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VOL. 53 ISSUE 30 AUGUST 2, 2016 P113 The first CMA race at Saddleback was held on March 24, 1968 and it was Gunnar Lindstrom win- ning the 500cc class and Bill Silverthorn scoring the victory in the 250cc class. That summer the first big pro race was held there. On July 4, 1968 Torsten Hallman won an event called the Firecracker International Motocross over Gary Conrad and Russ Darnell. In the fall of '68 came one of Dye's Inter- national Motocross races and 22,000 fans showed up to watch East German Adolf Weil race his Maico to victory ahead of British racer Bryan Wade on a Greeves and Czech Vlastimil Valek on a C-Z. Many notable riders of that era were in the race including Roger DeCoster and even AMA Grand National rac- ers Dick Mann and David Aldana. In 1969 Saddleback played host to a milestone race, again the Firecracker MX. It was important since Gary Bailey, riding a 250cc Greeves, defeated Swede Arne Kring to become the first American to win over the Europeans. Even though Bailey was paid less for the win than Kring earned for appear- ance money, he secured his place in history for being the first to demonstrate the rapid improvement of American motocross. Trans-Am, Inter-Am, CMC Golden State Series, AMA Motocross Nationals, Saddleback hosted them all. About the only thing the track never held at the track was a World Championship round, those instead going to Carlsbad, 50 miles to the south. In 1970, Joel Robert, who helped layout the original Saddleback track, returned to win the very first Saddleback Trans-Am riding a Suzuki. Another original co-builder, Roger DeCoster, won the next year in the Trans-Am finale. The track had the biggest obstacles in motocross, including the infamous tri-level massive uphill stair steps called Suicide Mountain. Built in the early 1980s, it became the place to watch the nation- als from. Being the first rider on a race weekend to clear the massive uphill jumps was a source of pride. Legend has it the first rider to jump from one terrace to the next was Lance Moorewood, during a parade lap before the 1983 AMA National. The catch is Moorewood actually came up three-feet short of making the jump and got absolutely crushed on landing, but somehow managed to ride it out. Jeff Ward was looking on and thought Moore- wood was dead, but since he almost made it. Ward knew clearing the enormous jump was possible. In practice no one could muster the courage, but finally Phil Larson, who came up short on his first attempt on his 500cc machine, became the first to clear Suicide Mountain cleanly and the crowd went nuts. Later Wardy became the only rider on a 125 to make the jump. Winners of outdoor nationals at Saddleback were a veritable who's who of motocross. Brad Lackey, Jim Pomeroy, Marty Tripes, Pierre Kars- makers, Brian Myerscough, Mark Barnett, Johnny O'Mara, David Bailey, Ron Lechien, Bob Hannah, Magoo Chandler, Broc Glover and Kent Howerton were among the winners at the legendary circuit. In the early 1980s liability lawsuits became a big issue for the Irvine Company and by most accounts the cost of those lawsuits and liability insurance were what put an end to Saddleback Park in 1984. Numerous efforts were made to hold races at the track, but none ever came to fruition. Interestingly Gatorback MX Park in Florida was named in honor of Saddleback. In just 17 years of operation, Saddleback Park became and remains the symbolic home of Ameri- can motocross. Even though it's been over 30 years since a wheel has turned there in anger, Saddle- back remains a Mecca of the sport of motocross. Today the remnants of Saddleback, once ridden by the elites of motocross sit quietly, the windswept hills holding the memories of a thousand races. Archives would like to acknowledge Gary Mar- tini's and Jody Weisel's excellent online articles about Saddleback for being used as source mate- rial for this article. CN MOTOCROSS Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives