Illinois

The state runs corner-to-corner: corn-belt flat down south, glacial moraines in the north, and a deep moto history through both. Byron Motosports Park west of Chicago hosts AMA Pro Motocross history and still draws the biggest crowds. B-52 Hangar MX outside Rantoul is built on an old airbase and rides like it. Archview, Crossroads, Fox Valley Off Road on the Wisconsin border. Soil ranges from black-dirt loam in central Illinois (some of the best-riding dirt in the country when prepped right) to sandier mixes near the lakeshore. Season runs late March through October with a frost shutdown that comes earlier than southerners expect. RPM and the Illinois Motocross Association run the bulk of the points series. The Chicago metro tracks fill up fast on weekend mornings; the downstate venues feel more like pasture-and-shade-tree affairs. The flat farmland geography means a lot of these tracks build their elevation out of pushed-up dirt, which sets up gnarly when it gets wet.