Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

t was a Slmny Saturday morning - July 9, 1983, to be exact - and the big Chevrolet station wagon - the kind with the wood paneling slapped on. the side - rolled on down the Ohio Turnpike toward Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As I sat in the back seat and looked out the window at the steep faces of bedrock that lined the Turnpike, I wondered what this thing called "supercross" was going to be like. I had seen the pictures in the magazines and watched a number of races on TV, but somehow something just didn't seem right about it. I had grown· up going to 125cc USGP and Trans-AMA races at Mid-Dhio and had gone to Mount Morris for the first time earlier that spring, and considered myself a hard-core outdoor motocross "purist" (even though I didn't really know what that term meant back then). !'ronetheless, the Three Rivers Stadium Supercross - the 14th round of the 1983 AMA/Wrangler Supercross Series - was another race to go to, and while I was a bit skeptical, I was thrilled to be going to see all of my heroes. Within five minutes of walking into the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and '5teelers, I was blown away. Out of the tunnel walked Broc Glover, Ron Lechien and Jeff Ward, all dressed in brilliant white race clothing (which was all the rage back then). Those guys out there on the stadium floor, juxtaposed against the dark Pennsylvania dirt, bright sunshine and colorful, plastic stadium seats - it was a sight that is permanently etched in my consciousness. The racing that night was just killer. And, as my brother, friends and I sat on the edges of our seats, we looked on, spellbound, as Johnny O'Mara - who was deep in the throes of a titanic battle for the 125cc National Championship with Ward and Mark Barnett that summer - was knocked unconscious in his heat race. '1 hope he's okay," I remember thinking. "He can't afford to be rolling around in the dirt when he has to win that 125cc title." In the last-chance qualifier, Ron Lechien, who had won his very first AMA Supercross at Orlando a few weeks prior, went spinning on his head and ended up in a heap at the side oj the track, his night through. In the main event, Broc Glover grabbed the holeshot and methodically put some daylight . between himself and the rest of the field. I However, Glover's'joyride wouldn't last scough and Warren Reid - had so much determination to win." long, as David Bailey, driven to win his To underline Broc's point - and as fate first Supercross Championship and keenwould have it - later that even,ing in ly aware of how valuable every point was at that point in the game, took off 1983, we pulled the hell wagon into a 7after the "Golden Boy." It came down to Eleven to grab some feod for the long the very end, where Glover eked out his ride home. Upon walking in, we ran into David.,llailey. Stunned, we just stared at first stadium win of the year over the hard-eharging champion-ta-be. him. Bailey, eeing us, held up a six-pack of Hawaiian Punch and said, "I'm going Of all the years I ha ve followed the sport of motocross, that season, the sumto party tonight." mer of 1983, was my favorite. Fought It seems almost laughable in this era of tattoos, custom haircuts, big Mercedes tooth and nail by a veritable "murderers' row" of world-class racers, the entire sports sedans, personal trainers, busiseason (and every displacement class) ness agents and signature video games was a free-for-all in which no one really that that was how a champion would knew what was going celebra te a strong perto happen from week formance. But as all things do, the sport has to week and race to race. And what made changed. For the good? For the better? The jury tha t season even more is still out... thrilling was the fact tha t most of the topWhy am I telling shelf racers had an you all of this? Why almost demonic deter-. have I selfishly stepped mination to win. And back in time to burden in my eye, the Pittsyou with my own personal reflections on the burgh race 'brought all of the sport's best elesport? Beca use I'm a ments - the good, the little bit. concerned bad and the ugly - into about the era we are sharp focus for me. Sixnow about to enter. time AMA National With big- money and Champion Broc Glover, popularity comes poliwho was smack in the tics, infightin~ avarice middle of it all, and greed. With both explains that evening supercross and and more importantly, motocross currently that era. machine-gunning "That win in Pittsthrough the gears and - F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Bo>yl" on an incredible power burgh was a big one for me," he says from his curve of popularity, home in California. "I remember showbig change is in the air. The TV riltings the true measure for any sport - have ing up tllere and thinking, This is where the Pittsburgh Steelers play; this is a other forms of motorsport salivating, really neat location to race in. I really and outside corporate support is about want to win.' to inject the sport with more money than anyone could have imagined just a few "There were so many people that could win that year," he continues. "You years back. The supercross promoters would look up and down the line and want more dates, the outdoor promoters knew anyone could win the event. To want to (understandably) protect what me, it seemed tha t every single guy they have, and a new flock of promoters have come out of the woodwork in an wanted to win so badly back then. There were a half a dozen guys that if they did effort to cash in on this big new thing: IImotocross!" not win, you knew they were going to It's wonderful to see our sport finally wake up on Monday morning and be receiving the attention and respect that it working even harder. Guys like Jolumy O'Mara, Jeff Ward, Mark Barnett, Bob so rightfully deserves, but let's all be Hannah, Ron Lechien, Rick Johnson careful that we don't let money, power and even support guys like Brian Myerand control blur our vision. 30 YEARS AGO... JULY 1, 1969 ed Rock Canyon was the place to be if you wanted desert action. That's where the Cal MC held its Sunday hare scrambles events... Proving that his main-event win of one week ago was no fluke, Dave Smith (Nor) won the Expert main event at the Ascot Half Mile for the second week in a row. Shorty Seabourne (BSA) was second, and Paul Conserierre (H-D) was third ... Craig Cove (Mon) and Steve Armstrong (Hod) were winners at the Scramblers MC scrambles in Bay Mare, California. Cove won the 175-200cc class and the 500cc Novice class, and Armstrong was tops in the 100cc Novice class... Dave Latham (Gre) emerged victorious at the Pennsylvania National Enduro... Kawasaki took out an ad applauding the effor.ts of Steve Hurd and Dub Smith, who got the bright idea to race the Baja 500 on a converted Mach I;II street bike. Believe it or not, the team finished eighth out of the 26 motorcycles entered. R The actual day of the game was, as usual, like a dream unreal with its crowds of friends and relatives and the inessential [rappings of a gigantic show. 20 YEARS AGO... JUNE 27, 1979 S kip Aksland, Rich Schlacter and. Gene Romero finished 1-2-3 in a Yamaha sweep of the podium at Bryar Motor Sport Park during the 56th annual Laconia Classic road race in Loudon, New Hampshire. The race was red-flagged after an incident that sent both Mike Baldwin and Ted Boody to the hospital with broken bones. Schlacter won the Su per bike even tat Loudon as well... Marty Tripes (Hon) won the 250cc class at the Sears Point round of the AMA National Championship 250/500cc MX Series. Gaylon Mosier (Kaw) won the 500cc class. Both riders did the deed with 1-1 scores... Bernie Schreiber (Bul) blasted the field for his second straight Wagner Cup trials victory in Buehlah, Colorado... We got a neat look at most of the factory works bikes that contested the 500cc U.S. GP motocross at Carlsbad Raceway. Team Suzuki's Roger DeCoster probably had the trickest-looking machine in the field, as his works RN440-79 featured a Bruce Burnessdesigned trailing linkage/leading axle front fork. In other words, let's not put the cart before the horse, and even worse, let's not forget where we came from and why we he love the sport in the first place. We love it because at age 12, we were not above climbing up in a tree to get a better view, or piling into in a car at 4 a.m. to drive six hours just so we could catch a glimpse of our heroes and, if we were lucky, get them to sign a ha t, a piece of paper, or a colorful picture supplied by the motor company. (By the way, the picture Broc Glover signed for me that night after the race in Pittsburgh hangs on my office wall.) But enough of my self-centered rambling. Let's let Broc Glover, who now sees the sport from the other side of the fence, bring this piece home. "They say that money is the root of all evil, and there are certainly a number of outdoor promoters that are doing their Nationals out of love. However, there seems to be a big struggle for dates looming, and I'm not too sure about all of these new races coming up. There seems to be so much politics involved now that the sport is receiving so much more exposure. There needs to be one nucleus or core to keep it all together. In the past, that was the AMA, but I'm afraid that they are losing their power. Politics enter everything, and as far as motocross is concerned, people need to keep the good of the sport in mind. The one thing I loved about our sport back in the 1980s was that I could walk down the street all day long and no one would notice me but the serious few. Those people would notice you and say, 'Hey! Broc Glover!' and you knew that person was a core fan; that they truly loved the sport and weren't some guy that just saw it on ESPN every once in a while. "It's a wonderful sport, and what other form of motorsport can a kid from El Cajon, California - or from the middle of nowhere - go buy a bike, call up a hop-up shop, and break into the top 10 at a national? You don't have to have 15 crew members and millions of dollars like they do in Champ CaL racing. Motocross is a great, colorful and aUlIetic form of motorsport that is thrilling to its fans. No matter how big and popular the sport gets, let's not forget that." I couldn't agree more. Long live motocross - and supercross. _ 10 YEARS AGO... JUNE 21, 1989 ith the AMA Supercross title already in hand, Jeff Stanton (Hon) went ahead and won the final round of the season a t the Los Angeles Coliseum. Stanton led Team Kawasaki riders Jeff Ward and Ron Lechien across the finish line. In the 125cc main event, Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) was the winn~r... Raymond Roche (Duc) won both legs of racing at round four of the World Championship Superbike Series at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota, to upset the Americans... Kevin Schwantz undoubtedly upset a few Europeans with his win of the Austrian Grand Prix in Salzburg, Austria ... Kurt Hough (Kaw) was too tough at the Rose City; Michigan, two-day ISDE qualifier... Jean-Michel Bayle (Hon) ascended to the top of the World Championship 250cc MX Series points standings via a win at round five in Herleen, Holland... "Sudden Sam" Ermolenko (GM) roared back from losses in two straight rounds of competition to win his third straight Nissan American Final Speedway World Championship qualifier in Long Beach, California. C. W 87

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