1980's SA MX

[Whethefakawe]

More Syringa







500 Enduro class, witness XR500




Rex Staten






Forget who this was, but one of the boffins



According to one of the programmes I have, this youngster is one Spyker Bezuidenhout, followed by Jason Paul Dingle in the 100 junior class

[Whethefakawe]

More 125 junior inter-school challenge


Russell Campbell on the Maico 490


Same no 55, can't remember who...maybe Kevin Korkie?


David v/d Merwe on KTM 250




Looks like the tail end of the 125 pack, they ran all the senior MX together that day apparently


Dunno who this was....possibly Brett Redman


Deon Koekemoer....really....125 juniors, a small oke


More of the start sequence senior MX

[Whethefakawe]

Nice one of Campbell


Front of the pack senior MX


OK that's all the Syringa shots.

[Whethefakawe]

The cover and a somewhat "artistic" rendering of the 1983 Camel International MX track inside King's Park in Durban.

It was the first ever 'Supercross' style race in SA. Bit of a mickey mouse track....in those days, as in the USA, the tracks were not the carefully designed and groomed SX tracks you see today. Double jumps had started appearing on SA mx tracks during 1982 and 83, and they were basically dirt pyramids that you doubled if you had the sack for it .....except for the top okes, everybody else pretty much showed up at tracks and went and walked it, and sussed out any doubles very carefully.....funny thing was, I don't remember ever practising them in any methodical way, except once in late 82 in Ovamboland when we parked off for the midday siesta near two anthills close enough to double.....started by jumping off to the side until I got the distance right, then doubled them....once you got the speed figured out it was easy. But I didn't know anybody who went and practised doubles and whoops etc in SA....you just pitched up, sussed the track and went for it    .....at Durban Deep one day, a rough and whooped-out sand track off Main Reef Road somewhere between Roodepoort and Krugersdorp, a big double mysteriously appeared at one point....after a few dummy runs I jumped it, but kept the power on a RCH too long....was riding a mate of mine's Suzuki RM 125 in the sand.....and came the 2nd closest I ever did to looping out over the gap.....luckily the moment was captured for posterity by one of the okes I was riding with that day  


In December 83 I wanted to race the International race...support class, of course....and borrowed another bike squad mate of mine's Honda CR 480....the bike was an 82 model and the rear shock had no rebound damping....as in NONE.....but I figured, "...compression damping is what cushions the landing...." My racing buddy Graham and I did the race at Syringa on the 3rd December, stopped off at my parents' house in Florida to wash the bikes and load my bike onto his trailer, and then we drove his FORD shag-wagon down to Durban for the next day's race at King's Park. We ran out of petrol just before cresting the hills at Pinetown, so I said f..it and went to sleep....woke up in the stadium car park. The track was nasty, as mentioned NOT well-designed ....ran around the outside of the rugby/soccer field in the middle, and went over the barriers into the stands at two places.....had a very intimidating double jump right in the middle of the straight in front of the main stand....for some reason the number 17 sticks in my head....17m between crests? or 27? forget.....it had a steep little jump over the barriers from out of the stands, at the start of the main straight and then you had about 80-100m to pick up speed for the double, a steep kicker ....to clear it while going ballistic, you had to carry more speed than a flatter jump....on a 500cc MX bike it was n-o-o-o problem  ....except, halfway through the second heat, I looped it....suppose I did the same, kept the power on just a RCH too long....was very lucky to walk away from that one, and the bike was OK too, remounted and finished but didn't jump that fucker again  ....

This was the programme cover for the race in Durban




The nemesis double was just before the FINISH banner.

This is the only visual reminder of that day I've ever found....a pic in the programme for the international race at BOTM on the 17th December, of Jim Tarantino over that double. I remember when I stopped tumbling and jumped up to get the bike going, Andy Jefferson (the black rider) and Larry Wosick were standing literally 3m away, hanging on the fence with BEEEG eyes....must have been a quite spectacular crash, wish I could find some footage of it  


Some pages from the programme for the 3rd December race at Syringa

[Whethefakawe]

Same shite....photobucket is carpet-bombing my old computer with adverts and the POS gets bogged down. More later

[Dish]

Very cool thread, good memories, especially looking at all the okes wearing Bell Moto3 Helmets. Fantastic helmets in their day. 

[meteldog]

Thanks for the effort scanning those photos, brings back great memories for me from the late 70's and early 80's. We used to load our 3 MX bikes on a Datsun 1200 bakkie with all our gear and drive all the way up to Syringa from Knysna to race. Remember sleeping under the Datsun bakkie at Syringa the night before the race. Rex Staten flying over jumps with both hands off his handle bars always was a gas to watch. I must get up into my attic and scan some of my old pics, mainly all from PE Rover, Leppan's farm and Killarney.

[Clockwork Orange]

I imagine these pics were taken soon after Grant Maben's accident. I remember watching some serious battles between him and Charlie Tissen near that time. Another name that I remember well from those days was Gary Butcher. He was lightening fast on his 80.

[Clockwork Orange]

Found this pic of my dad on his 250 Red Rocket taken from the Brandkop track in Bloemfontein. I think this was 78-79.

[Mooch]

Very Cool. 
I used to (actually still do) stay in Edenvale across the highway from Brickor, we used to go there quite a lot.

[THROTTLE JOCKEY]

Awesome times for MX here in SA. See a lot fewer bikes now on start lines here in EC than in those days. The costs of technology is now just too high.

 

[alanB]

The scariest double for me was the one at Tarlton.  It was quite big and the distance between the jumps was far - at least i thought so.

The first time I jumped that I was pretty nervous!  Especially after seeing a few guys not make it during practice.
 

My first big accident was also on a double, but a tiny one.  It was while practicing starts at Brikor one afternoon - I was going the wrong way round the track to get back to the start and I jumped the little double thatthey  had there.  If you were going the right way round the 1st jump was slightly higher than the rear jump.  But I was going the wrong way so the second jump was slightly higher.  I got a bit complacent and didn't take it it properly and my rear wheel clobbered the second jump and I cartwheeled forwards onto the straight.  Broke my thumb, forearm, dislocated my shoulder (for the first time) and bruised a few ribs in the lovely sequence of events that followed  .  I was actually fine until the bike caught up with me on the ground...

[Warren Ellwood]

The scariest double for me was the one at Tarlton.  It was quite big and the distance between the jumps was far - at least i thought so.

The first time I jumped that I was pretty nervous!  Especially after seeing a few guys not make it during practice.
 

My first big accident was also on a double, but a tiny one.  It was while practicing starts at Brikor one afternoon - I was going the wrong way round the track to get back to the start and I jumped the little double thatthey  had there.  If you were going the right way round the 1st jump was slightly higher than the rear jump.  But I was going the wrong way so the second jump was slightly higher.  I got a bit complacent and didn't take it it properly and my rear wheel clobbered the second jump and I cartwheeled forwards onto the straight.  Broke my thumb, forearm, dislocated my shoulder (for the first time) and bruised a few ribs in the lovely sequence of events that followed  .  I was actually fine until the bike caught up with me on the ground...

Aaahh, that awesome feeling as you leave the first part of the double, and realize you are not going to make the second part  . Been there more than once, thankfully though was spared any serious injury.

I don't see any mention of Dereck "Mad Murdock" Graham so far, he was involved in many of these fights when part of the Malboro Yamaha Dealer Team. I must dig out my own pics as well, though most of them were from the Gonubie Farmers Hall MX Circuit near East London.

Here is a short article on the MSA website.

http://www.mxsa.co.za/history.html

[THROTTLE JOCKEY]

Loved Mad Murdock he was my hero

[Whethefakawe]

On call for another 26 minutes...doubt I'll go to work today so here's the last batch. Some personal ones too, interesting for chronological reasons if nothing else.....

I found this in my files....no idea where or when I got it, if anyone has copyright to it please shout. The OLD days at Syringa.....looks like very early 70's....check the no. 31 at centre...that's a 4-stroke!


Regarding my remarks about SX tracks then and now....took these at the Seattle SX in 1985....check the track, very rough and ready.




This was during practice for the Phoenix SX in 2013....track is very clearly better designed and groomed....and jumps are MUCH bigger  


SX has become a bit of a circus. The "opening ceremonies" is nothing but a noise-and-light show that amuses dogs and crows, mainly. And a stadium full of beered-up rednecks......It's painfully noisy, and every "show" is started with a good dose of jingoism and fireworks .... marching Marines waving flags, lasers and 128-decibel speakers. I saw my last one years ago, not interested anymore....outdoor MX is what separates the men from the boys, no crowbar needed.


Back to SA mx....this was Rex Staten some time in the late 70's, when he terrorised MX tracks in California



Larry Wosick at the Brickor International in 1983. He married a SA girl, and today they own a REAL, MANLY mx track in northern California called Honey Lake.


I have a shot like this of Andy Jefferson somewhere too, will try and find it.

Today I really regret not taking lots of mx photos back in the 80's. I have a decent album, but nothing like recent years....film and developing was expensive then, not like digital....but still. These were taken at my first race, at Back of the Moon. After much head-scratching I believe it was winter of 1981....August, if I remember right. Nice shot of the grid.....and a very wide variety of riding gear ....not the boutique outfits and fashion statements of nowadays  


Me, very tentatively navigating a 500cc two stroke mxer around a track that had more traction than shit on a wool blanket. That fucker would loop out in 3rd and 4th if you were not judicious with the right hand. At this point I had about 8 months of motorcycle riding experience...courtesy of PW's P**s Plaas....



By end of 82 I was much more comfortable with the 465, but still realised a 250 was more than enough and sold it. This was at Durban Deep, literally seconds before the bike seized. Lesson learned THAT time was, when you strip an engine down because you are bored (or on a quest for mechanical knowledge, sounds better)  it's NOT a good idea to re-use the gudgeon pin circlip   It came out and stuck in the exhaust port seconds after this shot, and BWHOOOOOO....... End of riding for two weeks, plus a fat repair bill from Wayne Heaseman Suzuki in Florida....




Another random Syringa shot, pretty sure it was the 1983 National. Rex Staten no.11, Jeff Hall no.2, Russell Campbell no.32 and Tony Riddell no.33

[Whethefakawe]

In early 1983 I bought a Maico 250 from Off-Road Cycles in Joburg. they had a sponsorship deal at all mx races, first 3 maico's in any race got a set of tyres and a few bottles of Shell 2-stroke oil, and a chain every time you finished in the first three three times....something like that. It was a lifesaver, cause army sergeant pay didn't quite cover a dirtbike addiction....the OHLIN shock and WP fork kit I put on the bike cost about three months' disposable income...shock was R600, which was a fortune in those days, fork kit was something like 250. In exchange for free goodies, you had to put SHELL, Metzeler and a few other stickers on your bike....fair enough. I never paid for oil, tyres or chains that year, luckily

At Syringa

[Whethefakawe]

At Wadeville....somewhere near Rand Airport....was a fun track


Brickor...interesting to me, is the background....you get a good idea of what the track looked like. In between races, it wasn't groomed or watered, and was hard as a rock with a very fine layer of sand on it....extremely slippery...the yanks always carry on about the "hardpack" tracks in Southern California....yes, they were/are hard, but believe me boet....nothing comes close to a highveld track in wintertime 


The jump just before the bowl. This was when the track was run clockwise... when it was run anti-clockwise, the top okes used to hit this and land on the downslope in the bowl in the background...I tried a few times but only ever got my front wheel on the downslope, and that was a thrill enough


Joburg hardpack in winter


I raced every weekend, sometimes both days....mx on Saturday and some "enduro" on Sunday....now these were not really 'enduros" ... more what's called "hare scrambles"....enduros are very technical, by the common definition, and these races were FAST....think Bapsfontien Grand Prix....which I regrettably never raced....this was a very fun day, the Delmas Enduro. My mate Graham's Maico 490 was buggered so we shared my 250, switched every lap....got 4th, as I recall.....lots of wide open farm tweespoors and a few mudholes and other obstacles. This oke at the start was named Alan somebody, if I remember right....on a KTM 250. The goofy looking baastid to the right finished just ahead of me and Graham, forget who he was....but the name Anton sticks in my head....looked like a clown, but he could MOTOR


One of my favourite mementos....okes used to take photos and then send you proofs from which you could order bigger prints, they got your number off the address list they got from MSA or AA....this was one such shot.....Delmas Enduro, first lap I think it was....moerofa mudhole after about 2 k's....I really enjoy looking at the background 

[Whethefakawe]

This ad was in magazines and MX programmes...with hindsight, Yamaha really cleaned up in 1983 hey....who's the ginger between Staten and Beattie?  



This is the kind of photo I regret not taking more of....friends at the races. This was a big day at Durban Deep, over 400 entries for the day. (Actually I'm not sure about the track's name....it was off main Reef Road just north of Krugersdop train station, just before MRR made a 90 degree left turn by the big minedump.....but I think both this track and the other one, a few  k's east by Roodepoort, were called Durban Deep .... may have been because of DD MX Club ?). I can identify my bakkie, my (now dead) mate Wilfred's bakkie, and Graham's shag-wagon....and all our bikes, plus the young damsel at far right later became my startline helper....very pretty and seemed to like me...but 16 at the time as I recall...Jennifer Jailbait....only 5 year difference!


We rode every chance we got in those days...anywhere. This was also at Durban Deep, playing in the minedumps that surrounded the track...in the landing shot you can see the track in the background....rode my boet's IT250 that day








This was Greg Albertyn in America in 1999, when he won the US 250 National championship. At Bud's Creek, in Maryland, near Washington DC....absolute MUDBATH.....interesting thing is, the same race two weeks ago was the same...check youtube.


And little blonde Greg in 1982 or 3...I remember him like this from the races.....fark I am old......

[Whethefakawe]

In 1999 I lived in San Diego, California, and after more than a decade of career grind and poverty, had money again....so i bought my first KTM. A 250 SX, still have it   . I was fortunate enough to live 50 k's from the iconic and famous Carlsbad track, and rode and raced there many times. The pinnacle of my racing career   especially the one day during a Grand Prix (hare scramble type of race, which includes the mx track) when Johnny Campbell of Baja 1000 fame came by me, UPshifting, as I was braking for a corner.... makes you feel tiny and insignificant  

The track, early in the morning before practice...beautifully groomed
 

Later that same day, me in some local Saturday mx race....note colour-coordinated and carefully selected riding gear.....the same Suzuki jersey I wore at Delmas in 1983, and random hand-me-downs that I got for free with a bikestand I bought from some oke Except the ARAI helmet that was....






It may sound trite, but for someone of my generation who saw On Any Sunday when it first came out, and started a lifelong obsession with motorcycles (despite parental units' best efforts to the contrary) because of that film, Carlsbad means a lot....also, at Berede at Potchefstroom, bike squad had two practice tracks, named after famous SoCal tracks....Carlsbad and Saddleback. Unfortunately I never got to ride the real Saddleback, it shut down in 1984 I believe, before I started walkabout-ing.

I did however, get to race the Elsinore Grand Prix which was made famous by OAS, two or three times around "the turn of the century"....and it still followed much of the original course....another happy memory....that and 50c will get you a bowl of soup, but that's OK....this was the startline in the film, the grid was lined up right here, in 1999 and 2000 it was the sort of main straight






And yes, Jannie....I do have the T-shirt and few trophy plaques for my cave wall..... minor amusement I know.....but feck off, I EARNED them  

Another SoCal track, on an Indian reservation, in 2000


In 2001 I bought a XR 650R and did all the mods to it....beast of a bike, still have it too....went to Baja Mexico with my mate Jody from Cape Town (centre in the group) in 2002.....here's the short version of the story  






Feckin' unbelievable.....first time I ever broke ANYTHING.....and put a hole in an ARAI, just after my 40th biffday nogal......but it took a 140 kg bike at 100k's to do it....suppose I should count my blessings.....  

As of July 2015, I am on my second comeback since that episode....don't ask  

Cheers
 

[alanB]

Thanks for posting these memories.

You've been lucky to have such great experiences.