High Point Raceway near Mt. Morris a crown jewel of motocross racing
Photos courtesy of MX Sports Pro Motocross
A rider leans into a turn during motocross racing at High Point Raceway.
Photos courtesy of MX Sports Pro Motocross
A rider gets big air during motocross racing at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris.
A pack of riders heads into the first turn during the 1990 motocross race at High Point Raceway near Mt. Morris.
MT. MORRIS – Forty years ago in September, Dave Coombs Sr. found a patch of farmland a few miles east of Mt. Morris and had a vision.
The race promoter looked out to the rolling hills and deep valleys of the Dunkard Township property owned by Jack and Carroll Holbert and thought it would be an ideal place for, of all things, a motocross track.
What spawned from his vision was High Point Raceway, which has become the crown jewel of the national Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series that attracts dozens of world-class riders for the annual race broadcast live on national television.
“He was a big picture, visionary guy,” his son, Davey Coombs, said. “He knew if you built an exceptional event and gave people their money’s worth, he knew it would grow. He left us with a great playbook.”
The motocross dirt track at 218 Taylortown Road will celebrate its 40th anniversary Saturday afternoon with its annual High Point AMA Pro National race. It’s the fourth race on the schedule for the Pro Motocross series operated by Morgantown-based MX Sports Pro Racing.
Davey Coombs, president of MX Sports, said his father, who died in 1998, would be proud of his legacy and probably surprised at how the annual race grew into a national event. His mother, Rita, is still involved in the company.
“They invited my dad out in September ’76 and asked about building a motocross track,” Coombs said. “It’s been here ever since.”
While the High Point race has been a popular event since the beginning, its growth in recent years is directly tied to the formation of the MX Sports Pro Racing company, which began overseeing the motocross series in 2009. With High Point just a few miles away from the company’s headquarters in Morgantown, it made sense to use the track – one of a dozen on the national circuit – as the centerpiece of the series, MX Sports marketing manager Nick Koester said.
“High Point stands out with two or three other events that have been the hallmark races since the ’70s,” Koester said. “Only a handful of tracks have been able to hold on and maintain their big events for this long.”
Although the dirt track’s configuration changed very little from its original design, High Point grew and improved over the years.
Coombs looked over the track last week with amazement from its pristine condition.
“Like a golf course with a motocross track running through it,” he said.
He credited the Holbert family for its work to maintain the track over the years. Jack and Carroll’s son, Mike Holbert, now owns the property with his wife, Melissa.
“We’re real lucky that the Holbert family continues to open their gates to us and thousands of motocross enthusiasts,” Coombs said. “What they do quietly on a yearlong basis while we run the whole series, they don’t get enough credit. It’s just beautiful.”
It will now be on display for a national television audience when it’s broadcast live on NBC from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
That national presence is a big change from a couple of decades ago when the event had more of a reputation for partying, said Tim Cotter of MX Sports Pro Racing. But that perception changed through the company’s “huge expense” for security and state police support.
“People have a good time but they do it responsibly,” he said, “We now have much more of a family event.”
The top racers will qualify Saturday morning for the afternoon races. The top 40 riders in two engine classes, 250cc and 450cc, will then race during the main events from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Amateur races will be held Friday and Sunday.
Coombs said they’re marking the historic occasion with reunions of past champions and retro bikes that will make it feel like a “homecoming” for fans.
“The track was part of motocross in its early years in America,” Coombs said. “The fact it’s still there is amazing. It speaks to the quality of the track and the event.”
For more information about the race, call 304-284-0084 or go online to www.mxsportsproracing.com.