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/128353
The Big Story of 200 I he big story of 200 I wasn't even really about anything that had happened in 200 I, Sure , Ric ky Ca r m ichael 's de thr oni ng of supercross king Jere my McGrath was w orthy of big hea dlin e s . So was ro a d racer Mat Mlad in's accomplishment of becoming only the third man in AMA Superbike history to w in three successive titles. After taking a detour into the upstart Fo r m ula USA National Dirt Track Series fo r a year, Chris Carr was as strong as ever in the AMA Grand National Championship Se ries, and he bagged his th ird career title . Overseas, Valent ino Rossi picked up his first SOOcc Worl d C ham pion ship. It was all good st uff, but it all paled in comparison to the big story of 200 I you know, the one that wasn't about anything that happened in 200 I. The big story of 200 I broke in Cycle News Issue #46, and it had to do with what was go ing to happen in 200 3. In the big story, there was much more at stake than a racer's victory or defeat. In the big story, an entire sport hung in the ba lance . In Issue #46, we broke the story of AMA Pro Racing's plans to part company with Clear Channel Entertainment, the longtime AMA Supercross Series promoter, T and enter into a new seven-year agreement wit h a little known company ca lled Jam Sports, a C hicago-based co m pany tha t is actually a Clear Channel competitor. AMA Pro Racing's new agreement with Jam was slated to go into effect at the start of the 2003 AMA Supercross season . Put into perspective, if the AMA:s announcement was a pebble th rown in t he ocean, the ripple 94 e ffect that it produced created a title wave of gr ief for AMA, Jam an d C C E, and every ot her stakeholder in the sport of supercross. As you might ex pect, t here were mo re que stio ns than answers once th e news broke, so Cycle News attem pte d to wade through the considerable swill and present its readers with the facts . In a cover story titled "The Supercross Split," we presented AMA Pro Racing's case, Clear Channel's case, solicited commentary from one of the principals at Jam and spoke to representatives fro m all of the factory race teams. We did this all in t he space of four days - hey, it's what we do . As you might expect, what it all came down to was money and the question of w ho owns t he Supercross brand and all the trimmings that go with it. Under the new deal, AMA would conceivably have stronger negotiating power when it came to hammering out such revenue-generating spoils as sa nctio n fees , title sponsorships and suc h. It could also arguably take a share in the fron t gate receipts of each supercross round . And so the lines were drawn . CCE staked its claim by hinging its case on the amount of dollars that it pumps into advertising, promotion and making the show ha ppen . AMA countered with the defense that the sport and its history is AMA property. Amo ng the factories , Honda, a longtime supporter of the AMA and the only factory with a representative on both the AMA board of directors and the AMA Pro Racing board of directors, surprised no one w ith its staunch support of the AMA. With its signing of Ricky Carmichael, Honda had the sport's champion , and there was no questio n w here he would be raci ng in 200 3 - whether or not he de fended his title in 2002 . What the AMA and Jam didn't seem to have , a lthough this was claime d to be a mere formality left to be iro ne d o ut, was the keys to the fro nt doors of all the stadiums in w hich supercross played . C lear Ch annel had quickly moved to lock up all of th o se ven ues be yo nd 200 3 an d t hen bol d ly announce d that it would co ntinue to host supe rcros s events w it h o r witho ut an AMA sanctio n. To add even more fuel to t he fire , C CE would eventually reach an agr eement with t he FIM, the world sanc tio n- DECEMBER B, 2004 • C Y CLE N EWS ing body of w hich the AMA was an affil iate member, and an no unce t hat its series would be a Wo rld C ham pio nsh ip se rie s. Ente r the ot her factories at th is poi nt. Whi le none tippe d t heir hands, it wa s clear that unlike other times w hen such rifts had oc curred , many o f the race teams were mo re on the fence than ever as to where they might be racing in 2003 - w ith CCE or the AMA. It was presumed that Suzuki and Kawasaki would be forced to honor their pos itions on the AMA board and support the AMA, but Yamaha and KTM were less clear as to w hat t hey would do , and wit h Yamaha t ied to Je re my McGrat h, and McGrath promoted rele ntlessly by CCE, well, the possibility existed that Carmichael the champ could go with the AMA while CCE would have McGrath as its king. It seemed as though, once and for all, the factories would have to answer the mo st dreaded question: If there was a better series that was no t AMA sanctioned , would you support it? The fact was that Jam had never promoted a supercross prior to its deal with AMA. The 2003 series opener would have been its first . Of course, we all know tha t the rift never happened . Whi le the details have never been fully disclosed and may never be known by anyone other than the AMA and C CE , the pair ultima tely announced a new deal tha t e xtends through 2009 . So who won and who lost? Wh ile supercross looks, smells and tastes the same to the fans today, there is no question that the sport suffered in the melee. The FIM's involvement remains as a battle scar from this war, the residual effect o f thi s being higher costs to the riders . A solid ex ampl e of this is the reg ulation tha t the FIM has placed on fuel. Its unleaded fue l mandate has made the privateer o n a 125cc twostroke less competitive w hile increasing his expense by over 400 perce nt . Oh, and by the way, you may have noticed that the sport now has two supercross series that qu ite ridiculously - run at the same time at the same ven ues and are inde pendent of one ano ther. Go figure. Furthermore, t here is still o ngo ing litigation be twe e n the jilte d Jam - whose exit fro m the series has never be e n cred ibly explai ned by the AMA - CCE and the AMA. How that will turn out is anyone's guess. W ith t he reign ing champion C had Reed ready fo r actio n, fo r me r champion Carmichael coming back aboard a Suzuki , the return of Je re my McGrath and the ascension of James "Bubba" Stewa rt to the 250c c class, th e 2005 AMA Supercross Series promise s to host the st ro nges t title battl e in th e new millennium . Whether it is st ron g enough to su rpas s the big story of 200 I remains to be seen. And we don't even want to take be ts on 2009. Scon RO USSEAU 40th Anniversary 3D YEARS AGO•. . ttecetnber 9. 1974 ~.I;z,;~I!101~.:''J.:=:! 1 Larry Roese ler showed up on the cover after w inning the num ber-one desert plate in the lightweight Division... Tony DiSt efa no won his third ...."""' = ;;;., Trans-AMA race in four weeks at the famous Saddleback Motocross Park. Finishing behind DeStefano were Gary Semics and Brad Lackey, respectively. The Trans-AMAseries came to an end that year, with the American riders winning six of the 10 races over the visiting Euro pean racers ... There was an advertisement for the American Motocross Final s at Anaheim Stadium. Some of the riders to be attendingwere Marty Smith, Jim Weinert, Jimmy Ellis, Tony DeStefano and Jim Pomeroy. Today, Anaheim is one of the most popular rounds of the supercross series . i!0 YEARS AGO•• • Oecetnber Ii!. 1984 We got to ride the 1985 Kawasa ki N inja 600R. We liked the bike, and we especially liked the power and handling... We interviewed National Trials Champion Scott He ad . Head dominated the 1984 season and won four of the last five events of the year. Before that , he had become one of the only Americans to w in FIM points in the World Trials Series... Ed Arne t won the SOOcc and 250cc Pro classes at a local motocross race held at the Shadow Glen Motocross Track in Valencia, Claifornia... Malcolm Smith was the official Grand Marshal of Whiskey Pete 's World Championship II. It was a desert race in Nevada with a guaran teed $20,000 purse . 10 YEARS AGO. •• ttecemtxer 7 . 1994 We got our first ride aboar d the 1995 KTM 2S0SX. Back t he n. the bikes were good, but they weren't what they , are today. We felt that this bike was one of the best KTMs we have ever ridden... Six-t ime World Trials Champ ion Jo rd i Tarres finally got his first win in the Indoor Trials Series at rou nd one in Valen - cia, Spain. He took the win, ahead of Marc Colome r and Amos Bilbao, respectively Josh Demuth won the I25cc A ... and Schoo lboy classes at a motocross race in Linville, Ohio . Today, Demuth is a to p contender in the National Arenacross series, a series t hat he won the champions hip in a few years ago.