T
o this day, Mike Runyard
believes he won the 1973
AMA 500cc Motocross Cham-
pionship. The record books say
Pierre Karsmakers took it, but
Runyard claims that it was a quirk
in the rulebook that cost him the
title.
When motocross was formally
sanctioned by the AMA in 1970,
the association realized that the
American riders would stand
little chance of beating the more
established European riders.
So, a policy was implemented
that would essentially name
AMA champions based on the
top finishing American riders
in the Trans-Am and later the
Inter-Am series. Dick Burleson,
for example, won the 1970 AMA
500cc Motocross Champion-
ship, even though he was ranked
fourth overall in the Trans-Am
Series. He was the top American
finisher, so he was the American
champ.
The AMA launched its own
National Motocross Champion-
ship in 1972, in both the 500cc
and 250cc classes. It's a bit
confusing because points for the
top finishing Americans in select
Trans-Am (500cc) and Inter-Am
(250cc) still counted toward the
separate AMA National Moto-
cross Championship through the
1973 season.
In any case, the AMA Moto-
cross Championship was spe-
cifically designated for AMA-
licensed riders—a closed series,
if you will, to highlight America's
rising motocross talent. Most felt
that the new AMA series was ex-
clusively for American riders, but
Yamaha saw the large loophole in
the rulebook language that sim-
ply specified AMA-licensed rid-
ers. Yamaha brought in Belgium
CN
III ARCHIVES
P120
Mike Runyard THE WOULD-BE
Runyard claims that it was a quirk
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
A loophole in the
rulebook may
have robbed Mike
Runyard of an AMA
500cc National MX
Championship title.
