Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

upercross, or the practice of bringing the rough and tumble sport of natural terrain motocross into the clean, dust-free, hot dog and beer, klieglit surroundings of major league stickand-ball sports stadiums, first surfaced in America in 1972. Now, 25 years after that first "run what you brung" event in the Coliseum, the high-flying AMA Supercross Series is a deadly serious motorsports circuit. In 1996, the IS-race series drew 635,626 spectators, averaging well over 42,000 fans per even!. In fact, the Anaheim, California, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, rounds drew over 65,000 and 57,000 spe.ctators, respectively - numbers to make any motorsports promoter drool with envy. . Additionally, every round of the series now enjoys substantial, comprehensive TV coverage on both ESPN and ESPN 2. Moreover, every major motorcycle magazine on the planet sends out journalists to cover the events. It is not uncommon to see writers and photographers from Japan, Italy, Spain, Belgium, England and France at any given event. The AMA Supercross Series is hotly contested by the bucks-up factory teams - namely Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and, to a lesser degree, KTM (an Austrian manufacturer) - who each show up at'the races with brightly painted $500,000 18-wheel transporters, numerous factory-salaried riders and a bevy of mechanics, engineers, public relations and marketing people. In an effort to prove their research and development technology and racing prowess to the ticket (and motorcycle) buying public, the manufacturers' throw millions of dollars a year into the sport in an effort to one-up each other on the race track. The war for the AMA Supercross Cl,1ampionship is fought with trick, h.eavily massaged, production-based 250cc motorcycles, not too far removed from the ones available at your friendly neighborhood dealer. Weighing in at approximately 212 pounds and motivated by high-revving, water-cooled, 45 horsepower, two-stroke engines, the power-to-weight ratio of the featherlight machines is equal to that of any S four-wheeled racing vehicle on the planet. Researched and developed in Japan, the Asian-based manufacturers work closely in tandem with the American tearns to constantly improve and tinker with the motorcycles as the season develops. Technology is omnipresent within the sport and, not surprisingly, suspension technology is among the most cutting edge in all of motorsports. In fact, the suspension hardware that now graces the American In.dy Car circuit was all developed in the bone-jarring, teeth-chattering crucible of U.S. s:upercross. Perhaps more than any other motorsport, the racer is the most important variable in the equation of supercross competition. Requiring amazing physical conditioning, the supercross rider must use equal parts of strength, stamina, timing, balance, coordination, aggression - and, no doubt, courage - if he expects to succeed. It is claimed that the sport is 80 percent rider and 20 percent machine. The best man - not machine - wins. And for this reason, the manufacturers are constantly at odds with each other in an effort to procure the services of the best young riders. Generally ranging in age from 16 (the young hot shoe) to 26 (the crusty old veteran approaching retirement), the top riders can pull down anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000 a ~ar in contract, bonus and endorsement deals. Led by sensational four-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath of Team Honda, the Americans rule the sport - wherever they go - with an iron fist. Competing in .the U.S.-based AMA series from January through May, the Yankees are then lured overseas to compete on. the international level by huge purses and start money. Beginning in November, the top U.S. racers are invited to compete in the FIMsanctioned World Supercross Series, which in truth is less a true world championship series than it is a chance for the European and Asian-based promoters to fill up their stadiums with spectators who are in awe of the omnipotent, highf1yi)1g, hold-on-and-pray Americans. Interestingly, in recent years, worldclass European-based Grand Prix riders such as three-time World Motocross champion Greg Albertyn of South Africa and young French sensation Mickael Pichon have left the safety and security of the more traditional Grand Prix circuit, which runs exclusively on natural-terrain motocross circuits, in order to c.ome to America to prove themselves in the AMA Supercross Series (which is considered by all to be the true World Championship series). While Albertyn has yet to win an . event in America, Pichon has proven himself to be a very worthy contender to the Yanks, winning two AMA 125cc regional Supercross Championships. Pichon will move up to the 250cc class in 1997. Moreover, Sebastien Tortelli, without a doubt the fastest young rider in Europe, will race one more year in the "old world" before making a full-on assault on the United States in 1998. Stay tuned. For those who may not think of supercross as a serious, true-to-life . motorspoit, all that is required is a walk into the lobby of the American Honda Motor CQrporation in Torrance, California. Upon entering, one will see Jeremy McGrath's championship-winning CR250 sitting alongside Andre Ribeiro's La Honda Indy car. In recent years, there has been a lot of crossover (no pun intended) between the worlds of supercross and auto racing. In 1997, three AMA supercross events. will run at major American auto racing venues. The Daytona, Charlotte and Las Vegas supercross rounds will take place in the grassy, front straight, infield sections of the aforementioned super speedways. Crowds of over 40,000 are expected. Additionally, and not surprisingly, a number of world-class auto racers cut their competitive teeth in motocross racing. Racers such as Tom Kendall, Jacques Villeneuve, Robb'y Gordon, Adrian Fernandez and the late Jeff Krosnoff all have experienced the joys of starting gates, berms, ruts, lumps, barbanging and flying dirt. As a converse to that scenario, Jeff Ward and Rick Johnson, both two-time AMA Supercross champions, are busy attempting to make their mark on American automobile racing. Ward competes in the Indy Lights series, where he captured two poles in 1996, while Johnson is climbing the ladder.in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series. Johnson just recently scored a competitive ride for the 1997 season. In fact, rumor has it that the current AMA supercross champion - and arguably greatest rider the sport has ever seen - Jeremy McGrath is very serious about entering the four-wheeled racing world upon retirement. Reportedly, there is a clause in his new twoyear contract with Team Honda (which McGrath has been with his entire career), promising the young Southern California-based competitor an Indy car test w.ith one of the Honda-backed CART teams. On January 11, 1997, the AMA Supercross series will kick off in the place it all started - the Los Angeles Coliseum. Back on the schedule after a five-year absence (the Coliseum race was taken off the schedule after the Los Angeles riots), the famed event - with its infamous peristyle jump that launches the racers in and out of the stadium - is being welcomed back onto, the circuit with open arms. Along the way, the series also will visit such big-time sporting ·venues as the Seattle Kingdome, the Indianapolis Hoosier Dome, Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium, the Georgia Dome, the Minneapolis Metrodome, the Houston Astrodome, the St. Louis Trans World Dome, the Pontiac Silverdome and Texas Stadium before winding down at Richie Clyne's shimmering new Las Vegas Motor Speedway in mid-May. With its wealth of big names, big races, big jumps, big crowds and bigwigs with big corporate dollars, the sport of supercross has certainly come a long way from its humble roots in the dusty, rutted, stone-strewn fields of Europe. f.'1Ii I. 25 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 21, 1971 ~l;Jrti7l!rBfJ!fRi_-.TM400 teamed up to he ATA held its annual Trial de Espana at Escape Country in Southern California, and Lane Leavitt won the Masters class by seven points over Rich Bledsoe with Bob Nickelson finishing third. George Smith won the Expert class and Marland Whaley bested the Amateur c1ass .. .lt was announced that a sixrider speedway team comprised of DeWayne Keeter, Sonny Nutter, Mike Konle, Steve Bast, Mike Bast and Bill Cody Jould be leaving for Australia in the first U.S. overseas speedway appearance since the 1930s...Marty Tripes had an easy win in the 250cc Expert class at a CMC Motocross held at Carlsbad Raceway, California. Tripes took three straight moto wins on a CZ over Gaylon Mosier, who finished second on the day. Rich Thorwaldson and his Suzuki win the Prospectors M.e. D-37 hare scrambles held in Red Rock Canyon. T 15 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 16, 1981 ycle News conducted a test on the impressive 1982 Yamaha YZ250J which featured water-cooling and exhaust power valves ...The totals for the 1981 southern Cali~J fornia Speed way season revealed that 246,423 spectators attended 72 events that paid the riders a total of $340,125.25 in purse and points- fund monies...Honda Road Race Manager Udo Geitl announced tl,at motocrosser Steve Wise would make his first road-racing appearance for Honda at Daytona. Wise had been signed to a Honda support ride to accumulate necessary points in club road racing, but a new AMA ruling effec.tive Jan. 1, 1982 makes Expert ""lIl!1jii"iiiiii•• C Motocross, Road Race and Dirt Track licences interchangeable, so Wise was eligible for his Superbike license. 6 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 12, 1990 eff Dement, Ezra Lusk and Ryan Hughes garnered the highest individual honors in the six days of competition at the 19th annual AMA Winter National Olympics...KTM's Danny Hamel, who was 18 years old at the time, dusted the competition at the Battle-to-Victory '90, the replacement race for the year's cancelled Barstow-to-Vegas Hare & Hound. Dan Richardsen finished second nearly 10 minutes behind Hamel to finish second on a Honda, while Robert Laughlin took his Honda to third overall...For the second year in a row Team Honda's Rick Johnson came away the winner at J L(jOKINGBACK~ .. the Maastricht Congress Center Supercross, while American teammate Jeff Stanton used his strategy of consistently finishing near the fI:ont to wrap up his first Masters of Motocross tille, although he never won an event. CN

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