MOTOS AND MUSEUMS

words + images: Tony Lisanti

The 6th round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship was due to roll into the sands of Southwick, MA, the weekend of July 9th. I had not attended a race there in many years and was curious what the golden anniversary of professional motocross would be like.

The weather was looking exceptional for the weekend, so I packed up the trusty Super Tenere’ and headed towards the Bay State. I had several stops in mind to make things interesting on the way. The first was in Cold Spring, NY where a new shop of sorts opened. Named Cold Starts, owner Michael Hardman has a collection of vintage and contemporary memorabilia including, books, hats, t-shirts jackets, pins and an assortment of miscellaneous moto-goodies. The shop is located at 165 Main St., 1 block down the hill right off or Rt 9D. It was well worth the stop to meet Michael and check out some his wares. Looking through his collection including an English vintage motorcycle book published in the 1970’s, Marcus Dairy t-shirts and other memorabilia made for a trip down memory lane. If riding in the area, do stop in and say hello.

Back on the road and winding my way through Putnam and Dutchess Counties, my second stop would be at the new East Coast Touratech retail store that recently opened in Brookfield, CT near Danbury. I was concerned that I would be overcome with impulse purchases having spent countless hours on their website and festooning my Yamaha with their products. I was welcomed warmly by Steve Pospolita who showed me around the newly opened space. Great to see this brick-and-mortar store more or less in our backyard. It’s no coincidence that they chose a location, close to Route 84, Max BMW and not too far from the metropolitan area where ADV riding continues to grow in popularity. From Brookfield I hopped on Route 84 to get east past Hartford. The next stop was the New England Motorcycle Museum in Rockville, CT. I have heard a great deal about this museum. Having seen owner Ken Kaplan at Unadilla many times over the years I was familiar with his passion for two-stroke motocross machines. He had provided machines for many of the legends of Pro Motocross as part of the prerace ceremonies over the years. He purchased and renovated the 205-year-old mill building in town and essentially saved it from ruin. The life blood of the museum is the sales of vintage machines sold through Kaplan cycles.

There are two full floors of vintage machines, some owned by Kaplan himself while others are on loan from private collections. The second floor features an eclectic assortment of

street and dirt machines, but the top floor was the honey pot for me. Vintage 2-stroke motocross bikes, with a few 4-strokes mixed in for good measure. Almost every significant motocross machine from the 1970’s and 1980’s is on display. They represent the technological arms race in early motocross from air cooled twin shock machines with drum brakes, to the “modern era” with liquid cooled, single shock machines and even some examples of works bikes when the factories spent considerable money on their R&D efforts. Mr. Kaplan also likes the big bore machines from Husqvarna, KTM, Yamaha, Suzuki and, of course, Honda. Lots and lots of 500cc Honda CR’s on hand. The 500cc two stroke motocross bikes are the stuff of legends.

The museum is also host to Mr. Kaplan’s newly introduced GasGas dealership. He had several in inventory including some one off “specials” featuring 2-stroke, fuel injected machines that had been modified to a large extent. The best part is he promotes everything and is not afraid to start up any of the machines and record a YouTube video of a customer taking delivery. All in all, well worth the visit and glad he is keeping these machines and the glory days of motorcycling and in particular, professional motocross alive.

On that note, being filled with moto-nostalgia, it was time for the final destination, the ‘Wick 338 as it’s called. Located in south central Massachusetts, a small portion of the state that nestles into the Connecticut border much like a jig saw puzzle. The track gets its name from the local VFW Post 338 that owns the property and hosts the race. Over the decades, with a few exceptions, they welcomed the Motocross universe. This is no small undertaking as the factory semis, campers, mobile TV studios, camera and satellite trucks descend on this small property to put on the show that is AMA Pro Motocross.

Located in the hillside behind American Legion Post 338 just east of Southwick, the track winds around the property and features many tight turns and drop offs. The track is a combination of sand and dirt, but mainly sand and makes good use of the topography with power robbing hills and approaches to the jumps. I checked in for the requisite press

credentials and spent some time spying the track. I met up with Phil, a friend, who has raced at Southwick for years and was assisting with track maintenance. He was kind enough to let me leave my bike and gear near his camper and provide a full tour of the track on his quad. Afterwards we met up with Mike Smith and the Legends & Heroes of Motocross Tour. They bring the past to life with a traveling display of vintage MX machines and memorabilia. They travel to most of the Supercross and Outdoor Motocross events and display a number of finely restored machines. It’s fun listening to people stop by and reminisce about racing back in the day.

On race day, it was an early check-in and mandatory OSHA safety

meeting at the media tent. Pretty serious business since the track is tight and riders overshoot berms and jumps. Best to keep alert and know where you’re standing. For the race, the sky was clear and temperature in the mid 80’s with a slight breeze. Hot but not humid which would make a great day for racing.

Early qualifying sessions had fan favorite, #3 Eli Tomac on the Monster Energy Yamaha 450cc putting in laps at the 2.09 mark. This would prove to be the fastest 450 time ahead of Honda’s Chase Sexton and Ken Roczen, the deep Southwick sand requiring maximum horsepower to power around the track. Not too surprisingly the 250cc class machines were a touch faster with Australian and Honda mounted Jett Lawrence turning in a lap a few hundredths faster than the Big Boys.

After the remaining qualifiers were finished Tomac and Jett Lawrence were on top and had the gate pick in their respective classes. When the gate dropped for Moto 1, Tomac would have a bit of trouble, but his lap times continued to drop and he ended catching and passing the top five including series leader Chase Sexton on the Factory Honda. Tomac would end with a 1-1 for overall win and closed the gap with Sexton who finished with a 2-2 for the day. Aaron Plessinger on the KTM filled out the podium with a 7-3. Past champ Honda mounted Ken Roczen finished 4th overall with a 6-4. Ryan Dungy who came out of retirement finished 7th . In the 250 class, Jett Lawrence motored away as well in both motos scoring the same 1-1 result for Team Honda. Japanese rider Jo Shimoda finished second overall on his Kawasaki. He is also the first Japanese rider to win an overall event which he did at Red Budd a week earlier. Both Tomac and Lawrence looked as if they were in a class by themselves with comfortable leads in their respective classes. It was great to see Lawrence and Team Honda back on top and leading the 250 class. In the heyday in the 1980’s, Honda dominated the sport. Honda swept both 450 and 250 podiums two weeks earlier, something that had not been done in nearly 40 years.

After a fun day at Southwick, it was time to ride off into the sunset, literally as the race day wound down. I headed home and arrived in time for a late dinner. Not a bad way to spend a day or two a few hours from home. Rolling through the country in northern CT and Southern MA has its appeal. Now that there is a Touratech Store, New England Motorcycle Museum, the NEBDR route - the possibilities are enticing.

Perhaps I’ll see you there next year?

Every summer in upstate NY a pilgrimage of sorts takes place. Young and old make the trek to the Central Leatherstocking region of the Empire State, not for baseball, but for Motocross. After a 2-week break, the Pro Motocross Championship reconvened at the famed Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin for Round 9. The excitement of the 53rd running at Unadilla in this, the 50th year of AMA Pro Motocross, was tempered by news of the passing of Ward Robinson at age 85.

Mr. Robinson is considered one of the founding fathers of American motocross. In the 1960’s his curiosity of this newly imported European style of racing was peaked while sponsoring riders from his small dealership. He traveled to events to see the European superstars and decided to build a track of his own. This track would become famous. In 1970 Unadilla hosted a round of the Trans-AMA series, one of the first AMA-sanctioned motocross series in the US. In 1972, the first AMA Pro Motocross Championship Series stopped and became a fixture on the schedule. Then in 1978 Unadilla became home for FIM World Championship U.S. 250cc Grand Prix. The first to be won by an American- California’s Marty Tripes. Once firmly established on the GP schedule, and for the first time in history, the prestigious FIM Motocross of Nations, would be run at Unadilla. Team USA’s Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward and Bob “Hurricane” Hannah, managed by 5-time World Champ Roger DeCoster would win in an epic race weekend.

It was only fitting DeCoster, Broc Glover and other dignitaries would eulogize Mr. Robinson during the race weekend. Daughter Jill and Greg, who now run

Round 9 Pro Motocross Series Unadilla • August 13, 2022

BACKROADS • NOVEMBER 2022 the event, were able to hear the kind words from the motocross community and hear the thanks of thousands of people that weekend for what their father created. Robinson’s close friend Bobby Thompson, who helped with the original track design, was on hand and took a ceremonial lap in honor of his good friend on a vintage Bultaco. As for the racing - truly world class. The weather on race day, cool and dry conditions, was near perfection and made for a fast track.

When the gate dropped for Moto 1 of the 250 class, it was two New Yorkers who had the hole shot. Nick Romano and Justin Cooper led the pack. Cooper would go down in the opening laps and Japan’s Jo Shimoda on a Kawasaki would take the front position and was never passed. He opened a 10 second gap and would take the Moto win.

In Moto 2, Justin Copper was again out in front of Jett Lawrence and Cameron McAdoo. Cooper would maintain the lead despite challenges from Lawrence early on. Cooper would hold on for the win and his combined 5-1 finishes earned him second overall. Joe Shimoda made a late race pass into third and his combine 1-3 for the day was good enough for the overall win. His second overall win this season and the first time a Japanese rider had two overall wins.

The first 450 moto included the return of last year’s championship winner Dylan Ferrandis. When the gate fell it was Ferrandis with the holeshot before being passed by Ken Roczen. Ferrandis eventually finished just off the podium in fourth. Roczen, with the fastest qualifying time, fled until Eli Tomac caught him and passed for the lead. Roczen would fade to fifth. It looked like Tomac’s race to lose. Honda’s Chase Sexton had his sights on winning and worked his way up from fifth to catch Tomac. The two battled until Sexton made a pass that stuck and opened a 10 second margin, taking the win. Tomac settled for second with Jason Anderson rounding out the podium for third. Moto #2 saw Eli Tomac across the hole shot line first and started to open a gap on the pack behind him. His series rival Chase Sexton seemed to be more motivated and caught and passed Tomac again. Sexton would maintain the lead and finish with a 1-1 for the day. Tomac finished with a 2-2 for second on the day. With the overall win, Sexton would take the series points lead from Tomac heading into round 10 at Budds Creek. Jason Anderson would finish with a strong 3rd once again.

As a postscript, the next 3 rounds would see the series championship tighten up with Tomac taking the series at Pala Fox Raceway in California. Jett Lawrence would claim the 250 championship the same day. This likely was the last time Tomac would race the outdoor series. It was great to have seen the #3 race on this beautiful track over the last several years. His departure will make room for the next champion - we’ll see next August.