Kit Palmer | August 4, 2024
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End of an Era
Twenty years ago, almost to the day, one of the Mid-West’s most well-known venues on the AMA Pro Motocross Championship circuit held its final National event. On July 25, 2004, amidst the screaming of 125cc and 250cc two-stroke engines and the crowd cheers, Kenworthy’s GP Club Motocross track (later just called Kenworthy’s MX Park) officially waved the checkered flag on a National MX for the last time. This marked the end of an era, as the park’s owner had, before the race, received the disappointing news from the AMA that his track would not be on the 2005 AMA National Motocross calendar. Kenworthy’s rather successful run of hosting a National had come to an unceremonious end.
Rick Johnson was one of the first National winners at the Kenworthy’s facility in 1987. Johnson won the 500cc class and Guy Cooper the 125cc class.
Photos: Kit Palmer
However, the run wasn’t exceptionally long. The track’s co-founder and promoter, the late Don Kenworthy Sr., had been given the green light to host its first National in 1987, won by Rick Johnson (500cc) and Guy Cooper (125cc), so the Troy, Ohio, stop on the AMA Pro Motocross Champion circuit lasted only 17 years, and I might have covered all 17 of them for this publication. I know that I covered the first and the last Kenworthy’s races and many others in between.
I remembered that the Kenworthy’s race usually drew a large and enthusiastic crowd, and the track wasn’t your typical National MX track. The facility was quite scenic, built among trees and farmland, and on one side of the track, there was a large lazy river, the Great Miami River. I remembered the mosquitoes were so bad that it prevented any thoughts of a quick dip to escape the Ohio heat between motos. But the track’s most distinguished feature was its flat-as-a-pancake layout. It certainly wasn’t your typical motocross track with elevation changes and varied terrain. Whatever elevation Kenworthy’s had was man-made. The track did have, however, plenty of jumps. The Kenworthys National was often described as a large outdoor supercross where you could grab top gear and have enough time to briefly hold the throttle wide open. At the first race in 1987, Jeff Ward said the track was a “stretched out supercross,” and privateer Billy Frank said it was a “long supercross; hard on a 500cc because if you’re not timing everything just right, you’re going to get out of shape.”
Indeed, the Troy track was fast. But, to me, that was a major part of its uniqueness, and I loved listening to those factory 125cc two-stokes sing at the top of their lungs, especially when James Stewart was on the track on his factory Kawasaki KX125 or Guy Cooper on his factory Honda CR125R. It was music to my ears. I always enjoyed going to Kenworthy’s.
The facility, however, had its share of problems that eventually led to its demise. For one, it wasn’t very fan-friendly. The flat layout made it difficult to see the racing, just bits and pieces of it as the racers flew past you just a few feet away at 60 mph. Then, your view was blocked by the thousands of fans between you and the rest of the track. You might catch a glimpse of the riders as they popped up and over the spectators’ heads on the large jumps on the other side of the infield, but that was about it. There was no supercross-type seating.
Kenworthy’s was known for its flat layout, which made viewing difficult after the infield had filled up with fans.
I remember parking being a mess, too.
Rain must have been Don’s biggest nightmare since the flat layout was not conducive for rapid drainage, and when it rained in Ohio in the middle of summer, it rained! In 2003, it rained so hard that the river overflowed, and the facility was left completely submerged by water and badly damaged. The July race had to be rescheduled to a later date, in September, and would now be the final round. To Don’s dismay, the rains came again, and it flooded again, and the race had to be canceled altogether, reducing the Championship from 12 to 11 rounds, which in the world of motocross and pretty much any championship sport for that matter is the holy grail of no-nos. The 125cc title was still very much up for grabs, and when the news came out that the second Troy National of the year had been canceled, KTM’s Grant Langston, who was leading Ryan Hughes by just seven points, was instantly declared champion while he and other racers were staying nearby the track at the home of friend and competitor Brock Sellards. Langston learned via the phone he was the new 125cc AMA Champion. Let the party begin! And so, it did.
As it turned out, the flooding issue wasn’t the only reason the AMA pulled the plug on the Troy National, which would be replaced by Lakewood, Colorado.
“It’s multiple things,” said Duke Finch, the AMA’s motocross manager at the time, of the decision to yank Troy off the schedule. “This isn’t what you would call natural-terrain motocross, by no means. Supercross is a dangerous sport, and this track is very ‘supercross-ee,’ but much faster than regular supercross. There are other facility issues; the inability to get more than one road off the highway makes for long lines here, and the real nail in the coffin was getting flooded out twice last year. I mean, we were trying to work it out. Having to cut the series to 11 races last year was just heartbreak for everybody, and that was the real nail in the coffin.”
Rain at Kenworthy’s GP Club Track
However, not every racer felt the Kenworthy’s track was an outdoor supercross track. “It really isn’t [supercross]; it’s still outdoors and really fast,” said Ricky Carmichael, the last National moto and overall winner at Kenworthy’s.
“Yeah, it has jumps, [but] everybody knows how to jump,” Chad Reed said. ”I’m not even on the same bike that I ride in supercross. It’s completely different; the ruts are gnarly, and the speeds are high, so, other than the jumps, it’s not ‘supercross-ee’ that much.”
Obviously, it was not a popular decision among local Ohio fans to pull the plug on the race. Local racer Joe Oehlof said, “The AMA is here in Ohio, so it doesn’t make sense that they were the ones who pulled it away from Don.”
Racing at Kenworthy’s was fast and fun to watch.
“I really liked racing here, loved the fans and know that I’ll miss this place,” said James Stewart winner of the 125cc class at Troy’s last National. “I know a lot of people didn’t like this track for whatever reasons, but the two times I’ve raced here were excellent. It’s too bad it’s got to go.”
Too bad, indeed. Kenworthy’s is still missed.CN
