in my first year of racing as a novice, i had my older brother take me back to the track i started on for a big race. my brother had just got out of the air force so he'd never seen me race. it was at brandon florida and i had never trophied at this track. the track was a very flat winding sort of a layout with an off camber turn and a long last straight. the starting hill was maybe four foot tall. i was never very good at one foot starts and each moto i went into the first turn in last place. but i kept chasing whoever was in front of.....bumping elbows through turns,passing on the outside and the inside. i could hear my brother screaming from the side... PEDAL.PEDAL,PEDAL! and by the time i got to the last straight, there was no one in front of me. this happened in every moto i was in that day, and i ended up with a first place four foot tall trophy. i still have it.
now, i want to hear your stories..........
mike

I have never "truly" raced for points, but a few months back before Bensalem's BMX track closed down, i got the chance to get on my Loop PK, line up on gate with a few members of this site, and have a old skool race. It was fun and it really struck me that i might want to take this to the next level!!!! Thanks to Bumpy Trumpet (Chris) and Brett Downs for pushing me to go faster and to not "puss" out and try this thing called RACIN!!!!!


Jon

jon that was a fun race..it was fun kicking your *** all over the track, haha

come out to a few races with me..

Here's a memorable story.

Hawkeye National's (Des Moines) indoor/concrete. I made my 13 or 14x main ( I forget the year) and I was waiting in the staging area with about 4 motos to go, I then realized I forgot my gloves or Jofa (Not sure which), so I let my friend sit on my bike until I got back.
I remember after the finish line there wasn't allot of room to glide and you had to stop fairly quick, anyway some 11 or 12 year old kid plowed into me (hard) as I was running across and I launch into about 4 other bikes. I got up, in utter-pain and I think I was holding back the tears from pain or maybe just embarrasment (LOL)... I was pretty much screwed out of a win (not saying I would have won), and I got 7th or 8th in the main, something like that... Pretty much a bad day, but I certainly never forgot it.
It was one of those accidents that one minute your fly'n high and then for a split second you can see it coming and then you wake up on the ground wondering how you got there... wild stuff.

My first race was my most memorable moment on the track. In 1979, my parents drove me to Woodinville, Wa. I really had no idea what I was doing. I tucked my pant leg into my sock, threw on my helmet, and went to the gate. It was raining pretty hard, so I made sure to wear my Levis jacket (such a pro!). Up to this moment, I only knew strategy from BMX Action. When the gate dropped, I launched pretty hard and held a decent enough position into the first jump. Rather than jumping, I lifted the front wheel right before the crest and powered through. Into the first corner, I was a bit behind, which was not a bad thing. Several bikes piled up, and I rode right around them on the high and outside part of the berm. This put me into second place, and I managed to get pretty good air on the last jump, being the showboat that I was.
The sucky part of that day was due to my parents. They never took the time to understand my favorite sport, so they sat in the car the entire time. They never took me to another race.

Was making the mains in th 1980 NBA National in Long Beach. A bunch of us flew up from Hawaii for the Nationals. I made the 15 novice main and three of us made the 14-15 open main. The pic above is of my bud Rockne Tang. The whole trip was a blast and I will never forget gating with the Big Dogs.

This really has nothing to do with the race but here goes. First I was pushing my bike up this huge hill to get back to our rental . I thought I heard thunder but it was a nice day out . The thunder seemed to be coming from my right so i looked up this grass hill just in time to see this GIANT BULL coming running down hill straight at me . So I turned my bike and did the fasest sprint back down hill . I looked back in time to see it do the hoof on asphalt ice dance . When I ran into my buds they just thought I was nuts . Later I saw a guy fixing the fence so I asked weres the bull and he just shrugged his shoulders so I got out of dodge quick . The second is a sad one . I found this cliff with some locals jumping off the cliff's into a lake ,river? I started jumping with them , It was 40-50 ft till the water so we were having alot of fun . There were two guys and a 17-18 girl . the guys started climbing a tree and jumping from the tree . The girl kept jumping from the cliff with me . We must have jumped 30-40 times when I was climbing up the cliff and noticed the girl wasnt ahead of me . When I got to the top I asked the guys if they seen her and they said no .So me and one guy jumped in the water to look and the other ran to the cars to see if she had left . We dove over and over again looking for her . The other guy returned and started to help us look . After about 10-15 minutes we stated to climb up the rocks and the one guy screamed and jumped back in . She had been bitten all over by cotton mouths and had drown . The snakes scattered when the guy jumped in so he grabbed her and we got her out of the water . She must have landed on top of a nest ball to get that many bites . Thats a nasty snake , stay clear of them bro's. This is my memory of the 1982 world's fair Knoxville Tenn Murry world cup .

Copied from another post I made a while ago, not only is this my most memorable race, it's simply my best childhood memory.

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In 1980 I won the ABA Mich-4 [ Mt. Pleasant and north, including the U.P.] district title, rode my final race of the 1980 season in September. True, there were only about 60 of us racing in district 4 but Michigan like everwhere else was eating up BMX.

We raced alot in 1981, tracks were popping up everywhere, indoor too. I was leading our district points all summer, Fall came and we started going to Bogie Downs [indoor track 4 hours away], about five of us were battling for the top spots. We were all pretty good friends and often traveled together across the state but about early November the seriousness of the prize tore into our friendships a bit.

Some of us began seperating from the car pooling network and making the drive downstate solo to gain points. One week we all showed up, seperately. The parents realized this was silly and we all agreed to get back to car pooling and everyone would have the same chances for points through the rest of the year.

Now I'm not sure if the ABA still ends the points season on December 15th but they did back then. Around early December I was still leading but the margin was narrow, 15-20 points over my friend Matt Rife. I recall phoning the ABA asking for updated points, sometimes they would, sometimes not. But we did try to keep track of eachothers points, anyway, Bogie held a "last chance for points" race on the 15th, I think it was a Tuesday, a school night race, 4 hours away. The previous Sunday race Matt's father arrived at Bogie and told us that they were staying down to race on Tuesday, wether we were or not. The battle for 1st was now only between Matt and I and my normal ride was out of the running, they wouldn't be going to the last race. I was beside myself. Due to work my folks we rarely able to drive downstate to races, it was always other familys taking me, I knew they would not hear of this. I was sick to my stomach, Matt needed 20 points to win.

I asked my Dad when we arrived home late Sunday about taking me back down, no way, "you have school, I have work" he said. I went to my room and cried like a baby....seriously. Mom came in and asked what the fuss was about, I told her, she said we'll see if we can work it out but I had to tell my teachers and get homework in advance.

A plan was devised to leave school on the 15th during lunch break for the race and return to school on the 16th at lunchtime so I could sleep in, I was stoked, on cloud-9. When my Mom picked me up at school she had bad news, a winter storm was coming in. She said we would have to turn back if it got bad.

Well, the trip downstate went fine, a few flurries but not bad at all. Got to Bogie and the place was packed, normal turnout for my class in 15x class had been 10 or so but we had at least 30 tonight, Matt had a huge class in 11x too. I could always dominate at "up north" tracks but the compitition was always better downstate, I could normally transfer but winning came much harder. This race had me worried I would even transfer, huge class and the pressure was eating at me.

The buzz at Bogie that night was awesome, I remember the annoucer pointing out all the racers in each district that were battling for titles. Matt transfered in his first moto, he looked really good, and cool as a cat.

My moto was stacked, I can't remember all the names but [Brian?] Foshag and Criag Marchbank were two of them, two guys that most always beat me. They both transfered in moto 1 and 2. Six of us with one going in moto 3...I took the win....I was shaking the whole way...shivering right now as I type this. I transfered 3rd or 4th in the semi and Matt won his. The 15-20 point difference ment all Matt had to do was place two better than me in the main to win, and again, that damn annoucer let everyone know, especially me.

Waiting in line along the back wall I watched Matt's main. Matt got a bad start and finished 4th, I needed 6th or better, my gut was tied up beyond belief. The rest of this story is foggy, I know I didn't win the main but whatever position I finished won the district title, I can here the announcer in my head right now screaming my name as I raced that main, he made it feel like 100 raging bulls with flaming daggers were right on my tail.

Waiting at the finish line was my Mom, Matt, his Father Bill and a world of weight off my shoulders. I did it, back to back.

When I went out to pack the bike the cars were covered with snow, our trip home took several more hours than normal. I remember my Mom driving 15 mph up I-75, we got home very late, and I thanked Mom.

26 years have gone by and it's snowing outside right now and December 15th is right around the corner. I shared this story a few years ago in a Michigan thread, but my Mother has never heard me tell this story, I think she should know I still get shivers from that night for it was the best day of my childhood, bar-none.

Mom, you have mail.....

great story randy!

My favorite race memory was probably watching my son in his first race. He had taken off the training wheels two weeks before. It was so wonderful to see him try. He got last place but the track operator gave him a trophy for trying so hard. It made me realize how great BMX is all over again.