Better get in line now....

John250

John250

PR Founding Father
Come on Mark. Dust Country was awesome hard pack and dust back in the day. Honestly, Honda Hills got hard packed and slick at night as well. Funny when you think about what we raced 40 years ago, compared to track conditions today. New people in the sport have never experienced real dust.
 
Mark414

Mark414

PR Member
Yes it was slick at times but I always had fun, maybe because I always rode underpowered Suzuki's and they could not spin the rear wheel anyway. Lol about 2 weeks before they shut down for good my buddy broke his foot sliding into one of the walls in the corners the first lap out.
 
NQ1965

NQ1965

PR Elite
John250 said:
Come on Mark. Dust Country was awesome hard pack and dust back in the day. Honestly, Honda Hills got hard packed and slick at night as well. Funny when you think about what we raced 40 years ago, compared to track conditions today. New people in the sport have never experienced real dust.
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That's why I posted that Carlsbad video.
Seems tracks like that were more the norm back then. Track prep consisted of snow fence, hay bales and old tires.

Had this hanging on my home office bulletin board. Diedre's last track post in 2005. It's been almost exactly 16 years.
Honda Hills never re-opened after that.


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John250

John250

PR Founding Father
Mark414 said:
Yes it was slick at times but I always had fun, maybe because I always rode underpowered Suzuki's and they could not spin the rear wheel anyway. Lol about 2 weeks before they shut down for good my buddy broke his foot sliding into one of the walls in the corners the first lap out.
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I remember there were guys fast at Honda hills that were not that fast any where else. They knew how to slide into those banked corners, and back on the gas. Honda Hills definitely had a fast way to be rode.
 
John250

John250

PR Founding Father
NQ1965 said:
That's why I posted that Carlsbad video.
Seems tracks like that were more the norm back then. Track prep consisted of snow fence, hay bales and old tires.

Had this hanging on my home office bulletin board. Diedre's last track post in 2005. It's been almost exactly 16 years.


View attachment 73682
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Man, seems like even longer than that. I don't remember going there in the 2000's at all really. The years blend together though.
 
NQ1965

NQ1965

PR Elite
John250 said:
Man, seems like even longer than that. I don't remember going there in the 2000's at all really. The years blend together though.
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As so often and easily happens, I believe that riders just sort of took it all for granted and had declining appreciation. Thinking it surprised everybody a little when the gates closed permanently.

As bad as it might of been at the time, there were many that still loved going there, or at the very least didn't want to see it shut down.
We're just thrilled that it's back.
 
Vet261

Vet261

PR Addict
The fast guys at Honda Hills stuff reminds me of Broken Spokes in New Philly, and Amherst Meadowlarks. Those were a couple of the NE tracks that had guys that I swear could beat Tomac at their home track but then I would beat them by a half lap at another track like Beans or Scenic.

Someone make sure to get pics and vids this weekend for those of us that probably won't make it!
 
Scoob

Scoob

PR Founding Father
NQ1965 said:
As so often and easily happens, I believe that riders just sort of took it all for granted and had declining appreciation. Thinking it surprised everybody a little when the gates closed permanently.

As bad as it might of been at the time, there were many that still loved going there, or at the very least didn't want to see it shut down.
We're just thrilled that it's back.
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I don't think it was all on the riders in terms of taking things for granted and/or declining in appreciation as to the reason it closed. I'll let you figure out what I mean by that. It's a part of history around here and is too cool to see it back, but it's going to take more than a historical factor to make it last although that gives it a good leg up in doing so, so cheers to the new owners!

I think we'll try and make it out Sunday. Will be cool to check it out. I might even ride by on my way home from work today or tomorrow for schnits and giggles. Definitely has me curious. A lot of good memories out there as well as about a 2 week period I remember nothing. Was able to gather a many few friends in MX that specific 2 week period and beyond. Hoping for the best!

See y'all out there! ;)
 
Jack Bierbower

Jack Bierbower

PR Addict
Vet261 said:
The fast guys at Honda Hills stuff reminds me of Broken Spokes in New Philly, and Amherst Meadowlarks. Those were a couple of the NE tracks that had guys that I swear could beat Tomac at their home track but then I would beat them by a half lap at another track like Beans or Scenic.

Someone make sure to get pics and vids this weekend for those of us that probably won't make it!
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Southwick is notorious for home field advantage. I love that about our sport.
 
NQ1965

NQ1965

PR Elite
Toddco327 said:
How was the prep?
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Typical Honda Hills as realistically expected.
For being an all clay and shale hillside, the track was actually really good shape when we began Saturday morning. Later on both days the quads turned the place into a dust storm.

I personally LOVED IT! Felt so good to be back there, on an old school track and layout, that held up really well over the two days. The track got hard pack and choppy in all of the usual places. In the areas with ruts, they held their moisture pretty well all weekend, but again the ruts were minimized by the quads.
To me what was really cool was where all of the acceleration and breaking bumps developed it got plenty rough and technical. Kept you on your toes.

You had a really good turn out both days, with all age and skill levels represented riding the same track and I never seen a single squad run. That says something.

The wife and I were quite late getting home last night so no time to load up any pic's, I'll try and get some up this evening.

The best way I can describe it is Honda Hills was ENERGIZED and breathing well this weekend. Great to be back!
 
Ron505

Ron505

PR Founding Father
Looks a lot better than what I expected it to look after all of this time. So parking did end up up top?
 
Scoob

Scoob

PR Founding Father
Ron505 said:
Looks a lot better than what I expected it to look after all of this time. So parking did end up up top?
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It did turn out decent. Yes, all parking was up top only. Definitely hard pack late Sunday. I told Spencer to not push it as he didn't want to go down on that stuff. Definitely similar in that respect to the last time I rode/raced it. Spencer had a blast. He more or less drug me out there around 1:30p so he could get a couple sessions in. It's all he talked about last night. "You know what my favorite part at Honda Hills was dad?...." Was great to see folks I haven't seen for a long time. Some for something like 17 years... ;)

Grounds have a pretty cool start in shaping up. Looked good, considering. Track has a lot of work to come, but definitely a heads up on that via the crowd that came to support it. Can't see the track staying the same to support today's standards, but plenty of options to incorporate the new and old into the new.
 
John250

John250

PR Founding Father
If they plan on racing there the place needs tons of work to bring it up to 2021. Those walls all over the place, make the track truly way too narrow for racing. Times have changed. It would be nice to have a natural terrain track to race, I am totally ok with no huge leaps, etc. But the walls need to be cut back and the track made twice as wide.
 
BriarcliffMx

BriarcliffMx

PR Founding Father
The next steps is pushing in all the islands to eliminate the walls. Cover up the rocks in places and get a consistent grade across the track (meaning take the half pipe out of it). Then we can see where the revised track makes sense to put it. The goal I believe is to keep it fun, low pressure, good flow with big berm turns and sprinkle in some table tops. Just a good fun flowing track. Nothing radical. Just FYI.
 
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