Sturgis MX...Say What?

HANGTOWN MOTOCROSS THE REAL STORY!

 The Beginning of the Legendary Race

1967 - 1969

Compiled by Retired Dirt Digger Bruce Young

We want to preface this story with a BIG Thank You to all whom contributed to the story! The compilation and 2 plus year project to establish the true history of this great event as remembered by several of the people whom where there when the idea was born for the Legendary Race Hangtown MotoCross.  Those people are Dave Duarte, Bill Dawson, Bill Groom, Bill Onga, Joe Pyle, Mike McGowen and Ron Keeping.  Again Thank You for all you did and contributed !!!

The race Hangtown MX was a work of love by a dedicated group of motorcyclists in Northern California who wanted to see Motocross established in the Sacramento Region. It is a collection of the racers memories who lived it. After many years passage a few wanted to see the records straight once and for all. Many of us had forgotten a lot but after 2 plus years of phone calls, letters, emails and personal recollections and a lot of hard work here is the true story of the beginning of the Legendary race Hangtown.  Of course nothing this successful springs up out of nowhere, the original idea sprang from the fertile minds of a special group of people with a passion for off road motorcycling in and around the Sacramento, California area in the late 60's. Here is the original story of Hangtown in their own words.

Motocross was being run in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. There were also some MX events in the Nevada area, but nothing in the Sacramento Region. Most of the races in the Sacramento area where short track, scrambles, and enduro’s being organized by local clubs like the Polka Dots MC, Squirrlers and some others. Many of the people running these events and living in the Sacramento area had come from So. California or had raced in events in the south. Many of the Northern California racers had to travel long distances to race in the most prestigious events of the period such as Hopetown, Lake Elsinore and Catalina to name a few.

After returning from these events, the local boys began to talk to each other at events over beers and the IDEA WAS BORN! WHY? Why can't we establish our own major event in the Sacramento region to rival those Southern California events?

There were three different groups of riders living in these areas Rocklin, Orangevale and Placerville and these racers had formed  little groups around the local motorcycle shops.

In Rocklin, California they rode or bought their machines from Gene's Automotive, owned by Gene Nunes a established Husqvarna, Suzuki and Penton Dealer. The group of guys from the Rocklin area where Bill Onga, Dave Duarte, Bill Groom, Marty Devres and others.

In the Orangevale, California area it was Orangevale Motorcycle Center, owned and operated by Marian, Doris and Joe Pyle. It was an established Maico, Sachs, Suzuki and Puch Dealership. From this shop it was the Pyle Family as well as Bill Dawson and Carl Cranke who were racers that raced in events throughout California.

In the Placerville California area it was Mikes Cycle Shop owned and operated by Mike and Connie McGowen. They were joined by good friends  Ron and Gloria Keeping who rode and bought machines from the shop. The shop was an established Husqvarna, Kawasaki, BSA, Bultaco and Bridgestone dealership.

What we are trying to point out here is the three groups of people and the three shops involved at the time of the “IDEA”.  Each shop had its own interest in  mind in the process. To sell more motorcycles in the Sacramento area as well promote a major Motocross event in the area. Each group had their own ideas on the starting of this “BIG” event. But they all rode and talked together in the best interest of all. As you are reading this story you will begin to see a pattern, three shops, three groups of motorcyclist, all wishing for the same thing.

About this time line 1967/1968 the two groups from Orangevale and Rocklin formed a motorcycle club known today as the Dirt Diggers North M/C.  It was a sister club to the Dirt Diggers South M/C who organized and ran Hopetown. We will go into the actual club information in the future issue of this story.

The DDNMC first met in Orangevale, California and then slowly moved to Rocklin California at a later date. The club had found that their bank account was not increasing as needed so a way to raise money was investigated.  Running races seemed a good choice. At first they ran an event in Orangevale and then West Sacramento. These where not big events and did not raise a lot of money because of expenses. Several of the people mentioned had just returned from racing the famous Hopetown event  and had talked on the way home about how great it would be to get something similar going in the Sacramento Region.

Location.....where?  This newly formed club felt they could hold such a large event with the hopes of making a few bucks. Many locations where investigated and looked at in the Lincoln, Auburn, Orangevale, West Sacramento and Folsom area. But to no avail. It was about this time that some conversations had begun between Mike McGowen, Ron Keeping, Bill Onga and Joe Pyle regarding just where a big event could be run. Mike McGowen and Ron Keeping suggested a site just West of Placerville on a ranch they had been using as play riding area for their families. It was known as Murray Ranch just ten miles southwest of Placerville off Pleasant Valley Road, and a “DATE” was set to go look at the site.

Bill Onga, Joe Pyle, Marty Devres, Carl Cranke and Dick Mann made a couple trips to the site with McGowen and Keeping. They were looking things over and it was decided the location would work for the event. A lot of work would have to be done to make a track the caliber the club was looking for. It had good road access and parking. All looked like a “GO”

Around this same time the DDNMC at the club meeting,  a good report was given about the site and an official proposal by Bill Dawson was brought before the club to get things started and move forward for the event and call the event, “Hangtown” in reference to Placerville being known as Hangtown in the Gold Rush days. Then the club began the work to get proper county approval from El Dorado County. Several members volunteered to work on food and drink concessions. A track preparation group was formed and other groups to handle logistics, parking, promotion, etc were formed. Everything was set to go as soon as all parties concerned received the prospective approvals. Now we had a name and the date was decided as January 11^th and 12^th 1969. The first ever Hangtown Motocross was ready to run and from that point on history was made.

All the club members with contacts with big name riders went to work on getting the word out. The three motorcycle shops Gene's Automotive, Orangevale Motorcycle Shop and Mike's Cycle Shop all went to work promoting this new motocross race “HANGTOWN” Everyone pulled together to get commitments from around the motorcycle racing world. This first, “Hangtown” was a true grass roots affair.

If one looks at who rode this first event you will see that the representation of the Dirt Diggers North M/C reached far and wide. Many well known riders gave commitments to race the first Hangtown.  Names such as Gary Bailey Sr., Steve Hurd, Dick Mann, Mike Runyard, John DeSoto, Brad Lackey, Randy Lackey, John Green, along with  many others. The field was set and all that was required was to run the race rain or shine and start what is now the greatest club promoted PRO National Motocross known to the world motorcycle industry. “Hangtown” is still rockin today. The event has been run at three different locations for the past 45 years.  

HANGTOWN  WAS BORN

There is lots more to the Hangtown story and Bruce Young would like some help with the next chapter. Anyone with info or Hangtown pictures from 1970 - 1979 please contact Bruce at 208-571-2823 or email at byret208@hotmail.com. 

Musquin Shows You How To Corner!

'Super Slo-Moto': Nailing Turns With Musquin

Any motocross racer will attest: There is no feeling like the euphoria of railing a perfect corner.

MX Nation...Coast to Coast, Episode 3

 The battle between Dungey and Roczen for the 2015 MX Championship has been a contrast in styles. Troy Adamitis and his fime crew have created the MX Nation series to give an inside look at the different approaches these two riders have taken. Great video sponsored by Red Bull.

Red Bull Romaniacs Champion Crowned!

This hard enduro stuff is really hard!

It all comes down to a clash of titans for the title. The Young gun Jonny Walker versus the legend of hard enduro, Graham Jarvis. After 17 hours on the bikes, only 2.5 minutes set the two apart, making for the closest race in Romaniacs history. Can Jarvis catch last years champion from behind? Will Walker be able to outpace the legend? No doubt it's a nail bitter, so click play, hold your breath, and take a look at the best action from day 4 of racing in Romania.

Washougal OTMX...Perfect Summer MX Track!

Washougal summer 2015

Looking for a motocross vacation? Over 40 years old? Well a quick trip to the annual OTMX Motocross National at Washougal, Washington might be the answer. Held two weeks before the annual AMA Pro Motocross this event is one of the premier races of the year.

We have all seen the pictures from Washougal; pine trees, lots of elevation changes. And what appears to be the perfect traction surface (more on that later}) This year did not disappoint as the track was near perfect. Veteran Washougal riders can tell you stories of hot dry slippery tracks, huge rain storms and the worst mud known to motocross. But 2015 was near perfect. Temperatures huddled in the mid 60’s and for the most part the sky remained cloudy both Saturday and Sunday. The track surface was near perfect all weekend long.

Over 275 riders attended the two day five moto event. The format was near perfect and not a comment was heard about not enough track time. Those riders who make a point of sticking with their training programs have an advantage especially during the third moto on Saturday as the track was fun, but it got very rough . The section before the step up jump in the back portion of the track was very challenging. 

Former AMA pro and the track promoter Ryan Huffman put his familiarity with the track to good use as he won all five moto’s in the very competitive 40 Master class. Ted Holt won a large class of 50 Master riders which also included Craig Christian in 4^th and former AMA 500 National Motocross champion Chuck Sun.

Perhaps the most interesting class is the 80 year old plus. There were three riders this year. They attacked the course with the same enthusiasm as the Support riders.  It gives you hope that even if you are laboring in the 50 year old class that you can still be racing 30 years from now.

The OTMX National at Washougal is a celebration of senior class motocross. It’s well worth any true motocross riders time and expense of getting to the event. Mark it on the calendar for 2016.

Barry 16S

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

Suspension Tips From Buck at SBB

Here are a couple of tips from Buck that many riders never think about. Small maintence tricks can keep your suspension in tip top shape.

Suspension By Buck

916-910-3532

Watch: 'MX Nation' Episode 2 - The Season Begins

Red Bull does a great job giving an inside look at the different approaches these riders take. Explore the curious contrast between the 2015 AMA Pro MX title contenders Ryan Dungey & Ken Roczen. Be sure to click on Episode 2 of MX Nation at the end of this write up to see the Red Bull video.

In Episode 2 of the 'MX Nation' series, the gate drops on the 2015 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, where again we see two polar opposites in a head-to-head battle for the 450 no. 1 plate. Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen battled tooth-and-nail for the championship in 2014, and their rivalry has only continued into 2015. Dungey and Roczen have brought a duality to the motocross series that we have not seen since the early Ricky Carmichael vs. James Stewart days - the workhorse against the natural.

Dungey was not a star as an amateur racer until he was 16, when he won his first major title at Loretta Lynn’s in the Schoolboy class. It was not until Roger DeCoster gave him an extremely unexpected shot at a professional factory ride that Dungey really started to shine. Roczen, on the other hand, was a prodigy on a minibike, a world-renowned name by the time he was 12. and is the youngest rider ever to win a FIM World MXGP race, at just 15 years old. But each have met now in the same arena.

Roczen bested Dungey in 2014, but 2015 has marked yet another chapter in Ryan Dungey’s saga of hard word paying off, and he has proven to be the rider to beat throughout the year.

The 2015 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series did not start out with either rider out front. Instead it was Honda’s Eli Tomac who put in five straight demoralizing (for his competitors) performances in the first five motos of the season, racing unchallenged to crushing victory each time. But a massive get-off for Tomac in the second moto at Thunder Valley spelled the end of his season, and blew the door open for the Dungey-Roczen battle to continue. Check out Episode 2 of MX Nation as we explore more into the dynamic and contrasting personalities of Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen as they fight to yet again to reach the pinnacle of American motocross.

RV Says Goodbye

Farewell
by Ryan Villopoto

It is with gratitude, humility, a bit of sadness but without regret, that I announce my retirement from motorcycle racing today. 

As many of you know, I experienced a pretty horrendous crash back in April that left me with multiple fractures in my tailbone along with soft tissue damage. My initial thought was that I could be back riding in a few weeks if I just stayed quiet for a while. That has not proven to be the case. Follow-up X-Rays have made clear that I also suffered severe compression of multiple disks in my lower back. I am still in significant discomfort and I realize that even if I start my fitness program and training now that I been cleared by my physician, I will not be able, prior to the end of the MXGP season, to achieve the fitness necessary for me to compete at the level I have always striven for.

I am grateful for having had the opportunity to do something I have loved since I was a kid and turn it into my livelihood. I am grateful for the support of my family for all the years they spent hauling my bikes and me around to races, interrupting their lives in the process.

I am grateful for the support of my many sponsors through the years. What people don’t often think about, when it comes to individual “action” sports like motocross, is that we rely on sponsors to compete. In motocross, the sponsors aren’t just a name on your jersey – they are part of your racing team. If they are good, they are sponsors in the truest sense of the word. They are involved in building the best bike, putting together the best team, supporting your training, and so much more. So, with that in mind, first and foremost I want to thank Kawasaki, which has been my bike of choice since my Team Green days. They have been with me through ups and downs, serious injuries and great successes. They’ve always cared about me and I’ve been successful in large part because of it. THOR/Parts Unlimited and Monster Energy Company have been with me through it all as well. Thanks also to DC, GoPro, Oakley, Alpinestars, Atlas and Mobius Braces. Each of you has been an integral part of making this an amazing career.

I want to thank my long-time agent, my friend, Bobby Nichols, and his agency The Sports Syndicate, for the strong guidance and support they have offered my entire career.

But most of all, I’m writing this retirement note to my fans. I am grateful for the hundreds of thousands of fans, not only in the U.S., but throughout the world. It is amazing to know that you have cared so much and been so supportive along the way. 

That gets me to the sadness about making this decision now. I was so stoked to make the decision to be a part of MXGP racing. It has always been important to me to ride my best and to be in the best possible position to give my best, in part because of wanting to give back to you, the fans. I am sad that this year did not work out the way I had hoped in that regard. I wanted to be at my best, to compete with these riders who are among the very best in the world and leave it all out on the track as each of them does every race. The sadness is that I only got to do that for a few races.

I am grateful to have had the chance to race with the very best in world, my competitors in Supercross and Motocross in the States as well as those who make the MXGP what it is. I am grateful to know that our competitiveness helped to continue the growth of our sport. 

I leave with no regrets. I have been blessed to experience so much of life through my racing. I have never wanted to disappoint my fans nor my supporters and my hope is that for the most part I have lived up to that.

Again, thanks to each and every one of you who have been a part of my team.

Sincerely,
Ryan Villopoto