Anyone riding @ Joliet, IL / Byron, IL

[shenzirubani]

Hi guys, new to the area and after a year off I'm trying to get back into MX/Off Road. I have 3 boys (4, 11, 13) who are eager to finally start MX and since their great mum is pretty much for it (going to the US SX in Vegas helped!!) I am looking at places to go to (we're in Lake Zurich).
We drove to Casey this weekend to check the H&S at Lincoln Trails Motosport. It looked great, the track is really nice and the area beautiful, but it is 4 hours away for us.
Paased by the Joliet tracks on the way back, but it was too dark and closed. Any one riding there that could give me advices? Is the MX track easy for beginners and a 37 y-o vet like me? ( I only saw the SX track).

I wanna go check Byron this weekend, it is a bit closer in timer than Joliet and it seem to be the same kind of complex as the LTM?

Any advices for riding MX/H&S in the Chicago land.

Thanks :ride:

 

[nikki]

Welcome to the area and back to riding!

There are several options for MX and HS open riding in the area (I know more about the MX side of things). Here are some to get you started!

Fox Valley Offroad - Wedron, IL - www.foxvalleyoffroad.com - 815-431-9913 - 10-12 miles of trails, small SX style practice track, PeeWee track, open on weekends and some weekdays, holds HS races

Joliet MX - Wilmington, IL - www.jolietmx.com - 815-476-RIDE - SX, MX, and PeeWee tracks (and an indoor track coming soon), lots of open riding days and nights, holds day and night MX/SX races

Byron MX - Byron, IL - www.motobyron.com - 815-234-2271 - MX track and new quad/PeeWee track, open riding almost every day, holds MX races

Sunset Ridge MX - Walnut, IL - www.sunsetridgemx.com - 815-379-9534 - MX and PeeWee track, open riding on most weekends, holds MX races

Buffalo Range - Ottawa, IL - 815-433-2471 - 400 acres of woods, creeks, sand, etc, MX track, no quads, open for practice on weekends (and weekdays?)

Waterman Indoor MX - Waterman, IL - www.wir-mx.com - 815-264-8834 - indoor MX track, open for practice Wed-Sun, holds winter MX races

Megacross - Mendota, IL - www.megacross.com - 815-431-9913 - Stadium MX night track, no practice, holds Saturday night MX races

Lake Geneva MX - Lake Geneva, WI - www.lakegenevamx.com - 815-337-0864 or 262-248-8566 - MX and night track, open practice days and nights, holds day and night MX races

Aztalan MX - Lake Mills, WI - www.aztalancycle.com - 414-297-9367 - MX track and short track, open practice days, holds MX and ST races

Lincoln Trail - Casey, IL - www.ltmoffroad.com - 217-932-2041 - MX, GP, pitbike tracks & trails, open every day for practice, holds MX and HS races

State Line MX - Pecatonica, IL - www.statelinemx.com - 815-275-MOTO - Stadium MX night track, no practice, holds night MX races

The Crossings - Valparaiso, IN - www.crossingsmx.com - 219-447-6501 - 42 acres with PeeWee, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced tracks, open for practice Tues-Sat and some Sundays

The Badlands - Attica, IN - www.badlandsoffroad.com - 765-762-2981 - 700 acre offroad riding park with sand dunes, pea gravel hills, woods, trails, etc, open for riding every day

Mt. Carroll Motopark - Mt. Carroll, IL - www.mcmotopark.com - 815-541-1209 or 815-238-1614 - 40 acre MX track, open riding days, holds MX races

Tri City MX - Coal Valley, IL - www.tricitym-c.com - 309-799-9449 - 26 acres MX track and trails, club riding, holds MX races

South Fork - Taylorville, IL - www.southforkdirtriders.com - 217-237-4752 - 470 acres MX track and woods/trails, open riding every day, holds MX and HS races

Planet X-Treme - Mason, IL - Currently looking for new track owners, hopefully will reopen soon! - www.planet-x-treme.com - 120 acres MX and night SX track and trails, was open for practice every day, did hold MX and night SX races

Red Bud - Buchanan, MI - www.redbudmx.com - 269-695-6405 - Pro MX track, night SX track, PeeWee track, and grass track, open riding days, holds Pro National, MX and night SX races

2 Sand Practice MX Tracks - Hopkins Park, IL & St. Anne, IL - only hold practice, good for winter riding, I could give *rough* directions if needed


If you're interested in racing, Northern and Central IL is District 17 (www.amadistrict17.com) and Wisconsin is District 16 (www.amadistrict16.com). Lots of good info about tracks, clubs, schedules, etc. on these District sites. Enjoy and welcome!!

 

[shenzirubani]

wow :yeehaw: Nikki, awesome! Thanks for all these info, I'll check the websites and will go check the places.

 

[nikki]

Regarding Joliet - I was out there for an awesome day of riding yesterday for their rider appreciation day - $10 to ride all three tracks and unlimited food and drink! Awesome weather too - couldn't beat it. Turnout was great - plus they are trying to get everyone involved with getting the indoor track approved tomorrow with Will County zoning so it can get up and running in the next month or so. I think yesterday was their last ride of the year, and they will be rebuilding all of the tracks, but here is what I could say about the tracks as of yesterday.

The new MX track - excellent practice for beginners to intermediates, very wide, fast in sections, most all jumps are tabletops with gently sloped landings where you can go big if you want or you could ease yourself into getting air. A couple of beginner friendly step-ups and only one smaller true double. It is mostly hardpacked with a few sawdust sections. It was my first time on it and everyone in our group thought it was fun. They only allowed 80cc and up bikes on it for open riding yesterday. It is to be redone for 2005 and they will hold 3-4 MX races on it next year.

The kids/50 track - they have really put a lot into the kids track and everyone seemed to have fun on it. It's pretty big for a peewee track and offered a variety of table tops and jumps and whoops and turns. It seems to be a real hit with the beginner youth riders.

The SX track - in the past, the SX track has been a little intimidating for beginners with big doubles and triples, but it is getting much better. Almost all jumps are now tabletops or what I call "filled in" doubles - kind of like a dished out tabletop with a takeoff and landing, so they are getting away from big jump faces and landings with a valley in between. There were two rhythm sections, and one was great for beginners, while the other was a little more challenging, but still not unsafe by any means. Some of the tabletops have more steep landings than on the MX track, but they weren't too bad. There are two triples for the fast guys, which are easy to double for the slower riders. They don't have intimidating faces and landings and are relatively "flat" triples. The landings on most all doubles and triples were very flat and calm and could be cased without fear of crashing. There was one set of whoops that were pretty beat up but not too peaky. Riders of all skill seemed to have fun on the SX track, and they break up practice by skill/bike size as well to keep things safe.

Coming soon - 60 foot tall indoor track/building with no center beams!

 

[jaction125]

I guess they had a major problem down there yesterday Nikki.


R.I.P. young rider. :(


Check out www.suburbanchicagonews.com

Click on Herald News section. Make sure you are on Monday's headlines.

It's terrible that something like this happened, but the way that politics seem to work here in Will County, I would be really surprised to see them get their zoning now.

When they first opened this track they had a helluva time getting zoned, mostly due to neighbor noise complaints. My girlfriends parents are renting a little house near there for the winter and I happened to be down there yesterday and can say that I am really surprised that they don't get noise complaints/restrictions placed on them. I was probably a mile away as the over land and could hear the 4 strokes quite well. I hope for next year they do some noise compliance things on their own, before the walls come crashing down.

 

[Okiewan]

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/top/j15death.htm

Very sad indeed and really bad timing for the owners.

 

[nikki]

Holy crap.... I saw an ambulance around that time but it was in and out pretty fast, no riding ever stopped, and no one in our group saw what happened or even knew someone got hurt. This is terrible news and I'm sure it won't weigh in well with the final zoning meeting tomorrow. I think the accident might have happened on the peewee track, or possibly the berm before the finish line tabeltop, as the ambulance barely pulled into the property (and there were lots of vehicles parked in that area). Very sad, and this isn't the first fatality at Joliet either :(

 

[jaction125]

That ambulance pulled out in front of me on my way down there, thing came outta nowwhere. As soon as he turned in front of me I knew where he was going. :(


Are you going to that meeting Nikki? I was thinking about going to try and help the cause.

 

[nikki]

I won't be able to attend the zoning meeting because of work. I wish I could - as I would love another indoor riding option close to home!

Well, we saw a white Ford on a flatbed as we left yesterday with front end damage - but it was so damaged that I thought for sure another vehicle backed into it. If that was done by the downed rider, it was a heck of an impact. My full-time firefighter/paramedic friend was with yesterday, and she's upset that we didn't know about the crash as she may have been able to provide assistance as she has at tracks in the past. I don't believe there was any medical staff on hand. But everything was kept pretty quiet, probably partially because of tomorrow's meeting. :|

 

[jaction125]

Even if your friend would have known, I doubt for liability they woulda have allowed the help, but who knows?

:(

If I had to guess, I'd say that the ford hit a deer. There are TONS of them around there. They are goofy as all get out this time of year, it's mating season.

 

[nikki]

From the Chicago Tribune site - that was the truck he hit :( :

Wilmington track death investigated

By Rick Jervis
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 16, 2004

Will County sheriff's officers are investigating a weekend accident in which a 13-year-old boy was killed after losing control of his motorcycle on a dirt track.

Witnesses at the Joliet Motosports Park in Wilmington said Ryan Wizorek of Crest Hill seemed to be having acceleration problems with his Honda 125 motorcycle as he drove around a track at about 3 p.m. Sunday, sheriff's office spokesman Pat Barry said.

The motorcycle went around a curve at a high rate of speed, ran over an embankment and crashed into a parked Ford F250 pickup truck, Barry said.

The boy was pronounced dead in St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet.

Barry said investigators are looking at the case as an accident. But the department is hoping to find answers to questions about the racetrack and similar venues around the county, he said.

"The County Board has to start looking into a lot of these activities and ask who's regulating them, what are the regulations, and what we need to do about them," Barry said. "Those are questions I don't have answers to right now."

Barry said the site had not reported any previous fatalities. He said he didn't know how close the pickup truck was parked to the track or why it was there. A telephone message at the park said the park was closed for the winter. Officials could not be reached for comment.

The park at 27950 Kelly Rd. has three tracks: PeeWee, Stadium Supercross and Motocross. The Supercross is a mile long, while the Motocross stretches for 3 miles, according to its Web site. It was not known Monday which track Ryan was on or how much experience he had on similar courses. Family members did not return phone calls.

For more than a year, Joliet Motosports officials have been trying to add a 56,000-square-foot indoor arena track to the park.

The Will County Planning and Zoning Commission initially denied requests to build the arena because of height and location restrictions, said Ron Grotovsky, Will County Land Use Department director.

Park officials made adjustments and planned to resubmit the plan Tuesday, he said.

 

[jaction125]

Dang. Sounds like a stuck throttle. Scary stuff there.

 

[shenzirubani]

really sounds like a stuck throttle. Such a shame. All thoughts to the family. :| Was that pick-up not too close to the track? was it in a parking spot.
Any news on the zoning? I hope people won't use that terrible accident to refuse zoning and try to close down Joliet. It is so cool to have such a complex on the edge of Chi-town.
Nikki, loved your report on the tracks, great info once again. I was supposed to check Byron this weekend, but will probably do on my way to the AX in Rockford in December.

Been around looking at bikes for the boyz and myself. Went to Nielsens in Lake Villa and Schaumburg Honda. Definitely going for a CR50 for the little one, the 100 for the 11 y-o, and I am hedging towards the CRF250, although there's a great RMZ250 at Nielsens. Why not the YZF, maybe. Problem is our 13y-o, he's too tall for the CRF100 and I can't start him on the 250, will probably go for the CRF150 or the TTR125.

 

[jaction125]

Nielsens


Check out Service Honda in Hammond In. They sponsor the site and WILL give you a better deal than Nielson.

Tell 'em you're from DRN!


I don't think they'll close joliet, they prbably won't give them zoning for the indoor track in my opinion.

 

[nikki]

Yep - Service Honda www.servicehonda.com is the place to go for Honda's. If you decide to get some Yamaha's, DGY in Downers Grove www.dgy.com is another good shop (carries Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki) and they have just about everything you can imagine in stock as well (gear, boots, helmets, parts, etc.).

 

[shenzirubani]

Thanks, will go check DGY this Sat. :ride:

 

[jaction125]

I
hate
DGY.

Lots
of
people
love
them
though.....

 

[shenzirubani]

Went to DGY on Saturday. I have ot say, it's a great shop. They have a bigger choice of bikes than Nielsens (although I'm sure those guys can order anything) and amazing amount of equipment, apparel, helmets and DVDs. Definitely a place to stop-by for Santa.
Not that I want to spend the money in those yet (especially when I'm looking at getting 3 or 4 bikes for the family), but what do you think of the riders bikes that are for sell there. I saw Larry Ward's 250F, awesome. Are they fully overhauled before? I would think so. Thanks for the advice Nikki.