30 years ago

MXracn746

MXracn746

PR Addict
It was 30 years ago, to the day, that was basically the end of my hopes of going pro. I had started racing in late '79 in the 125C class, then moved to the open C class in '80. I won the West Virginia State open C championship on a Maico 450, and moved up to Open B in '81. My Sister bought me new Works Performance Shocks for my '79 Maico and I got 5th in the Open B class in D5. Then I got a Shop ride on a '82 Maico 490 with Big 4 Suzuki/Maico out of Marietta, and was doing really well in the open A class in the spring of '82. I got two seconds at High Point during the last race over there before the national, and recieved alot of tips and advice from Dave Coombs Sr, and Denny Swartz. They were helping me out alot and kinda coaching me along every week. This weekend 30 years ago, I was at a D5 PA state champoinship series race at Green Acres raceway (now called Beaver Valley Raceway I believe) and I was in second place in my first moto of the Open A class when I simply just placed my foot down on a simple bowl 180 degree turn after a downhill, and broke my fibula in my left leg. It was just a simple placing of my foot down on the ground as I approached the bottom of the downhill because it was slimey and greasy and my Maico front end started to slide out as I applied the front brake to slow down for the turn ahead. Snap. That's all it took. My dad didn't believe me and thought I was faking it or something, he was so pissed, he made me load my bike myself and then left and I had my friend drive me home. Funny thing is that as soon as I got my cast off I was so desperate to ride I went to our local practice track and took 1 lap and snapped it again in the same place. Back in the cast for another 2 months. It was September before I finally got it off. One thing during all this, I met my wife June 22nd while driving around town. She was washing her dad's car and I talked her into washing my bike for me because I had a cast on. It worked! I never told this to anyone before, don't know why I wrote this. Thanks for reading
 
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Denny is racing GP's now days on a bland looking Yamaha. Sure would be cool to see him on a Maico! He was at Action Sports last race in the 50+ class.
 
Post some pic's. Would love to see them.
Despite your career derailing you were still fortunate for the experience and everlasting story and memory.
At exactly around the same time frame of your injury my girlfriend informed me she was late. (and not for supper). My riding career derailed before I could get started.
 
Here's a couple pics, most are in a couple photo albums tucked away in my closet.
My first Maico, a 78 400
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High Point 1980 Memorial Day weekend
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1980 New Castle
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New Castle Pa in 81
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Coolville 81
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High point Spring of 82
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Good story......right up till you broke your leg. After the broken leg you had no drive to return to racing or too many problems with the leg?
 
Basically, I have never had the speed that I had in '82. I worked really hard getting back into shape and in '83 I raced D5 Open B and got somewhere in the top 3. I'd have to check my stuff in storage. I went back up to Open A class in '84 on the "New" KTM 495. I raced for Dirty Harry's KTM in Pittsburgh. Had a signed contract with Dirt, with team gear and everything. I rode the 495 and another guy rode a 420. I was racing at Motordrome one night and landed on him over a high speed double and the impact bent my pipe just a bit right at the header. I really didn't have enough money at the time to get it fixed and just tried to bend it back the best I could, but the bike never had the power it did, and I pretty much struggled the rest of the year. I still ended up 3rd in Open A. So I went to Carl Widder (sp?) of Widder"s Shell service in Sugarcreek and got a ride on the M-Star. I rode open A again for '85 and got 3rd again. Tried to go to LL but in Fredricksburg, I broke off my shift lever in a crash in the 1st moto and no one had a shifter for a M-star at the track. I kinda sucked the rest of the year and went back to B class in '86 as I went back to College. Kinda did Ok in '86 except for when I went to the LL qualifier at Broome/Tioga Regional and during the first moto, while in second, we were going through the whoops right along side of the pits and I was trying to pass the guy in front of me and he swapped real bad and his rear wheel hit my front on my brake disc and bent it and I went over the bars. I didn't know what happened but my front wheel was locked up. There went moto1, I really didn't know how to fix it, so I went around looking for a front brake rotor for a '85 M-star and couldn't find one. I even tried the Team Green Support box truck. The mechanic said to just bend it back, and for some reason that never occured to me before that, so I did. But I think I ended up getting 11th and was an Alternate. We didn't go as I couldn't justify going down just for a chance to race. In '87 I bought a nice used '86 CR500 from Andrew's in Salem and went back to the Open A. I did pretty good but funds were limited and didn't have enough to get a pro license so I just raced D5. In '88 I went back to Open B and did well. Won the PA D5 state Championship, but moved to California in Sept after I graduated.

my '83 Maico, this is my favorite bike of all time!
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My 84 KTM 495
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my '85 M-Star
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My '86 CR500 I rode in '87. This was Menorial day weekend in '87 at High Point. I ran the OpenA/Pro-am class and actually qualified for the national but didn't have a license so it never happened.
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My '87 CR500 I rode in '88. I bought this bike from Darin Durham's dad, Chris. We were good friends as we battled all year long in '87, then his girl friend got pregnant and he wanted to go to college so he sold it to me after the end of the year.
RockyRidge88.jpg
 
Cool old pics & remeber a few of these bikes from some 30 plus years ago.

That 83 490 has a motor that will even dig a trench on a hard packed track!
You should get one & start racing them again.
 
Wow what a blast from the past. You look so familiar. I know I remember seeing you before. I wouldn't know you to see you but that pic is very familiar. I know I raced you a couple times back then. I'll see if I can find a result from that day. I know I was also racing Open B in '88. Wild!
 
No, in '88 I was racing primarily in D5 with the exception of an occasional race in Ohio at Honda Hills, OIR, Or that track that started up when Malverne moved for a year. Also St Clairsville motor speedway had a track too. But I moved to California in September and started racing out there.
 
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