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.

110,236 Responses

  3. This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger.
    I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your fantastic post.
    Also, I have shared your site in my social networks!

    Reply

  5. What i do not understood is if truth be told how you’re no longer really a lot more smartly-liked than you
    might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You understand thus
    significantly on the subject of this subject, made me personally believe
    it from so many numerous angles. Its like men and
    women aren’t fascinated unless it’s something to do with Woman gaga!
    Your own stuffs great. Always handle it up!

    Here is my blog – programs

    Reply

  6. What i do not understood is if truth be told how you’re no longer really a lot more smartly-liked than you
    might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You understand thus
    significantly on the subject of this subject, made me personally believe
    it from so many numerous angles. Its like men and
    women aren’t fascinated unless it’s something to do with Woman gaga!
    Your own stuffs great. Always handle it up!

    Here is my blog – programs

    Reply

  8. Right here is the perfect webpage for anybody who really wants to understand this topic.
    You understand so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I personally would want to…HaHa).
    You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject that has been written about
    for years. Excellent stuff, just great!

    Reply

  9. I enjoy what you guys tend to be up too. This kind of clever
    work and coverage! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve included you guys to my own blogroll.

    Reply

  12. Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of info on your site.
    Im really impressed by your blog.
    Hey there, You have done an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends.
    I’m confident they’ll be benefited from this web site.

    Reply

  16. Having read this I believed it was rather informative.
    I appreciate you finding the time and energy to put this article
    together. I once again find myself personally spending
    a significant amount of time both reading and posting comments.
    But so what, it was still worth it!

    Here is my blog – stashpatrick login

    Reply

  18. Hello, Neat post. There is a problem along with your
    site in web explorer, may test this? IE still is the market
    chief and a good section of other people will omit your great writing because
    of this problem.

    Reply

  20. Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to
    assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts.
    Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you
    access consistently fast.

    My blog post … programs

    Reply

  21. Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to
    assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts.
    Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you
    access consistently fast.

    My blog post … programs

    Reply

  22. Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to
    assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts.
    Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you
    access consistently fast.

    My blog post … programs

    Reply

  26. I don’t even understand how I ended up right here, but I assumed this
    post was good. I don’t realize who you might be but certainly you’re going to
    a famous blogger for those who aren’t already. Cheers!

    Reply

  27. Hi there! This blog post could not be written much
    better! Going through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He continually kept preaching about this. I’ll send
    this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read.

    Many thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  31. My coder is trying to persuade 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 several websites for about a year
    and am worried 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 really appreciated!

    Reply

  35. Great blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers?

    I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
    Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go
    for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely overwhelmed
    .. Any tips? Thanks!

    Reply

  38. Thank you, I’ve recently been searching for information approximately this subject for a
    while and yours is the best I’ve discovered so far. But, what concerning the bottom line?
    Are you sure in regards to the source?

    Reply

  49. Спин Сити Казино — это архитектура азарта, где выигрыш — как план одобрения. Интерфейс — это консоль урбаниста, а скачать казино spin city даёт ключ к джекпоту. Каждое вращение — как поток света. Каждая победа — как архитектурный триумф.
    Слоты — это урбанистические приключения. Бонусы — как гранты мечты. Музыка — это урбанистический бит. Ты — как архитектор риска. Азарт здесь — как архитектура выгоды.
    Поддержка — это консультант архитектора, который всегда онлайн. Финансы — это ресурсы проекта, где всё переводится без задержек. Spin City Casino — это проект мечты.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to programs Cancel reply

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