Honey Lake... A Good Old Time MX

Let me start out by apologizing if you missed the Honey Lake Old Timer MX this first weekend in May. It must have been my fault for not getting information out to you or surely you would have attended!

Then let me say Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Nah!!!

You missed an awesome track, cool personalized trophies, a fantastic dinner, a great entertainer at dinner, just about perfect track weather, a raffle courtesy of MTA West and some of the best racing in 2011.

I have to mention that the raffle alone was worth the trip. There were a dozen or so tires, riding gear, helmet, many sets of goggles, a bunch of sweatshirts, and a bazillion small items. Things like mud scrapers, overflow hoses, hats, grips and on and on.

Sad to say that the turnout was smaller than expected, but we did have high expectations. However, the riders that took the opportunity to ride the legendary Honey Lake track were treated to a condensed program. That meant bigger than average gates and a program that didn’t have you waiting around for hours to ride your next moto. It also meant that the racing was completed in a timely fashion with plenty of daylight left to spare to prepare for dinner without hurrying or watching the food line form as you went to the line for your final moto. I have been riding my final moto on more than one occasion at other tracks while others were being served dinner.

I observed people strolling around after doing their bike prep for the next day with clean clothes and their beverage of choice in hand (mostly beer!) visiting their friends and neighbors while they had a little time before heading up the hill to dinner.

The dinner was catered and the main course was Tri-Tip, with the trimmings, beans, veggies, baked potato and desert. Good stuff, I thought about trying to sneak back for seconds on that Tri-Tip but was afraid of Larry’s wife Lise. Just kidding!

Lise is a sweetheart and does such a fantastic job of running the program in sign-up and scoring that I don’t know how she maintains that sunny disposition all the time and the smile that seems to never leave her face.

Larry is busy running the outdoor part of the operation and obviously has learned a great deal about running a world class facility along the way. He seems to never stop moving, is always doing something, making something happen around the track like driving a water truck, dealing with issues that pop up all day long and never gives the appearance of being annoyed with people. During all of this never ending commotion over three days of running the track and crew he still took the time to stop to see Lise and the kids and made sure to give the little ones a hug while he was there. Amazing man really.

The weekend was just about as good as a rider could ask for with some sunshine, some clouds that kept the track from drying too quickly and a minimum of injuries throughout the weekend. I believe the worst being a broken collarbone, but no ambulance rides which is a very good thing for a bunch of Geezers!

So if you were one of the unfortunate ones that didn’t make it to Honey Lake for the OTMX you will have to wait for next year. But my advice to you is to put it on your calendar so as not to make the same mistake twice. Only now you have to show up and ride against a bunch of your friends that have one up on you. They have ridden one of the best tracks in the Motocross world and will use that experience to their advantage.  Bring it on!!

See you there next year!

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