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  • Pine Lake TT - Over 30 Three Wheelers show up for National Race

    July 20-22, 2012 – Ashtabula, Ohio – 2012 AMA Racing ATV Extreme Dirt Track National Championship Series

    Pine Lake is located in the Northeastern Corner of Ohio, and less than 10 miles south of Lake Erie’s shoreline. Pine Lake is considered to be the “Oldest ATV Track” in the United States. It is run by the Fischer Family, and the track is well known for its beautiful scenery. Compared to many MX tracks I’ve been to, this place is more like a golf course than a dirt track.


    Pine Lake "Open Class Winners" (left to right) Jackie Meadows, Nick LaLanne, Erik Dubb

    I was very surprised to see the pits as full as they were when I arrived around 10AM on Friday morning, 2 days before the actual races. The caliber of machines sitting around the pits was enough to stop most enthusiasts dead in their tracks. Between the most tricked out lowered quads to the most amazing array of machines from yesteryear to modern quad to trike conversions, this place was like an ATV show. And some of the haulers and rigs sitting around makes me wonder just what it is like to be a professional TT racer. How hard can life on the road be with a Freightliner motor home with a 30 foot trailer in tow? Still I suppose the racers and support crew long for life at home, but I have to say, these guys do it in style!


    Vintage Class Holeshot

    All machines had to pass tech inspection prior to practice. 3 wheelers had no width restriction like the quads did of 50” wide. Tech Inspectors checked for cotter keys in hubs, tight lug nuts, working brakes, tether switches, and I’m sure a list of other technical details I am unaware of. The tech inspection was right up next to the sign up line, so it made the long wait somewhat bearable. Jackie Meadows #111 was present for the event, and cut in line with myself and fellow 3 wheeler racers. I know Jackie didn’t want anyone to find out about the line cutting so don’t say anything about it if you are reading this article. It only took about 3 minutes to figure out who Jackie Meadows really is. He’s just one of us! A die hard trike guy who has the same passion we do regarding our beloved sport and 3 wheelers in general.

    While walking around the pits to kill some time, a few of us stumbled upon a very nice 1985 ATC250R sitting alongside an equally nice 1988 TRX250R. Both seemed so era correct and both were set up nicely for TT. Once we struck up a conversation with the owner, we had the pleasure of meeting Erik Dubb #97, the 1997 Winner of Lorretta Lynn’s. Erik is a super cool guys and is super fast on the track on both 3 wheels and 4 wheels. Just like Jackie, Erik is a very cool down to earth guy who is just plain and simply into trikes. Saturday morning there was a 5 lap practice first prior to the start of racing.

    There were 8 classes of quads, 3 classes of trikes and a Side by Side UTV class. Once practice was over it was time to start running heat races. Although there were only 12 total classes, there were actually 52 heat races, as many classes had multiple gates. Being as the trikes were exhibition only, that meant no elimination. Every trike there would run in the finals on Sunday. There was one gate of 70 class, 2 gates of Vintage Class, and 2 gates of Open Class. Heat races basically ran until dusk as there are no track light.

    Sunday morning, a few more quad heat races took place as well as the Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) for quads. Almost immediately following the LCQs the main race lists were posted. Vintage 3 Wheeler – Race 4. 70 Class 3 Wheeler – Race 11. Open 3 Wheeler Class – Race 25. Our day was set in stone.

    Vintage Results:

    Vintage Vid:


    Open Results:

    Open Vid:


    70 Class Results:

    70 Class Vid:


    With Pine Lake in the books, the excitement and stigma are still there. From one of the coolest tracks were 3 wheelers used to reign king, and thunder around the track, to 30 years later as a vintage race, everyone was excited to see the trikes in action. By the sounds of things, we are very much welcomed back next year. Get that old trike out of the shed, and slam it. Pine Lake will be awaiting your arrival!
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. TimSr's Avatar
      TimSr -
      Tim, I'm glad you were able to be a part of this, as you played a vital role on the genisis of this whole movement!I would like to thank the members of 3WW who came out and joined the OTC along with .ORG people and the non-forum people to make our very first national event a huge success. The official count was 41three wheeler race entries.

      Everything went off without any major hitches, and to the relief of the promoter and those involved in putting this together, those potential problems for which we had to be prepared never materialized. There were no major crashes or injuries, and no dirty racing or deliberate contact, which made us look good to promoter and spectator alike. It looked like everyone had a good time, and it was also pleasing to see so many long term, personal feuds dismissed, and bridges rebuilt by the event’s end.

      As it stands now, we are planning on working with Bud and doing this again next year, and hopefully with improved cooperation and communication between 3WW and OTC, we can see an even more positive event in 2013. The one area that could be improved is everyone’s cooperation in keeping negativity off the internet and out of public view. It preceded our arrival and helped no one. This was the only mention by the promoter on the negative side of the ledger. There will likely be a few changes next year, but probably nothing major, other than the questionable future of AMA involvement. These details will be announced on the OTC Forums as they are worked out, and linked here as well. I would suggest putting tether kill switches on the Mod 70s, and being prepared for the width restrictions just in case.

      It is also likely that the OTC will be scheduling other public events at Pine Lake in 2013, which will be announced on our 2013 schedule, as the interest seem to be sufficient to justify more than one race opportunity there. The public is invited to any event announced on the forums or appearing on our schedule.

      There is also the possibility of yet another new national event on the OTC schedule, but its premature to get excited just yet.

      I would also like to thank everyone for respecting our privacy at our series makeup race event for active members only at Pine Lake this summer, and I’d like to thank the selflessness of OTC guys who quickly chose to give up the EDT race from our series and get behind promoting it publicly when we saw all the public interest from racers who do not normally come out.
    1. lazybiker79's Avatar
      lazybiker79 -
      Great write up!! And great news for 3wheelers
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