A quick one for Saturday while I’m busy – a few weeks ago reader and Facebook group member Jim Wall posted some lovely period pictures of busy days at Wharf Lane Motocross Track that existed in a quarry that’s now under Junction T6 of the M6 Toll at Chasetown, adjacent to Chasewater.

This track was nationally famous in its heyday of the 70s and 80s and the sound of bike engines being thrashed was a familiar sound in Brownhills of a weekend for many years.

Any mention of Wharf Lane Motocross always brings in warm recollections from the biking community and I recall relatives travelling a long way to see races there and enjoy the atmosphere.

The track, like the Chasewater Go-Kart track was lost with the M6 Toll construction that severed Wharf Lane permanently, and changed the topography of that area forever. We’ve covered that several times on the blog before – for galleries see the huge set by Wendy Jones here and this one by Rob Sault here.

I thank Jim Wall for allowing me to share this wonderful set and invite readers to comment – please do. What do you remember of this lost, well loved attraction? What is the actual history of it, how did it come to be there? I’d love to know. The recent piece on bike racing at Lazy Hill provoked a lot of comment, and I’m hoping this will too.

Please comment here or mail me – BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com – or tug my sleeve on social media.

As a memory jogger, I include an old post featuring video of racing at Wharf Lane too.

Old post follows:

I found the above video on YouTube few weeks ago, and it’s made me think of the Motocross events that used to take place in the old quarry off Wharf Lane in Brownhills. The sound of the bikes used to colour many a Brownhillian weekend, but all was ended by the construction of the M6 Toll, which destroyed the course.

It occurs to me that people travelled from miles away to come to these races, and it was a very popular activity. Does anyone out there have memories of this, or can shed more light on the above video?

It was posted by user Tog20 in 2008, and is entitled ‘Anthony Barrett and the Late RAY TONKS at Brownhills’, The caption says:

This was a practice day at Brownhills, I’m riding the 1998 CR250 and Ray is riding the YZ 125. RIP Ray, you’re sorely missed mate. Great days practice.

Another commentor, Gav1976 says:

Wharf lane was an awesome track.Shame the AMCA arent buying more land 2 build parmanent tracks rather than just taking our money & leaving the hard work to the clubs

So, can anyone shed any light upon this, or the track and events in particular? I don’t even know who ran them. Any contributions gratefully accepted.

BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com, or comment here. Cheers.