Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2002 Open-Class Four-Stroke Motocrossers Cannondale X440S KTM 520 SX rl'III~ Ililrl"rl..I~I~II~ 11): .. II()NI~Y l.JlI'I~ )IX IlilllI, The sign at Honey Lake MX Park's entrance reads: "Old-school motocross at its best." The words are actually a quote from five-time MX World Champion Roger DeCoster, and if there's anyone who knows anything about honest-to-goodness, pure MX tracks, it's The Man. But you really don't need DeCoster to tell you that this track is pure motocross; just one look at its mammoth uphill and downhill, off-cambers, loamy dirt and expansive layout will do that. The track, owned and designed by former Team Moto-X Fox motocrosser Larry Wosick (see sidebar), is only a few months old, and even though we had never ridden here before, one look at this incredible course and we knew that this place would be the ultimate battleground for our Open-bike four-stroke MX Shootout. Honey Lake MX Park is located in Milford, California, a small rural community situated about an hour's drive north of Reno, Nevada, and about 25 minutes south of Susanville, Califomia, on Highway U.S. 395. (And, unfortunately, about 10 hours from the eN office.) The track, lined by bright yellow snow fences, can easily be seen from the highway, and on the opposite side of the highway is Honey Lake, where the track got its name. Our first close-up look at the track had us chomping at the bit to get on the bikes and start riding. The super loamy dirt, mixed with sand, was just begging to be churned up by our seven big-bore thumpers. And that uphill! The huge climb was the main topic of our test riders' conversations before the first bike was ever cranked over. While we watched from the pit area, Chris Sprenkel, our main Pro test rider, took the first lap around the spectacular-looking track on the CRF450R, and the sound of the big thumper going up the big hill, groaning under a full load in the deep loam for roughly 15 seconds (the time it takes to get from bottom to top) sent shivers up our spines. We quickly scram· bled to put our gear on. The uphill actually starts off as a fairly mellow climb with some bumps along the way to keep you honest, but by the time you get tapped out in fourth gear, the hill suddenly gets very steep. One can catch serious air over the crest of the steepest section if throttle and momentum are maintained, and the hill continues to climb after that (though at a less-extreme incline; the more powerful bikes can pull another gear here). By the time you get to the top, your arms are pretty much junk from holding on so tightly. According to Wosick, there's a 400-foot elevation change from the bottom of the facility to the top of the track. Once you get to the top, you're rewarded with not only an awesome panoramic view of the valley and Honey Lake below, but a couple of challenging off-camber sections. The off-cambers are so technical that in places you creep along in first gear, sometimes with the clutch pulled in. Here, you feel like you're in an enduro, not on a motocross track. The off-cambers then dump you out at the top of a very steep and scary-looking downhill, but once you start your descent, you find that the going is easier than it looks (but you do have to watch out for the braking bumps at the bottom). For Beginner and Novice classes, there is an alternate route on the track that bypasses the uphill, off-camber and downhill sections. The rest of the course isn't quite so hair-raising, but it's still technical enough. Most of the tums develop soft, loamy berms, though some do rut up a bit. When Wosick designed the track, one of his top priorities was making it as wide as possible, and that it is. Every tum and straightaway forms a minimum of two lines, usually three or four, so passing is not a problem. The starting area is huge and is wide enough to easily accommodate the track's 40rider, backward-falling start gate. Wanting to keep the track as pure as possible, Wosick stayed away from double jumps, though there is one double/double section that's more technical than it is hairball. If your specialty is supercross, you probably won't like Honey Lake MX Park, but if you're into honest-to-goodness, soul motocross on tracks that are physically demanding, technical, fairly fast and just plain fun, then you're going to absolutely love this place. Wosick says that the track measures over a mile in length and, so far, the fastest lap time is two minutes and 12.34 seconds, set by Doug Dubach during our shootout. To top things off, we could not have ordered better weather conditions for our shootout, which no doubt contributed to our excitement over this new track (rain thoroughly watered it the day before our arrival). Cool temperatures and a slight drizzle kept the track moist the first day, but the sun showed its face on day two, allowing some dust to develop. Wosick says that the sandy dirt here holds water well, and that he plans to groom the track regularly. The off-camber sections, however, probably won't see too much grooming, since it's so steep and has to be maintained by hand. But that's not a bad thing, since the main lines will only form in better and better. For more information about the track and the facility, caU 530/827-2639. 1 WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE HUSABERG. THE MOTOR HAS TONS OF POWER AND IS REALLY SMOOTH J KIND OF LIKE THE KTM." 51 10 DEcEMBER 12,2001 • cue I e ne'IIVB VS. VS. Honda CRF450R VS. Husaberg FC550 VS. Vertemati C500 vs. Vor 530MX vs. Yamaha YZ426F TIff iT@DD I83rnIDlcQl TIlio o&wcQ1 lliG1tPl1Y W @~n~lli IIDncQl 0 As the crow flies, Milford, Califomia, is about four hours from the San Francisco Bay area, but it takes a little longer to get there by way of South Africa like Honey Lake MX Park owner Larry Wosick (right) did. Growing up in San Jose, California, Wosick was a late bloomer in the sport of motocross, starting his racing career in the 250cc class at age 13. He was ranked as an expert by the time he was 14, and one year later he was the CMC number-one-plate holder in Northem Califomia. Approached by Moto-X Fox to ride as a fullblown team member in the AMA Nationals in 1979, Wosick made good on the opportunity, fin· ishing sixth in the series and eaming Rookie of the Year honors. Toward the end of the 1982 season, Wosick crashed and broke a femur. The injury forced him to take a hard look at his options, and it was dur- Doug Dubach (center) offers ing that downtime that he chose to make a radi- cooking pointers to track owners LIse and Larry Woslck. cal career move. "I knew that Rex Staten had been in South Africa, racing," Wosick said. "I had also heard that they were going to look at some riders to bring over for the Camel International Series in '83, which was a deal that they did every December where they got a few guys from Europe and a few guys from the States to race against the South Africans. They were going to be choosing those riders from the CMC Trans-Cal Series." Sensing a good opportunity, Wosick took on the Trans-Cal and did well enough to be chosen as one of the U.S. representatives in the Camel Intemational Series. The deal went well, and Wosick later wound up landing a ride with the South African Honda importer, who was attempting to sell Hondas against the Staten/Yamaha onslaught. "I stayed for the '84 and '85 seasons, but what happened was the South African currency began to devaluate really badly what with all the negative publicity over apartheid. It wasn't really feasible to continue racing there, and I was already looking forward to life after racing anyway." That search brought about another opportunity. "While I was in South Africa, I had a good friend who worked for the government game parks," Wosick said. "I learned that all of the game control is done by the government there, unlike the U.S., where the citizens apply for hunting tags and then go out and hunt. The government does all of that over there, so what happens is that they end up having a lot of animal products. Some companies will bid on the meat, and other companies, like mine, will bid on the horns and the hydes." Wosick's company, Nrican Market Trophy Room Collection, takes those hydes and homs and utilizes them to manufacture exotic furniture. Today, business is good, and it keeps Wosick plenty busy, but since much of it is run out of his home, it allows him the opportunity to spend plenty of time with his wife, Lise (pronounced Lisa), and 3-year-old daughter, Chesney. '" met Lise through her brother, who I used to race 'against in South Africa," Wosick said. "She sort of looked me up because she didn't really know anybody when she came over to the States to race Jet Skis in '92, but we really hit it off great. Then I helped her with her Jet Ski racing, and she did really well, winning expert National and World Championships in '93, and then she finished second in the Pro World Championships in '94." It was about then that the Wosicks planned to start a family, and decided to remain stateside for good. "After we got married, we were spending most of our time in South Nrica, until about '98, Wosick said. ·We had a home there, but we came to the States a lot for Lise's racing and for business. Once we knew that we were going to have Chezney, we decided it was time to go. We just felt it was getting too dangerous to live there." Searching for an environment that would meet all of their needs, the Wosicks searched for ranch land in and around Northern California, eventually finding their dream stake in Milford. "We found that place, but the funny part of it is that it was an alfalfa ranch, and I didn't know the first thing about farming, so that was kind of big joke in the community for a while," Wosick said. Getting the bug to do a little riding again, Wosick soon picked up a bike and began riding on the hillsides across the highway from the ranch. Then one day, as if rehearsing a scene out of the Kevin Costner movie, Field ofDreams, Wosick had the inspiration to build Honey Lake MX Park. ·We just started talking about it, and I thought that I could make a great track across the highway," Wosick said. ·1 just couldn't believe how good the dirt was. So I started walking through the brush, scouting the terrain. Then' got a bulldozer." Nothing at Honey Lake is done without good reason, Wosick says. The elevation and terrain changes, the tums - aU of them remind him of some of parts of his favorite tracks, such as Unadilla and Washougal. "It's a pure motocross track," Wosick said. "Some of the best times I ever had were when I was an amateur, and I reaUy wanted this track to be a place for families to come and have a great time riding." To that end, the Wosicks bend over backward to make amateurs - especially Pee Wee riders - feel welcome. One of the little extras that separates the facility from many others is the way that the little guys are handled. When the Pee Wee racers are on their track, the facility is basically shut down, and spectators are encouraged to line the fences and cheer the kids on. Everyone who rides gets a medal. Honey Lake will be holding its fair share of "majors" in 2002. Scheduled on the track's calendar are two Dick Mann vintage rallies, a World Off Road Championship Series round, a round of the AMA Four-Stroke National MX Series, and rounds of the MX West Spring Series and Fail Series, in addition to Wosick's own three-race summer series. "We're happy to do a few prestigious events per year, but our love and passion for this is that it's for the kids," Wosick said. "Honey Lake MX is about family, and it's about me doing my part for this community and for the sport that I grew up with." You could call it the ultimate field of MX dreams.

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