What Makes Sandy Loam Good For Motocross?

The Problem With Most Track Dirt

Most tracks in the Southeast pick one problem and live with it. Pure clay goes greasy in the wet and sets like concrete in the dry. Sand drains beautifully but moves under you and needs constant water. Either way the track you ride in the last session is not the track you rode in the first one.

What you notice as a rider is the corners. By the second moto the berms are gone, there is one worn groove everybody is fighting over, and the rest of the corner is blue and slick.

What We Run Instead

The surface at McLarty MX Park is Alabama red clay cut with our own blend of wood shavings. The ratio is ours and it took some working out. The clay gives the track shape - it holds a berm and it takes a rip. The shavings hold moisture, which is the part that matters once the sun is up.

The practical result is a track that still has lines late in the day. You get grip where you expect to be sliding, and the corners are still there for the last race rather than being one polished rut.

It Drains

Sandy loam sheds water instead of holding it on the surface. A rain shower is not automatically the end of the day here, which is not something every track in this part of Alabama can say. If weather does force a change we post it at the top of every page on this website and on our Facebook page, so check before you load up rather than guessing from the forecast.

And It Gets Worked

Dirt on its own is only half of it. The track is watered and ripped before gates open, and on race days it gets worked through the day between sessions. Both tracks were rebuilt and upgraded in 2022 and both get attention between every event.

That combination - a surface that holds moisture and a crew that keeps touching it - is why the track at four o clock still resembles the one you rode at ten.