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/128329
Prelude to The Superbiker th all the hoopla surrounding the sport of supermoto, much attention has been directed back to the original Superbikers events as the starting point of what has grown to become a phe- W nomenon. But while those early Gavin Trippepromoted events at Carlsbad Raceway were the first to combine the major disciplines into a single event, they were not the first to host the country's top motorcycling talent from the sport's various segments in an effort to see who was the best all-arounder. The Superbikers events were actually a refinement of an existing event that had been around for two years, known as the Motorcycle Olympiad . Two years before the first Superbikers, Saddleback Park operator Vic Wilson came up with the idea to pit the nation's best riders in a sort of field day competition to see who was the best overall, the ride rs only allowed to use one motorcycle for all the events. Utilizing a two-day format, the first Motorcycle Olympiad took place September I7-18, 1977, offering a total purse of $25,000 with the overall winner receiving $ 10,000. The event was well supported by the giants in the industry, with motorcycle manufacturers Kawasaki, Yamaha and Penton and tire firm Goodyear all stepping up as title sponsors for the individual events, with S&W and Monroe Shock Absorbers signing aboard as the title sponsors for the whole shebang. Saturday's events took place at Orange County International Raceway and consisted of a drag race and a road race . Team Husqvarna veterans fared well at OCIR, with Dick Burleson winning the dial-your-own-handicap drag race after Gary Semics red-lighted against him in the final round . Run on the road course at OCIR, the road race featured a LeMansstyle start. Dirt-tracker john Hateley led most of the final, running ahead of speedway rider jim "The Animal" Fishback and On Any Sunday legend Malcolm Smith. Then Smith caught Hateley, passed him, and Hateley crashed trying to keep pace . Smith went on to give Husky its second event win, with BSA-mounted jim Rice moving into second, and Team Husqvarna's Kent Howerton, who had earned a third-place finish in the drag race competition, third again. Day two of the Olympiad was held at Saddleback and featured four events: a short track, TT, combined cross country/trials (a bizarre event in which riders were penalized in certain sections for touching the ground with their feet) and the grand finale motocross. Camel Pro dirt-tracker Rick Hocking won the short track main, with Team Yamaha's Mike Bell winning the IT. Bell's teammate, Bob Hannah , came through strong in the final two events to reco rd wins in both. But through it all, Howerton had remained consistent, finishing 10th in the short track, sixth in the TT, sixth again in the cross country/trial and fifth in the motocross to finish with 182 po ints and earn the ove rall top honors. Semics finished second overall, with Bell third overall. Picking up where he left off in '77, Hannah came back with a vengeance in the Motorcycle Olympiad II, the event receiving substantial backing from japanese automaker Subaru for 1978. This time around, the Olympiad was a one-day affair, held only at Saddleback, sans road race and with the drag race cut down to a IOO-yard event held on the dirt of the short track infield. Now with the factory Suzuki team, Howerton retired early from the event after twisting his ankle during the TT practice. Both the short track and TT were won by a Camel Pro rookie named Eddie Lawson, while Hannah won the cross country, Rex Staten the drag race, and then Hannah once again won the motocross, finishing in a points tie with Kawasaki's jim Weinert in the overall standings, on 152. Hannah eked out the overall win, though , after Weinert was passed by local motocrosser Scott Gillman in the last few feet before the finish line of the motocross. Afterward, in a very charitable gesture, Hannah donated his $10,000 first prize money to the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. That was to be the last Motorcycle Olympiad. Starting in 1979, the Superbikers bundled all of the positive attributes of the Olympiad into one tidy, made-for-television-sized package. Howerton was to become the first Superbikers winner. For all his magnificent accomplishments, the Superbikers is one title that Hannah can't claim. Scott Rousseau 3U YEAR!i AGU••• JUNE i!!5. 1974 Hartey-Davld. son was the main :=!- ~ focus on the cover. ...... That year they won the Loudon road race... SRA GPs were gaining popularity There was a . bigstory on one that took placeat Riverside Raceway. Today SRA GPsare still popular; however, the famous Riverside Raceway is now a parkinglot... Many well known enduro competitors competed in the two-day Potosi, Montana ISDT Qualifier. Some of the riders included: Malcolm Smith, Tom Penton and Jack Penton... Joel Robert won the 2S0GP in Bielstein, West Germany. It was hisfirstwin of the season... There was a local motocross held at famous Washougal Motocross Park. Today thousandsof people congregate there every year for the Washougal National Motocross. i!!U YEA R!i AGU. .. JUNE i!!7. 19B4 I: Factorystar Warren Reid appeared on the cover of this issue. He was forced to retire after an injury. He later began teaching motocross schools... Honda's Mike Baldwin won the Lanconia Classic FormulaOne National. This win was the third consecu- tive win for Baldwin... Rick johnson was racing Yamahas: he won the CMC Fourstroke Championship aboard a Yamaha 670cc four-stroke. And inclassic Rj fashion styledover the finish-linejump for the camera... Randy Hawkins got his firstever class win in the 125classat the final round of the ISDE Qualifier series in Rose City. Michigan. ra YEAR!i AGU.•• JUNE ee. 19 9 4 Five-timeWorld Trials Champion jordi Tarres showed up on the cover after winningthe Czech Republic round of the World Trials Championship... Kawasaki still fielded teams in the Baja 500. Paul Krause and Ted Hunnicuttwon after DannyHamel's bike blew up... jeremy McGrath put an exclamation point o n his stellar supercross season , with a convincing w in at the final round in Las Vegas... Scott Summers was on top in the GNCC series. He won round seven at Laurelville. Ohio: beatingTeam KTM's Scott Plessinger... Pascal Picotte won round six of the AMA U.S. Superbike National Championshipsat Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. 106 JUNE 23, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary