Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127928
(Above) Mike Bell spent his entire profession racing career at Team Yamaha. (Left) Yamaha-mounted Bell won his first and only - supercross title in 1980. By Eric Johnson 10 carne around the corner and the whi te flag was out and I thou ght, 'H oly cra p, I'm lead ing the Su per Bow l of Mot ocross," said Mike Bell from his horne in Southern California, as he reflected on that eve ntful June evening in 1978. The site was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and after a midpack start and subseq ue nt inspired charge through the pack - young Yamaha factory pil ot Mike Bell had mad e it to the front of the field and was desperately tryi ng to keep a frenzied Bob Hannah beh ind him. "I did n't know I was lead ing the race until the white 'flag," Bell continued. "I was battling with Bob Ha nnah , w ho kep t running off the track and cha rging ba ck . I th ou gh t to m yself, ' I gotta d o this: So I kept pushing and it w orked. .O n the last lap , Hannah was up a n d down the side of my bike, wearing the number plates off, but I held my ground and wo n the race: ' The win was Mike Bell's first big stadiu m achievement and would ul tima te- Iy help pus h him to the high est level in the spo rt. Smooth, tall and lanky - which would u ltima tely lea d to h is infam ous "Too Tall" nickname - the 6-foot-3 Lakewood, California, resident was purp osebui lt for the gna rly spo rt of supercross and proved it by wi nn ing the 1980 AMA Super cro ss Championship. And while he would be forever typecast as a su percr os s spe cialis t, Bell was also an outstanding natural-terrain racer . In barnst orming the AMA National Motocross Champions hip circui t during his sevenye a r professional career, Bell won six 500cc National s, an d in three consecutive years - 1979, '80 and '81 - pl aced seco nd in th e AMA 500cc, 250cc an d 500cc Na tio nal Cha m p io ns hip po ints chase's, res pectively. Despite his best attem p ts and corning wi thin an eyelas h of winning the 1979 500cc title (mo re on th at la ter ), Bell is th e on ly su percross cham p ion never to have won an AMA National Motocross Ch ampionship. However, all th in gs co ns idered , it was su percross that Bell trul yloved , "I loved su percross," says Bell. "I was made for it. My styl e, my height, and growing u p in night racing led me to love racing u nder the lights. In fact, I never rode a day race until I tu rned pro - it was all night racing:' Righ t fro m the beginnin g, the stars were aligned for Mike Bell'splace in the sport of m ot ocro ss. Like a nu mb er of Am erican-born racers , Mi ke Bell w as born into a family of motorcycle enthusiasts. His fat her, Bill Bell, worked for a major motorcycle dealership wit h a significant race culture, and when the time carne for Mike to begin ridi ng and racing, South em Ca lifo rnia was a boomtown of motocross racing activity. "I w as bo rn in Downey, Ca lifornia, and grew up in Lakew ood , where w e moved to when I was 4 yea rs old," Bell recalls. "My father got a BSA Gold Star the year I was born and my morn has pi ctures o f m e in a strolle r w hi le we wer e at the races. I guess I was always arou nd racing. I firs t began ridin g at a cabin we had up in Big Bear (a moun- : tain resort area in Sou thern Californi a), and it see med like w e always had bikes arou nd while I was grow ing up. Eventually, my dad, who was a service man ager a t Lon g Beach Honda, go t out of racing himself, and as part of my evolution in riding motorcycles, got me in to it. However, he was rea l strict about my brothe rs and I racing , as he wanted us to have ou r abilities cove red before we go t out on a race track. " My s fa r t in racing was a slow pro cess for me . My dad , who was seri-