In the old days it was called ISDT (International Six-Day Trial), then it was changed to ISDE ("Enduro") in the early 80's. The Trask M/C hosted the first event in 1971 and then the "25th Annual Last Trask" in '95. I've personally raced it annually since '84. The Rat Dog Dualsport uses a vast array of trails from the old Trask event, specifically the 'A' & 'AA' sections. I haven't found but a few websites with historic data about the classic Trask race, but there are bits out there. Just do a search for "Trask" once you go to the links listed below. There is some GREAT history at these sites and in the Trask area in general.
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If you know of any other Trask links that I should add, please email me. |
| Xlintperformance site : Great stories by Al Pedro! Try here too. |
| Alan Seymour's site |
| Strictly Hodaka site : Some great pix here. |
| Vinduro List : A special-interest group for lovers of vintage enduro/ISDT dirt bikes |
| ISDT web page |
| OSSA Fan site |
Here's some info from one of the founders of Trask M/C:
"The Trask Mountain Two Days Trial, staged from
1971-1995 by the Trask Mountain MC. The event was started by a group of
people (the club) who weren't too sure what they were getting into. I
blame myself for talking an otherwise nice bunch of young guys into applying to
the AMA to stage a one-day event in June of 1971. The AMA, having taken on
the mantle of FIM membership, had no qualifying events for the ISDT, so Mike
Vancil phoned me at six in the morning in January of 1971 to ask if we could put
on a two-day event. I said 'sure.' And we did, and we were the ONLY
Qualifier in 1971. Then we continued doing it for the next twenty-some
years. 1980 and 1984 were three-day events, for a total of 52 days.
1995 was the twenty-fifth and LAST Trask Mountain Two Days. I was the only
person to work on Trask for the entire twenty-five years. Our core unit of
five guys, with a LOT of help (primarily from the Trailsmen Club), staged one of
the niftier historic events ever."
(from the above sites) Here's a few classic pix of the early Trask ISDT days
This is back when each day's course was almost 200 miles...
...and there was only a few inches of suspension travel and basic knobby tires...
...and the stories run rampant about survival, mud runs where just a handful of riders had the moxy to actually finish the event...
...and a Penton was the bike of choice (which evolved to KTM)...
...and of course there was the famous Hodakas, which were designed and tested in Athena, Oregon by Pabatco (Pacific Basin Trading Company). These are photos (above and below) of Jim Gentry on the prototype 175 Sl. The photos were taken at the 1970 Trask Mountain 2 day event. Jim had some troubles with the bike these 2 days. The 175 Sl's were put into production finally in 1977. There were only 600 of the 175's made.
Another dark and dank day to start an early Trask ISDT.
Ok, this wasn't taken at Trask, but it's a killer shot of the
famous and fast Jack Penton from Cycle
News: "Penton motorcycles were
known primarily as being at home in the woods, and the same goes for the Penton
family members who imported them. But as this photo shows, Pentons (both bikes
and people) did occasionally stray out of their eastern environs. The
rider here is 19-year-old Jack Penton, brother of Tom and son of John, and the
race is a Barstow, California, Qualifier for the 1973 International Six Days
Enduro Qualifier. Jack scored the overall win, which was somewhat of an upset,
as it had been assumed that the Shamrocks event would be won by a desert racer
especially since its June date made for scalding temperatures throughout each of
its two, eight-hour days (only 32 of the 108 entrants finished). As you
may know, the 2001 U.S. ISDE team is currently preparing to head over to France
for this yearıs competition, and although there will be no Pentons on hand, the
event typically sees a huge turnout of KTMs (the bike from which Pentons were
derived)."