The bike racing knees-up for have-a-go-zeroes
- Text by Michael Fordham
- Illustrations by Eboy

Dirt Quake USA is the blue collar motorcycle sport of flat track, viewed through the shot glass binoculars. It is an English take on an American sport, exported back to America. It’s everything you might expect a motorbike racing event not to be. The emphasis is on the simple joy of the ride.
The idea is simple: Motorcycle racing can be expensive and exclusive, daunting and dangerous. Dirt Quake is none of those things. Well, except dangerous.
Dirt Quake encourages the no-hopers, feckless and bewildered to race their own street motorcycle on an internationally-renowned dirt track oval. Any bike will do. Categories include inappropriate road bikes and choppers, even classic snowmobiles.
If you have a proper race bike, or much of a clue, this isn’t really for you. You can race plenty of other times during the year.
Dirt Quake USA is for race virgins and have-a-go zeroes. It is promoted by Portland’s biking honeypot, See See Motorcycles and UK-based Sideburn magazine (recently included in Huck’s 50 inspiring stories)
The second Dirt Quake USA takes place June 20-21, at Castle Rock, WA.
You might like

Is the UK ready for a Kabaddi boom?
Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi — Watched by over 280 million in India, the breathless contact sport has repeatedly tried to grip British viewers. Ahead of the Kabaddi World Cup being held in Wolverhampton this month, Kyle MacNeill speaks to the gamechangers laying the groundwork for a grassroots scene.
Written by: Kyle MacNeill

Warm portraits of English football fans before the Premier League
Going to the Match — In the 1991/1992 season, photographer Richard Davis set out to understand how the sport’s supporters were changing, inadvertently capturing the end of an era.
Written by: Isaac Muk

The Chinese youth movement ditching big cities for the coast
In ’Fissure of a Sweetdream’ photographer Jialin Yan documents the growing number of Chinese young people turning their backs on careerist grind in favour of a slower pace of life on Hainan Island.
Written by: Isaac Muk

How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race
Photographer R. Perry Flowers documented the 2023 edition of the Winter Death Race and talked through the experience in Huck 81.
Written by: Josh Jones

Laura Crane is waving goodbye to sexism in surfing
The first UK woman to surf the legendary big wave spot Nazarè, Crane is surfing the sea change in the sport and beyond.
Written by: Sam Haddad

We Run Mountains: Black Trail Runners tackle Infinite Trails
Soaking up the altitude and adrenaline at Europe’s flagship trail running event, high in the Austrian Alps, with three rising British runners of colour.
Written by: Phil Young