T
he 2023 SuperMotocross
World Champion will be
crowned at the place that
most supercross fans recognize
as the birthplace of supercross,
the Los Angeles Memorial Coli-
seum. It was here that the first
supercross race (though it was
simply called indoor motocross
at the time) was held in 1972 in
front of approximately 30,000
MX fans. A 16-year-old kid from
San Diego took the win on a Ya-
maha, going 2-2-2 in the race's
three-moto format. Marty Tripes
beat some of the top riders in
the world that night from both the
U.S. and Europe, including New
York's Jimmy Weinert and World
Champion Torsten Hallman and
future World Champ Hakan An-
dersson, both of Sweden.
Although it was dubbed as the
Superbowl of Motocross, the
race, which took place again in
1973 (Tripes also won but this
time on a Honda), spawned
what is now the AMA Super-
cross Championship, which hit
the ground running in 1974 as a
multi-race series. The L.A. Coli-
seum has hosted several Su-
percross Championship races
over the years. Most of them
happened in the 1980s. The
last L.A. Coliseum-hosted AMA
Supercross race took place on
January 21, 1998. Many historic
races have been held at this
iconic stadium since that first
race in 1972, but the last one
held here in 1998 is arguably
CN
III ARCHIVES
P122
BY KIT PALMER
COLISEUM
SURPRISES