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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VOLUME 58 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 P121 ace Karsmakers (that's right, the "Flying Dutchman" was actually from the small Belgian village of Achtel, on the Holland border), signed him up under an AMA license instead of an FIM license and—voilà—Karsmakers was rac- ing for an American title. So, in the 1973 AMA 500cc Motocross Championship, Runyard, riding for Suzuki, did what he could against the vastly more experienced Karsmakers. He won two rounds that year, one in Memphis and the other at Pocono, Pennsylvania, on his factory Suzuki RN370. Runyard backed up those wins with a slew of podium results, but Kars- makers, on the factory Yamaha YZ360, ultimately won seven rounds and the title. The other factories cried foul. Meetings were held, and it was decided to implement a two-year residency requirement before a foreign rider could be eligible to race for an AMA Motocross Championship. So, in a very strange twist of fate, after win- ning the title in '73, Karsmakers was deemed ineligible to defend the title in '74. "The one year there was a loophole in the rules is the year I should have won the title," said Runyard. "It was kind of a weird deal. I mean, I beat [Brad] Lackey, I beat [Mark] Blackwell, I beat all the other Americans, I just didn't beat Karsmakers." Runyard came out of the Southern California motocross explosion in the late 1960s. His father, Godfrey, was a Brit expa- triate who'd been Lawrence of Arabia's mechanic as a young- ster. By 1969, Mike had won a pair of California State Champi- onships as an amateur riding a 125cc Sachs for Norm Reeves Honda. After graduating from high school in 1969, Runyard, at 17, turned pro and began racing in Edison Dye's Inter-Am Series with backing from Dan Gurney's American Eagle. In his first year as a pro, he was the third-ranked American in the Inter-Am, behind Gary Bailey and Barry Higgins. Runyard turned a lot of heads in an Inter-Am in Boulder, Colo- rado, in November of '69. "I remember that race," Run- yard says. "The CZ team had just received the first 360cc single exhaust pipe with a dual stinger. Joel Robert was going to leave the 250 class and ride the new bike for CZ in the 500 class. I remember I was very inspired watching Joel in practice. When he came back to the pits after practice, he took off his gloves and his hands were nothing but blisters. He just laughed and told the mechanics how fast it was compared to his 250. "In the first moto, I was first out of the gate and led the race for 28 minutes over Torleif Han- sen, Torsten Hallman, Dave Bick- ers and Roger DeCoster. Here I was on an American Eagle with a red-white-and-blue tank. An American rider leading with two laps to go! I was proud. And then it happened: On the last jump before the straight-away to the finish line, I snapped the swing- arm bolt and was unable to fin- ish. The second moto, I finished sixth overall and first American, but I'd come so close to beat- ing the best in the world in that first moto. It was so excited with what I almost did that I wasn't too disappointed." Frustrated with the lack of reliability, Runyard took an offer to race for Montesa. He was a factory rider for Montesa for four years. During that time, he dominated the very first Winter AMA Series race in Orlando in January of 1971, turning in a Ricky Carmichael-like perfor- mance and lapping everyone except second place in one of the motos. Just when it appeared that Runyard was ready to take his riding to the next level, Jimmy Weinert crashed into him over WOULD-BE CHAMPION