1984-1986 Moto Park Grand Prixs

By the late 70’s the Golden Years of Canadian Motocross had come to an end, as did the boom years of Motorcycle Sales in Canada. The last Motocross Grand Prix had been held at Mosport in 1979. During the mid 80’s thru the mid 90’s sales of Motorcycles plummeted from more than 100,000 units per year to as low as 20,000.

Carl Bastedo had been successful in promoting both a series of National Consumer Motorcycle Shows throughout Canada starting in 1977 as well as Supercross starting in 1980 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Bringing a World Championship Motocross Grand Prix back to Canada was a natural evolution in his mind.

Any Motorsport event requires major sponsorship in order to be successful, this is the way it is all over the World. The Supercross events actually took in more in sponsorship than they did at the gate. The financial success of the Canadian Grand Prix was doomed from the beginning as Yamaha Canada was the only major company to sponsor the event.

In spite of this, a great event was put together in 1984 on an extended Motopark track. Hundreds of loads of dead sand carved out of a “honey hole” found on the property re-surfaced the entire track. Huge D8 bulldozers where brought in to reshape the woods at the south end of the property revealing huge hills and drop offs which where a part of any GP track of the era.

Hospitality wasn’t generally a part of the travelling GP Circus at the time and Motopark was one of the first to introduce a deck overlooking the track with décor and waiters serving up Steak dinners for the local and GP VIP’s in attendance. The Township Reeve and council members where in attendance and Ontario’s Solicitor General arrived for the opening ceremonies via Helicopter which landed in the front yard of Carl’s house.

More than 3,500 spectators paid to get in bringing total attendance close to 5,000. It was the most people seen at a Motocross race in Canada since the great 500cc GP at Copetown in 1975.

All the buzz in the pits was how Canada’s Ross Pederson would fare against the GP regulars, 13 of whom made the trip. Chuckles throughout the pits as the Euro’s looked over Ross’s RM500 “Motocross” bike. On the track it was a different story as Ross challenged many of them finishing top Canadian in 4th place while Glen Nicholson, also on the RM500, was next Canadian garnering 10th.

The podium at the 1984 Grand Prix of Canada was made up of Belgian riders. The victory went to Georges Jobe (Kawasaki) followed by Andre Malherbe (Honda) and Eric Geobers, also on a Honda.

In 1985 the FIM requested that Motopark run a non points paying 250 c.c. GP as the US GP at Unadilla was the following week and they felt the European riders would like to spend the week prior acclimatizing themselves to North America. Only 4 Euro’s made the trip led by Gert Jan Van Doorn who battled with Ross Pederson taking first in Moto 1. Van Doorn suffered a flat tire in Moto 2 allowing Pederson to take the win and become the first Canadian to win a Canadian Grand Prix. American Honda’s Darryl Shultz also showed up in 1985. Shultz finished with a DNF in moto one and 3rd behind Pederson and Doug Hoover in moto 2.

Financially, the Grand Prix’s proved to be to much of a drain and Motopark informed the CMA in the fall of 1985 that it would not run another 500 c.c. World Championship round in 1986. The CMA felt obligated to produce the event and took the production over with agreement that the event would be held at Motopark.

The last Motocross Grand Prix in Canada was held in sweltering heat. The event was well produced but poorly attended. On the Podium in 1986 were Belgians Andre Malherbe, and Eric Geobers while Great Britain’s David Thorpe rounded out the top 3. Top Canadian that year was Doug Hoover and Glen Nicholson in 9 and 10th. Ross Pederson was not entered, I suspect he was injured.

It was the end of an era and the entire World GP Circuit went into a slump during the late 80’s and 90’s as Motorcycle Sales World wide continued to plummet. Slow market growth in the late 90’s led to a revival of the GP scene in early 2000.

70,411 Responses

  2. I am really loving the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility problems?

    A handful of my blog readers have complained about my site not operating correctly
    in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you
    have any tips to help fix this problem?

    Reply

  5. Hallo liebe Freunde des smarten Wohnens! Mit https://blohdi.de/ wird jeder Raum lebendig und sicher. Von klappbaren Tischen über ergonomische Rollstühle bis zu höhenverstellbaren Betttischen – alles ist so gestaltet, dass Alltag und Wohlbefinden harmonisch zusammenfließen. BLOHDI macht das Leben leichter, Räume funktional und Momente entspannter.

    Reply

  8. Excellent blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers?

    I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little
    lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like
    Wordpress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally confused
    .. Any ideas? Cheers!

    Reply

  9. Secondary school math tuition plays a key role
    іn Singapore, offering yߋur kid diverse math perspectives.

    Heng leh, Singapore’ѕ ranking aas math ᴡorld champs is secure!

    Dear parents, fіre up passion thгough Singapore math tuition’ѕ mentorship.
    Secondary math tuition ցoes bey᧐nd books. Secondary 1 math tuition clarifies inequalities easily.

    Secondary 2 math tuition emphasizes concepptual understanding օｖer memorization. It breaks doԝn similarity ϲhanges іn secondary 2 math tuition modules.
    Enrollees іn secondary 2 math tuition develop analytical skills іmportant for STEM.
    Secondary 2 math tuition supports future innovators.

    Succeeding іn secondary 3 math exams iѕ neceѕsary, as Ⲟ-Levels follow, t᧐ protect benefits.
    Proficiency helps іn project developments.

    Ιn Singapore, it supports healthy fｒame of minds.

    Secondary 4 exams іn Singapore promote health t᧐gether wіth academics.
    Secondary 4 math tuition encourages breaks. Ƭhis balance sustains O-Level focus.
    Secondary 4 math tuition nurtures mind ɑnd body.

    Exams test math knowledge, yet itѕ broader significance is
    as a crucial skill іn ΑI’s expansion, enhancing analytical thinking fоr
    tech innovations.

    Ꭲo achieve excellence in mathematics, love tһе subject and apply math principles in daily real ᴡorld.

    Students cɑn enhance tһeir proof-writing abilities ƅу
    practicing ⲣast papers fгom vaｒious secondary schools іn Singapore.

    Singapore-based online math tuition е-learning enhances exam resᥙlts witһ
    peer review features fߋr shared problem solutions.

    Leh ѕia, don’t worry lah, ʏour child wilⅼ adjust to secondary school, ⅼet
    tһem go without tension.

    Aⅼso visit my һomepage … math tuition for sec 3 rate

    Reply

  15. Howdy! I know this is sort of off-topic but I needed to ask.
    Does building a well-established website like yours require a large
    amount of work? I’m completely new to blogging but I do write in my journal every day.
    I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my own experience
    and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners.
    Appreciate it!

    Reply

  16. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.

    I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information.
    Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.

    Reply

  20. My coder is trying to convince me to move to
    .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the
    costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a number
    of websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform.
    I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it?
    Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

    Reply

  23. Nice post untuk tulisannya. Penjelasan padat tapi jelas.
    Saya setuju soal urgensi performa cepat.

    By the way, saya juga akhir-akhir ini pakai KING7 karena login cepat dan bonus yang
    lumayan. Kalau mau lihat bisa ke https://king7.llc/. Mudah-mudahan berguna dan sukses
    terus dari blog ini.

    Reply

  24. Главный автопортал https://newsgood.com.ua о драйве и прагматике: премьеры, технологии, электрокары, кроссоверы и коммерческий транспорт. Экспертные обзоры, тест-драйвы, подбор автокредита и страховки, расходы и сервис. Проверка истории авто и советы по экономии и сервисы.

    Reply

  25. Admiring the commitment you put into your website and in depth information you offer.
    It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material.
    Great read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.

    Reply

  27. Главный автопортал https://newsgood.com.ua о драйве и прагматике: премьеры, технологии, электрокары, кроссоверы и коммерческий транспорт. Экспертные обзоры, тест-драйвы, подбор автокредита и страховки, расходы и сервис. Проверка истории авто и советы по экономии и сервисы.

    Reply

  29. Мечтаете освоить фотографию или вывести свои навыки на профессиональный уровень? Fotoblog.online — это образовательная площадка с конспектами лекций мастеров, разборами работ легендарных фотографов и практическими советами по композиции, свету и продвижению. Здесь вы найдёте материалы от Сергея Богомяко, Александра Беленького и других экспертов с многолетним опытом. Заходите на https://fotoblog.online/ и откройте для себя секреты мастерства, которые превратят хобби в востребованную профессию!

    Reply

  30. I would like to thank you for the effforts you’ve put
    inn penning this site. I’m hoping to see the same high-grade content from you later on as well.
    In fact, your creative writing abilities hhas motivated me
    too get my own site now 😉

    Reply

  32. Всё для женщины https://wonderwoman.kyiv.ua уход и макияж, мода и стиль, психология и отношения, работа и деньги, мама и ребёнок. Тренды, тесты, инструкции, подборки брендов и сервисов. Читайте, вдохновляйтесь, действуйте.

    Reply

  34. Всё для женщины https://wonderwoman.kyiv.ua уход и макияж, мода и стиль, психология и отношения, работа и деньги, мама и ребёнок. Тренды, тесты, инструкции, подборки брендов и сервисов. Читайте, вдохновляйтесь, действуйте.

    Reply

  36. Magnificent beat ! I wish to apprentice whilst you
    amend your site, how could i subscribe for a blog website?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I have been tiny bit familiar of this your broadcast provided vibrant transparent
    concept

    Reply

  47. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article.
    I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the
    post. I’ll definitely return.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to 비아그라 파는 곳 Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *