Click to enlarge GARY SEWELL / HERALD DEMOCRAT Two ladies race their vintage motorcycles around one of the motocross tracks at the North 40 Cycle Park Saturday.

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BY K. MCSTAY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Dirt and grass hunks few through the air off Dripping Springs road on Saturday, as the pops and roars of motorcycles echoed across what was once a cow pasture. The North Forty Cycle Park hosted the Texas Shootout, a Vintage MX race featuring motorcycles from the 1970s and '80s.

"We have people from New York to California," said Alex Moroz, the director of off-road racing for American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association, the group that organized the event. Approximately 100 riders attended the event, and eight races were run in three different classes. "These are all vintage bikes," said David Henry, the owner of the park. "We have a grass section now, so the riders can tear up some grass." The park was opened in 2000, with races starting in 2002.

Henry said the race prior to the Governor's Cup, the pinnacle of Saturday's racing activities, was particularly thrilling. Previous motocross champions Trey Jorski and Chuck Sun were changing leads until the final lap, he said. Jorski's pace was the same throughout the race, Henry said, a rarity in such intense races. "They put on a show," he said.

Jorski, from Oklahoma City, was racing a Kawasaki motorcycle from 1975. "I feel pretty good," said the second place winner. Usually, he said, his races are endurance races involving two to three hours in the heat. "I train in the heat all the time," he said. In his second place race, he was close enough to competitor Sun that he could have wiped him out. "We have respect for each other," Jorski said. "Some of my best friends are guys that I've been in fist fights with."

After competing professionally until the age of 26, Jorski, now 50, races in addition to a day job. Lap races, such as those at the North Forty park, are more intense. "It's all or nothing," he said. The course for the park is natural, with packed dirt and grass as well as jumps for the riders to make use of. Top speed is usually around 40 mph, but Jorski and Sun reached up to 60 on a straightway, and caught 40 feet worth of air on some of the jumps. Vintage bikes, such as the one Jorski rides, usually have less suspension than modern bikes. "New bikes go so fast so quickly," he said. "That's how kids are hurting themselves." Vintage bikes don't have the recovery time after jumps, tend to go slower and are often ridden by older, more experienced riders. "We have to go to work on Monday," Moroz said.

Mat Mosoley, another racer who participated in the Governor's Cup, attended the event from Ft. Worth. The recent grad school graduate said he races primarily for a hobby. "It's a rush," he said. "There are so many variables, so much going on at once." Racing, he said, is anywhere from 70-90 percent mental, and figuring out how to focus is the fun of it. Running lap after lap, as well as staying in good physical shape, are the best ways to keep up with fellow races.

"Kids as young as 5,6,7 are getting into it," he said. Many kids who are intent upon going professional home school and put their full focus into racing. "The pool is so deep, you have to have talent and focus on it at the expense of other things, which is not always good." Mosoley rides bikes from 1975 and 1979. The range at the event was from 1974 to 1983. "There's a lot more mechanical know-how involved," Mosoley said, as well as more physical conditioning. "Those bikes beat you up," he said.

The bikers race for bragging rights, Moroz said, and a tank of gas. "They're friends out there, but once they're off the finish line, they're racers," he said. Nevertheless, the camaraderie of the race track is ever present. "It's great meeting people I've known for a long time," Jorski said. "It's really a gathering."