April 3, 2008
Yucca Chuckers Race

Photo by Dave Maxwell Bikes bunch up around hairpin curves at Yucca Chuckers Race.

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Alamo’s Yucca Chuckers dirt bike racing club took their turn March 29 and 30 hosting a weekend race on the normal racing circuit. For the first time the race was held west of Alamo, at the edge of the new rodeo grounds. For several years, the race had been held at Hells Half Acre, east of U.S. Highway 93.

About 250 riders, in three different categories, took part filling the western part of the town with a veritable city of pickups, trailers, campers, dirt bikes and pit crews.

Yucca Chuckers is one of 11 clubs that are part of the Motorcycling Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN), and each local club in the Association is asked to host one event each racing season. The Alamo event was the third on the MRAN 2008 schedule.

Club President Dale Wallace, of Caliente, said the reason for moving to the west side was that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had tightened the rules and restrictions for bike events in the Hells Half Acre area. The club had considered having a course from Alamo to Caliente, but BLM turned that proposal down.

West of Alamo the club set up a 17-mile loop for the mini-bikes and a 32-mile loop for the big bikes, which were required to run two laps. The course this year was not as technically demanding as the Hells Half Acre course has been, but riders found the course a bit more physically demanding because of the softer dirt.

Wallace said in 2009 they might move the course a bit further north in the valley.