Wayne Hosaka 1948-2011 IN MEMORY


Oceanside. Reprinted from August 1995 issue


The ground was still wet from all the rain we had this winter and deep ruts had been carved into the steeper trails. Only the wider trails were still visible as no off road traffic had been legal in that area for many years. But my mind was carefully planning the best way to approach a difficult section of terrain I spotted near the tracks. My body was throwing English in my chair as I envisioned being aboard my Hodaka straining up an off camber, rutty


switchback hoping the 3.25 x 17 Inouye knobby rear tire could find the traction before I was buried to the pegs.


I was a motorcycle junkie. I could not get enough of them. I used to read all the


that to reduce the weight of the engines, they had total loss oiling systems which means they dump the oil on the ground when they are done using it. Bad idea. The track was slick. Very slick. My Don Vesco BSA 650cc twin was not set up for slick tracks. My qualifying


“My first recollections of Ascot at age 14 are of the magical sensation I felt seeing, feeling and smelling the excitement of flat track motorcycles roaring, bellowing, inhaling after each blast of exhaust, circling like warriors . . . calling me to join on the track.”


magazines I could find, which was only about three back in the sixties. Cycle World was the big one. I would memorize the whole magazine starting with the racing section. The latest from the European GP’s, Mike Hailwood dominating on his MV Augusta and Honda. The likes of Phil Read, Mike Duff, Kel Cauruthers, and Giacomo Agostini introducing the factory efforts of the emerging Japanese manufacturers. Motocross as well as Trials was also


big over there. Torsten Hallman and Joel Robert were big in motocross along with Roger DeCoster, Dave Bickers and John Banks. Trials was totally dominated by Sammy Miller on his Bultaco Sherpa T. Speedway was a Berry Brigg-Ivan Mauger affair.


And then there was American flat Wayne on the TT jump at South Bay Speedway in the late 1960’s


Wayne Hosaka’s professional flattrack career was cut short in 1971 when he was paralyzed in a motorcycle racing accident. He lived the next 40 years of his life as a quadriplegic. Wayne passed away in January of this year at the age of 62. As a tribute to him we are reprinting articles over the coming months that he shared with us when he wrote “Old Dirt” in the 1990’s.


Part 1 of a series A


while back I took the new Coaster commuter train from San Diego to the Sorrento Valley station. After leaving the Santa Fe Depot, the Coaster makes a quick stop in Old Town and then proceeds north parallel to Interstate 5, heading inland after it crosses under Highway 52. We then began to travel up a valley that was becoming very familiar. Though there were streets and houses covering the plateau and flowing down into the ravines, the land was unmistakably familiar. Soon I began to realize we were entering one of my


favorite playgrounds.


Over 25 years had passed since I had traveled the dirt road just to the south of the railroad tracks. I could make out parts of the road as it followed the grove of Sycamore trees up the valley. On the northern side of the tracks the land was virtually unchanged from when we used to ride there in the sixties. Being spring, the hills were covered with a blanket of green grass and sprays of yellow mustard blooms. My mind began to wander as the coaster rapidly made its way up the tracks toward the ultimate destination in


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track racing. AMA Class C Grand National racing. This was my destiny. By the age of 14, I was completely addicted to any and everything about motorcycles. As I rolled along at a quiet 60 miles per hour on the Coaster, I began thinking about how motorcycles and the vacant fields flying by so quietly had affected my life so greatly.


I was very proud as I rolled up to the line that February 7, 1971. This was Ascot, my home track. It was a day race, which was strange because we usually raced at night. And they let Speedway motorcycles out on the track for the first time. The problem with Speedway bikes is


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time was mediocre. I figured to just try for a good start and settle into a pace that felt comfortable. I knew I would probably have a hard time just making the main. All the big names were there, tweaking their half-milers and mile bikes getting ready for the upcoming season. I’d probably run the heat race, semi and then transfer to the truck.


The National points race had begun the week before at the Houston Astrodome Short Track and TT. The short track was for the 250cc motorcycles and the TT was run on specially set up Triumphs, BSA’s and a few other brands. So the flat track bikes sat idle until Ascot. Ascot park was a battleground, a bull ring for weekly motorcycle warring at the very top level. Every Friday night from late spring till fall J.C. Agajanian Enterprises presented AMA Grand National Flat Track racing at Ascot. My first recollections of Ascot at age 14 are of the magical sensation I felt seeing, feeling and smelling the excitement of flat track motorcycles roaring, bellowing, inhaling after each blast of exhaust, circling like warriors, preparing the next heat, calling me to join them on the track.


As the Coaster passed under I-805 the terrain turned virgin, unchanged from my youth.


The memories of Ascot were sobering. 


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