Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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DeCoster wasn't really quite sure what to make of it: "On the one hand, it was impressive because of the location—the fact that they let us race inside a stadium—but, on the other hand, I was thinking, 'All these hand- made jumps, this is kind of silly.'" But that night, DeCoster and Falta proved that it didn't mat- ter where the dirt was or how it got there. When it came time to step up, both proved that they were world-class. Falta won the first two of the three motos and finished third in the final moto to become the first European ever to win a 250cc Supercross event. At the time, he was the only rider ever to win a 250cc Supercross main event aboard a European brand, CZ. DeCoster went 2-3-1 for second overall, with Tripes upholding a small measure of American pride by going 6-2-3 for third overall. In truth, DeCoster admits that he remembers very little about the actual racing. "One thing was that my left grip came completely off the handlebar," DeCoster says. "I didn't have my regular mechanic when I came over for the race. It was in between the European schedule, and it was just a quick trip over here. I remember that the grip came completely loose. The other thing that I remember, which is more fun to remem- ber, is that Goodwin was a big businessman, and I was able to get start money from him. That's a good memory. In America they were not used to doing that, and Goodwin was a tough guy to deal with, but he did pay me $5000 start money for the event. I don't remember what the purse was, but it was definitely less than the money that I got. I also remem- ber being disappointed that I didn't win the race." Even so, DeCoster is quick to credit Falta. "Falta was a very good rider," DeCoster says. "I didn't have much interaction with him because I was in the 500cc class and he was in the 250cc class, but we would talk. I saw him at the international events, like the Motocross des Nations, and with him being a Czech and me having a special connection with the Czechs, because I went there a lot when I rode for CZ at the beginning and came to the U.S. with CZ and all that, I knew a few words, and we would talk. He was a really nice guy, kind of quiet, but nice." More than that, DeCoster, who went on to earn several World Championship and AMA National titles as a rider and then as a team manager, credits Good- win's vision of Supercross. "I could feel from the early days that there was potential there, and I was very impressed with how gutsy Goodwin was to go into a stadium like that and build a track," DeCoster says. "You could never have gotten away with that in Europe. If you had gone to a football stadium and said that you were going to put 200 truckloads of dirt in there, there's no way that they would have let you do it. In Amer- ica, motocross and Supercross are sports that fit Americans, so I thought that the potential was there for the spectators, but I never thought that we'd ever see 25 18-wheelers in the paddock." One thing DeCoster doesn't do is wish that he had been more a part of Supercross during his heyday as a rider. Being there at the beginning—if only briefly—is good enough for him. "I'm okay with it [my career]," DeCoster says. "There are things that are better today and things that are worse than they were in my racing days. Back then, it was more of an adventure traveling from country to country, but now the world is more similar. Even when you go to Japan, there are McDonald's everywhere, which makes it less exciting. Back then it was more interesting in many ways. You just have to take it as it comes. Ricky [Carmichael] is making all kinds of money today, but maybe in 10 or 15 years it will be different again." CN This Archives edition is reprinted from the November 2, 2005, issue of Cycle News. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor CN III ARCHIVES P114 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives