Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY THE CN STAFF W hen asked about his historic victory at the opening round of the 1973 250cc World Motocross Championship GP series at Sab- adell, Spain, Jim Pomeroy isn't nec- essarily proudest of the win itself, nor even the trophy for that win—a trophy that he didn't even see for 30 years. Rather, he is proudest about what it meant for those who would come after him. "What I'm proud of is that I gave confidence to everybody on this side of the ocean that yes, we're capable, and yes, we could win," Pomeroy, now 51, says. [Pomeroy passed away in 2006 at the age of 53.] "No other American had even been in the top 10 in any GP moto up to that time. I just did what I did because I loved the sport and I loved to ride." And if not for the love, Pome- roy might not have made history, because the money certainly wasn't there in those early days. In fact, he almost didn't make it to that first GP in Spain. ''About a month before that GP I ran out of money," Pomeroy recalls. "I was out of my per diem, and the Americans were only getting, like, $50 or $100 for start money because none of us had ever finished in the top 10. Basically, I couldn't come home early either, because a return ticket would cost me $1000. So, I got desperate and borrowed a 125 and went to a race P96 JIM POMEROY: VIVA POMEROY! tage, because I didn't have to deal with traffic then." Pomeroy remembers getting off to an 11th- or 12th-place start in the first moto, but he quickly went to the outside, and he began passing one or two riders per corner. In years past, guys would be a whole gear faster on the outside, but it still wouldn't be enough to make a pass," Pomeroy says. "I was going two gears faster on the outside." Part of his confidence to charge came from the adrenaline rush brought on by the 150,000-strong partisan Spanish crowd, who cheered the American like a home- boy simply because he was riding a Bultaco Pursang. They didn't in Belgium about three weeks before the GP. Andre Malherbe was the champion, riding for Zundapp, and Gilbert de Reuver was number two, and I ended up beating them. So, I go up to the window to get my money after the race, and I'm watching DeCoster and watching Malherbe pick up their $800-$1200 in start money, and I'm thinking, 'It's okay, because I'll get the purse money. They gave me $350. I thought, 'This isn't like America at all.' Then a week before Sabadell, I won a race just outside Barcelona, and I got another $400. Roger got $1500. I wasn't liking the system at all. And I was homesick." If Pomeroy was homesick, then the Sabadell circuit was a welcome sight, as it at least reminded him of home. The fast, hard clay track was not un- like Saddleback Park in California. "The narrowest spot was maybe 60 feet wide, " Pomeroy said. "It was so wide that nobody would take outside lines. That was to my advan- In 1973, Jim Pomeroy became the first American to win a motocross grand prix, and he did it in Europe. The story behind that historic win is legendary, as was the man himself.

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