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Rupert X Ruport: Southwick Motocross. Last Call or Final Call? 5

Late October, I was gently hurtling across Pennsylvania’s lengthy stretch of I-80, towards Massachusetts, and a chance to catch up with my dad. I pulled into a scenic rest area to check for phone messages and to see if anyone on Facebook had dressed up their pet turtle in a funky costume for Halloween. That’s when I got a note from a friend, mentioning that if I was going to be in New England for the weekend, I might as well come check out Southwick’s final race ever. Ever. Ever? Forever ever?

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Getting the wife’s Mini Cooper S back up to cruising speed and slamming through the next three-hundo miles of orange barrel slaloms, flagmen and construction and destruction, I had plenty of time to ponder just what the hell was going on in Southwick, Massachusetts, this sleepy bedroom community on the Connecticut border. Sometime in 1972, I’d attended my first motocross ever, in Pepperell, Massachusetts and then, after much work, thought and messing about, I finally competed at Southwick’s circuit, most likely sometime in 1975 (my memory should be better, but I lost half my mind at a Stones concert in the ‘80s).

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After a few races at Southwick and other New England Sports Committee events, I left the area in 1977 for the Unites States Navy, only to come back fifteen or twenty times for AMA Nationals and, on one occasion in the early ‘90s to have my sons compete at a Loretta Lynn’s Area Qualifier.  The track has been reconfigured a few times, most notably with the direction being reversed in 2006, which has been the source of much grumbling over the years and, sections added and deleted, although the constant, has been the sandy soil, the pine trees and the lack of huge air-grabbing jumps. Southwick has been more about blowing up sandy berms, blistered hands and the suffering pain of human endurance. While the first actual motocross race at the American Legion Post #338 was in 1973, their first hosting of an AMA National was in 1976 – with their final AMA Lucas Oils sponsored National, being this year, in 2013. Next year, Southwick is not on the 2014 Lucas Oils Motocross Championship schedule, with the addition of a new course in Central Indiana, taking its place. I don’t know enough about the politics, the history or the money trail, to comment on what really went down, all I know is that some are saying that this amateur motocross race I attended - was the last race ever at Southwick, while some insist they will still have events in the future, potentially featuring a different promoter.

[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2013/11/18/36778/s1200_111813southwick005.jpg[/img]

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Memories I have from the ‘70s included having to go to a bank with my dad, getting a form legally notarized and have it postmarked two weeks before Southwick’s event, I’m not sure if this was just for juveniles, or if everybody had to pre-register, anyway, it was a pain in my young ass. This New England Sports Committee (non-AMA) had some weird rules and traditions, too – like at sign-up a gentleman inspected your helmet and chest protector, to ensure their worthiness, It was mandatory that you attended both the rider’s meeting AND participated in the track walk, before practice commenced. No mini-bikes, no three or four wheelers, just bunches of dirt bikes that broke a lot. Frames cracked, chains snapped, tires punctured more often, a hell of a lot more DNFs than now. A few 100cc races. About six heats of 125 Novice, two of 125 Amateur, and one of 125 Expert. Four heats of 250 Novice, one each of amateur and expert and, similarly in the 500 Class, as well. Intricate and fragile suspension arrangements, waffle-grips, snail-pipes, DG heads, Metzeler “tyres”, Preston Petty fenders and plenty of  Honda CR 125 Elsinores, “sleeved-down” – to compete in the 100 Class.  Jimmy Ellis. Jimmy Meenan. Cycle Design. Popoli’s Honda. Valley Motorsports. Frappes at Friendly’s. Bike carted in atop Volkswagen bugs, on the back of wreckers, slid sideways into the tailgates of big Ford Station wagons and, on more than one occasion, ridden to the track along the silty powerline-trails. Duct tape on your visor and atop your boots, chest-protectors under the jersey, kidney belts and gloves with pieces of old car-tires on ‘em… Odd times indeed, yet wicked good.

[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2013/11/18/36780/s1200_111813southwick007.jpg[/img]

Anyway, if that was Southwick’s last race, it’s a damn shame - because it is a unique facility, with old-school charm and a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie at that sandy circuit, that is so often missing from modern day motocross, so yeah, I’m boo-hoo’ing a bit.

So long Southwick, Grand Times we had.
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