Cato MX

Cato MX runs off Dalton Road in Cato, up in Cayuga County between Syracuse and Lake Ontario, and it is one of the founding tracks of the UpState Motocross series. Along with Thornwood, Frozen Ocean and Moto Masters, it put the USMX calendar together back in 2011, and it still hosts rounds of the USMX and WNYMA dual district series every season.

The layout is natural terrain cut through open rolling ground, which means the elevation is in the land rather than pushed up with a dozer, and the whole track sits in the open where spectators can actually watch a moto rather than losing riders behind a treeline.

This is not a drop-in practice track. Cato opens around its race weekends, and the shape of a weekend is consistent: open practice on the Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM at $30 per rider for bikes and quads, then racing on the Sunday. Gates open Friday from 4:30 PM to 11 PM if you want to get set up early, Saturday 8 AM to 11 PM, and Sunday from 6:30 AM.

Sign-up is at the track, there is no online pre-entry. On a race weekend that runs Saturday afternoon from 1:30 to 3 PM and again 6 to 8 PM, then Sunday morning 7 to 9 AM, with the riders meeting at 8 AM. Admission is $15 per person and non-riders 10 and under are free.

You do not need an AMA card. USMX and WNYMA accept all current district cards, and if you do not hold one a day pass is sold at sign-up. Riders under 18 have to be signed in by a parent or guardian, and if the parent is not there the accompanying adult needs notarized authorization in hand at sign-up. That rule is enforced, so sort the paperwork before you leave home.

The one date to circle is the Women's Event in September, now in its 12th year. It is the longest running women's race on the upstate calendar and Cato builds the whole Sunday around it.

The mailing address the track publishes is not the track. Ride to 3219 Dalton Road, not the Route 176 address on their contact page.