Cairns Downhill (back in the Day) Circa '92

Crippler

Likes Dirt
I've been wanting to put these up for a while, but haven't
had the time to scan them in. These are from a Cairns National
Series DH in 1992 (my old memory is hazy, but I think it was in
conjunction with the RRR XC Race the next day,
back then you rode both.....ON THE SAME BIKE...ah the memories).

This was a classic "walk to the top" race. An early Glen Jacobs
and the Cairns Crew had build a farkin beauty...did any other farkiners race with me on this killer track?

Enjoy days of old...


PHIL CATTON!!


Cairns Local


The finish berm...


Andrew Pannam (Check out the compression on the Tange Shockblades)


Entertainment awaits...


Ben Brabham


Rodney Meares


Did either GT RTS survive much longer?? Cairns = burial ground for many an RTS-1


Meares

Thought I'd throw these two in of the 92 National Dual Slalom Championships at Kurrajong NSW


Me and Mark McDougal


Me and Cadel Evans (Can you say you beat Cadel? Ha)
 

starship303

Likes Dirt
nice one Crippler! its always great to see old skool MTB pix. back in the day when travel was a true premium! :) no idea what i was doing back then but (no offence intended :eek:) it definitely wasn't throwing myself down that mountain.

PS: very nice work beating Mr Evans! (how old would he have been back then?)

keep them coming (if you have any more).

cheers
 
dam that track looks awsome :D i love the back protection of the guy on the apollo in the fourth picture that looks very very effective.:D
 

Martin.au

Likes Dirt
Great pics. This takes me back to when I started. I was but a young whippersnapper of 13 - 14 riding on a kmart special. I remember reading a review of the Klein Attitude (I think it was around at that time) dreaming of when I'd be able to own a bike like that. :D Fast forward a few years and now I can.
 

Ryan

Radministrator
Wow, I'm probably one of the assorted squids standing under Benny Bramham's back wheel. Not really though, that's 3 years before my wheels ever touched dirt in anger, though it was almost certainly on that same track when it finally did happen (looks like the bottom of what would go on to be the World Cup track and then later what we youngen's would know as Old Minjin). You're old dude ;)
 
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DEMONATION

Likes Dirt
man cairns looks sick back then such a shame that all our dh tracks are fuking dead out in smithfeld. 1992 man i was like 3 damn. hey crippler u still a local? where is that finish berm in persepctive of the current setup out at smithy?
 

Crippler

Likes Dirt
[PS: very nice work beating Mr Evans! (how old would he have been back then?)

keep them coming (if you have any more).]

We were 14 (I think) at the time!! And yeah I'll throw some more old skool pics up soon. Have a few old early - mid 90's Nationals, 94 & 95 Worlds etc

The old minjin track was actually on the south (?) side of the hill closer to the AJ Hacket Bunjee site. The WC track went down the other way. This was a lot shorter than the years after. Does anyone remember the start gate with the sharks mouth in 94? Now thats a pic I gotta find!

Had to say where this is in relation, haven riden there for maybe 6 years.
 

roasted

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Crippler said:
Does anyone remember the start gate with the sharks mouth in 94? Now thats a pic I gotta find!
haha, I remember seeing that on TV when I was about seven and thinking it was the raddest thing ever. I think that race on TV is what got me into mtb'ing.
 

Brett

Likes Dirt
Thoes are awesome pics. I remember the 96 worlds ... seeing palmers american flag paint job on his intense... good times
 

dopestylesamwin

Likes Dirt
I lived in Smithfield, In cairns when that was on, smithfield is where that track is just near the Aj Hackett bungy centre. I would have been ohhhh about 6 or 7 years old when that was on and we learnt to ride Pee Wee 50's at the very bottom of that track on the dirt road. Ohhh the memories haha. wasn't into mtbing then I was all about MTX up in the Tablelands at Mareeba :)

Thanks for that...
 

DOM

Eats Squid
aww the memories

who ended up winning ?

Gotta love that Red Cairns Soil !!!

Those photo's are awesome ! .. I had a sh*t load of photo's from those days .. my first race was the North Qld Games around 94, 95 ...

those days Dallozo and McCarroll were killing it locally !
 

wsmtbdhvp

NSWMTB, Western Sydney MTB
Kurrajong Dual Slalom 1992

Western Sydney MTB Club again started racing at Kurrajong in 2007, we are trying to put a little history up on the track. Crippler would you pm me your name so we can add it to the captions?
 

Stinky

Likes Dirt
[PS: very nice work beating Mr Evans! (how old would he have been back then?)

keep them coming (if you have any more).]

We were 14 (I think) at the time!! And yeah I'll throw some more old skool pics up soon. Have a few old early - mid 90's Nationals, 94 & 95 Worlds etc

The old minjin track was actually on the south (?) side of the hill closer to the AJ Hacket Bunjee site. The WC track went down the other way. This was a lot shorter than the years after. Does anyone remember the start gate with the sharks mouth in 94? Now thats a pic I gotta find!

Had to say where this is in relation, haven riden there for maybe 6 years.
I think this is the section that the WC shuttle track crosses on the way up. Is this the 'stupidly happy' section?

I remember watching this race or perhaps the following year live on Wide World of Sports. Would love to see some of the current freeride guys hitting stuff up in lycra like this.
 

jham66

Likes Dirt
I watched the Grundig World Cup on that track at Smithfield, rode down from Kuranda to see it, I was standing on Jacob's ladder to watch a good heap of the riders go through. I think that sharks head, or one very similar, lives at the Esplanade shopping centre, it is either at the entrance to the Aquarium or a gift shop. It has been a few years since I saw it though, so maybe they have ditched it.
 
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