Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eTRIBUTE ~ AMA National Charnpionship_S_OO_cc_MX _ _S_erie_s one, ut not or otten By Kit Palme r a tch in g the fin al round of the 1993 AMA N atio na l Cham p ionsh ip 125 /500cc MX ' Se ri es at Steel City Racewa y in Delmont, Pennsylvania, on Sep tember 5 was lik e riding an emotional ro lle r co as te r . Mik e LaRocco and Doug Henry earned th e ir fi rst-e ver AM A National Cham p io nship s - in th e 500 and 12Sec classes, respectively. And 16year-old Robbie Reynard beca m e the yo u nges t rid er to ever w in an AMA National MX as he tas ted v ictory for the first tim e in his promisin g yo ung professional career in th e 125cc d ivision. Sadly, ho w ever, the Labo r D a y week end meet also marked the end of an era as th e A MA N ati onal Champions hip 500cc MX Se r ies was put to rest. ' Next year, fo r the firs t ti me si nce 1972, the 500cc series wo n't appear on the AMA Nationa l Ch ampionship racing calendar. Ins tead, an expa nded versio n o f the 250cc Natio nal MX Ser ies w ill take its place. Th e clo ck has been run n ing down on th e 500cc class si nce the mid-'80s, whe n Suzuki and Yam ah a p ulled their factor y MX team s out of the ."big-bore" division a nd focu sed on th e 125 and 250cc class es. Only Hond a and Kaw asaki rema in ed , an d the w ri ting was on th e wall. Imminen t dea th for the SO Occ class. N o w that ti m e has come. Why d id the AMA decide to pu ll the W First an d last. (Above) The las t-ever 500cc AMA National Motocross Champ ion, Indiana's Mike laRocco. (Below) Th e first 500cc Nati ona l Championship went to Mark Blackwell, on a Hus qva ma, bac k in 1971. -----..:. - _ pl ug o n what was o nce th e p re mier class in Na ti ona l M X co mpe ti tio n? The re a re p erha ps many reason s, but according to Bill Amic k of the AMA , the ra tionale was obvious. "Marketing," Amick said. "Not so muc h from a seiling mo torcycles po int of view , altho ugh that would be the case with the manufacturers, bu t more so from a marketing- . oj-the-sport loo k a t thi ngs . Basicall y, from the AMA's point of view, we just h a ve to o ma ny' cha mpions (in motocross). Withou t the SOOcc class, we can now have just one real National MX champion and one su percross champion. The 250cc class is now the (undisputed ) premier class. The 12Scc class, however, ha s developed in to a p resti gious class too, but it's still considered as a d evelop men t class." AMA P r o Ra cin g D ir ec to r Roy Janson said, "The 500cc class has go tten borin g. There' s hard ly any passing anymore, and it's just not as exciting as it was 15 yea rs ago. At that time , 500cc bi kes w e re the fas tes t b ikes on th e track; now they' re al mos t the slowest." The SOOcc Na tional MX Series is one of the longest-r un ning AMA Nat iona l MX Series as only the 250cc MX series has been around as long. Both the 500 an d 2S0cc series officially bega n in 1972; wit h the 125cc series getting u nderway in 1974, the same yea r as the "indoor" version of the Nationals - the Supercross series. In 1971, however, two riders were reco g nized as National Champi ons, despite the fact that AMA National Championsh ip Series were not cond ucted . Mark Blackwell and Gary Jones were crowned cham pions in the 500 and 250cc classes, respectively , b y virtue of their "top Ame rican " finishes in th e Tran s-AM A Series, th e AMA' s major MX series at the time. The Tra nsAMA Se ries was eve n tua lly " phasedou t" as th e Na tiona l Cham p ionsh ip Series gained pr est ige. "Th e Trans-AMA Series was pres ti- . gio us, bu t it wa s more of an exhibition than anything else, " recall s Blackwe ll, who is n ow m ark e ting d irect or for Arc tco, the Minnesota-ba sed per son a l wa tercraft and snow mo bile manufacturer. "At that time motocross was just

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