.

By Aaron Hansel and Joseph Caron Dawe on 20 July 2016

When it comes to motocross, rough racing surfaces are just part of the game. Of course, some tracks are rougher than others.

Here’s a look at the roughest tracks in the AMA and their counterparts in MXGP.

AMA: Hangtown and Glen Helen

Marvin Musquin bucking his way around Glen Helen © Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool 

For mere mortals, just about any of the tracks of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross would be nearly unrideable, and even the smoothest ones would be bone-jarring compared to most amateur tracks on any given weekend. But if you ask around in the AMA paddock, you’ll get two common responses: Hangtown and Glen Helen Raceway, both located in California.

Part of the reason these tracks get so extraordinarily rough is because of the soil. Hangtown, which was built in an area that was once hydro-mined for gold many years ago, has imported countless truckloads of dirt, which mixes in with the hard, naturally-occurring dirt of the area.

Once it’s ripped, the bumps really start forming – especially in the steep downhill sections where riders are hard on the brakes.

It wasn’t at its roughest this year [2016], but that’s because the track crew, anticipating rain, didn’t rip it as deeply as they normally do, but it’s typically one of the most torturous tracks in America.

Last year Zach Osborne, who’s spent time racing in MXGP, had this to say:

“I think there are some sections out there that are in the top five of gnarliest sections in the world, it’s rough. I’m glad, I like this stuff. I spent a lot of time in Europe where this is the norm.”

The dirt at Glen Helen is a bit sandier and softer as a whole, and when it gets hammered all day big bumps and hard, relentless chops start developing, which makes things especially scary because it’s such a high-speed track.

In fact, riders were reaching nearly 80mph (129kph) in one section this year! And like Hangtown, it’s also got plenty of steep up and downhills, which, thanks to riders being hard on the gas going up and hard on the brakes coming down, makes for even more nasty chop.

Saddle up for a bumpy ride at Hangtown © Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool 

MXGP: Lommel

We promise we haven’t brought this one up just to upset Aaron and our AMA fans, but ask any US rider about Lommel and observe their reaction for an insight into the roughest track on the MXGP circuit!

The Belgian track is a sand one, and perhaps the word deep doesn’t do justice to just how far down that sand goes.

Jorge Prado carves up Lommel © Alberto Lessmann/Red Bull Content Pool 

The MX of Nations in 2012 made it no more apparent, as Team USA – still managing a highly credible third place – struggled to get to grips with the extremely tough Lommel, which even many of the European riders still can’t get their heads around.

“We learned quite a bit and we realised what a demanding and tough track this is,” was Ryan Dungey’s reaction after experiencing the famous layout.

Hands down the roughest, toughest one the World Championship has to offer.

International OTMX is tough!

Riding the International Old Timer MX series is tough. It takes skills to compete with a bunch of old guys. These old timers race three motos on Saturday and that requires that you pace yourself in order to handle three rigorous motos. Here Bret Eckert demonstrates one of the most important survival skills for OTMX racing at the recent Sierra MX Classic.

Ball Busters!

 The hills are as steep as they come at Red Bull Romaniacs. Here are some of the best ball busters from this year’s race…

Romaniacs...A Road Less Traveled

 There are some sick people in this world and some of them lay out race courses!

Red Bull Romaniacs 2016 Day 3

Watch the riders of Gold and Silver Class, climbing steep and nasty uphills.

Xtra Chasing the Dream!

Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, is the premier off-road motorcycle racing circuit in the world, produced inside the world's most elite stadiums. Monster Energy® Supercross tracks are man-made inside the stadium. Some of the sport's marquee names include Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Trey Canard, Jason Anderson, Chad Reed, David Millsaps and former supercross greats Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael. Regarded as the king of action sports, supercross has been described as one of the most physically demanding sports.

Picking the Pain!

Joey Savatgy shocked the MX world by taking both motos in round one of 2016, but staying on top isn't easy. Ricky Carmichael takes Joey under his wing and shows him that the way to have it easy on race day is to go through hell while training.

Red Bull Romaniacs

Millville MX Track...Behind The Scene

Motocross: Track builder knows motorcyles, bulldozers

Donny Henn, dhenn@postbulletin.com

Shane Schaefer was still a little boy when he learned not to fear the biggest earth-moving machines that a man could drive. Then he learned to drive them, before he even got a drivers' license.

"I beat down that fear at a very young age," he recalled. "My dad would put me in his lap while he was driving a bulldozer, and he'd take me down hills so steep that you didn't think it was possible."

Schaefer was still a teenager when he came to appreciate what heavy equipment is capable of doing, in the hands of someone who knows how to operate it.

Decades later, the 38-year-old Wisconsin man has carved out a unique business niche with his expertise in creating professional motocross tracks from landscapes around the world.

"There's no more satisfying feeling than to look at what was once a flat field and now is a perfectly manicured track," he said. "An office job just wouldn't give me that same feeling of accomplishment."

Schaefer, whose company Schaefer Tracks is based in Racine, Wis., is back at Spring Creek MX Park near Millville this week, where he has been the track builder for the pro races for nearly a decade.

Schaefer and two of his crew, Joey Kwak and Brent Mason, will be on bulldozers shaping the track from the early morning hours Saturday until the last race late in the afternoon. In the end, much of their hard work will be undone.

"You put all those dirt bikes on it that will blow it apart and it seems like there's no respect for what we just did," he said with a laugh. "But it's also rewarding to know that the track did it's job."

Early driver

Schaefer learned how to drive farm tractors at an early age while growing up on his family's 8,000-acre farm in southwest Wisconsin.

"I was self-taught," he explained. "When you're raised on a farm, if you don't know how to do everything, you learn it."

Schaefer's parents both also had careers with Case IH, a global leader in agricultural and farm equipment, and that exposed him to other machinery.

"I was 8 or 10 years old when I got the chance to drive some of the biggest pieces of equipment that Case builds," he recalled. "My dad would take me to the Case proving grounds in Arizona and he'd put me in the cabs of these machines, from wheel loaders to dozers, and I'd turn the key and just start operating it."

That experience was the foundation that Schaefer built his career on. After he graduated from high school in 1996, he signed on as a single operator with the pro Arenacross and he traveled to all 17 races in the series.

Schaefer freelanced as a track builder while he attended the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a BA in business administration/marketing, and shortly after graduating he started his business in 2002.

His long list of clients are from all over the world, including private tracks for pro riders, and prestigious events such as the X Games, which his company has worked the last eight years.

Most recently, Schaefer built a private track at Spring Creek for Alex and Jeremy Martin to practice on when they are home.

"Spring Creek is the top facility in America," he said. "To be honest it is the best dirt, as a builder for shaping, or for a rider racing on it."

Former racer

Schaefer became familiar with motocross tracks as an amateur racer. He won a couple of class championships in Wisconsin and Illinois, and he toyed with the idea of turning pro.

"It didn't pay the bills, and a couple of injuries made me phase out from racing," he explained. He found that driving a 200-pound motorcycle can be more dangerous that a 10-ton bulldozer.

Schaefer still has scars and hardware from a career-ending crash in a pro challenge race in Texas in 2003. He dragged himself from the course with ghastly injuries.

"I had a double-compound fracture of both bones in my left arm, so the bones were both sticking out of my skin," he revealed. "I also broke both collarbones and bit off part of my tongue.

"They sewed my tongue back on, and I still have 27 screws in my arm, holding it all together."

Schaeffer's business takes him away from home about 300 days each year, and he has literally traveled around the world. He intends to keep the business that he loves, but he will cut down on the travel beginning next year.

Shane and wife Brittany have a 3-month-old son, Austin James, and Shane intends to be home more to show him how to ride a bike – or a bulldozer.

"I'll have him in the cab with me when he's eight or nine months," he assured. "I'll help him to do whatever he wants to do."

2016 AMA Vintage Grand Champion Crowned

2016 AMA Vintage Grand Champions Crowned

by Nic de Sena

Vintage Grand Champions

The AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days wrapped up this past weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, and three riders were crowned AMA Vintage Grand Champions: Trevor Kline, Gary Roach and Todd Narduzzi.

Trevor Kline out of Hebron, Ohio, managed to cinch his position of AMA Off-Road Vintage Grand Champion for the second consecutive year in a row. Gary Roach, coming out of Belpre, Ohio, also had some good luck over the weekend and claimed the AMA Off-Road Senior Vintage Grand Champion award. The two competed in a number of events over the weekend which included hare scrambles, motocross, and trials – all of which were part of the AMA Vintage Off-Road Grand Championship.

Kline eked out a first place in the Open A vintage hare scrambles class, took a win in the 250 A motocross class and managed a third place finish in Open A motocross. He also took first in the trials competition during the Vintage Lights Expert class.

“It’s great to win this award,” Kline said. “This was not even on my agenda really. I thought we were going to have a little one, so we took it day by day and drove back and forth [from Hebron to Lexington] every day.” That’s quite a commute but seeing as Kline’s wife is 40 weeks pregnant and currently expecting a child any day, you can see why the race commute made sense.

During the Open A class race, Kline raced the 1974 Husqvarna 360 that his friend Mike Scholl gave him at the 2015 AMA Championship Banquet.

Todd Narduzzi out of Marshallville, Ohio, was named the AMA Track Racing Vintage Grand Champion; his stellar performances in road racing and the half-mile dirt track event at Ashland County Fairgrounds saw to that. Narduzzi is no stranger to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days events, as he’s earned top honors in 2011 and 2014.

“It took me six attempts to win three awards,” Narduzzi said when accepting his trophy. “So that shows that it’s not an easy thing to do. But this sole event is what keeps me from retiring from racing. “I want to thank the AMA for keeping VMD (Vintage Motorcycle Days) here and for letting me race. Everything went really well this weekend.” Narduzzi raced in the 500 GP, the Clubman 500 and the 70/750.

Just eight months after a full knee replacement, Gary Roach claimed his AMA top honors.  “I never really thought about what it means to win this,” Roach said. “I just rode my motorcycle.” Roach seems a man of modesty, and he road in the events a few years ago. Roach was happy to participate; given that he’d just come off an injury.

Roach claimed second place in 40-plus Expert in the hare scrambles, third in 40-plus motocross, fourth in the 50-plus motocross and won the Old School Expert trials class.

The AMA Off-Road Vintage Grand Championship and AMA Off-Road Senior Vintage Grand Championship are based on cumulative points from the three vintage off-road events: Hare scrambles, trials and of course, motocross.

Moto Armory sponsored the off-road racing segments of the AMA Vintage Grand Championship, which included the motocross, hare scrambles and trials competitions. Moto Armory which maintains a stable of over 600 vintage motorcycles in East Moline, Ill., was also on hand displaying some of the hottest vintage items for all the fans.

For additional information about AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, visit American Motorcyclist > Events > AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days.