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/1495752
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P119 with an approximately 10-second gap over teammate Marty Tripes. The top-finishing non-Honda, a Yamaha, was ridden to third place by Bob "Hurricane" Han - nah. Honda-mounted riders Steve Wise, Jim Pomeroy and Tommy Croft went 6-7-8, respectively. Ellis went on to finish sixth in the Supercross title that year, but this would be the last of Ellis' eight career Supercross victories. El - lis, who won the four-race AMA Supercross title in 1975 riding a Canadian-built Can-Am, lost out to Hannah in the 250cc outdoor National MX Championship that same year (1978) but went on to become a legendary motocross racer and champion in Australia, where he would finish out his racing career and live full time. Ellis was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2012. In those early years, the Seattle Supercross was held inside the fully enclosed Kingdome, which was constructed primarily out of concrete. It was a unique place, that is for sure. The gigantic multi-use stadium accommo - dated 59,100 seats and had just been completed a couple of years before the 1978 race and was considered state of the art. The acoustics inside the stadium were almost deafening when the 250cc (and years later 125cc) two-strokes were on the track, but when you have more than 59,000 seats to fill and "only" 32,000 fans show up, well, that's a lot of unoccupied chairs to look at, and it doesn't look great. Luckily, the crowd's roar always sounded as though it was packed. Eventually, the popularity of the race grew and, on several oc - casions, only a few seats way up top of the stadium were empty. If you happened to be working on the stadium's floor or spec - tating from the first few rows, you certainly felt the wrath of the cold wintery night air that would blow in through one side of the stadium and out the other when the gates were open to allow access to the outside pits. Trackside was always a chilly place to be. Even though the place was a little quirky, the Kingdome- hosted Seattle Supercross races were always a highlight of the tour. The Kingdome was located near downtown Seattle, a couple of blocks from Pioneer Square (regarded as the birthplace of Seattle) and within walking dis - tance to many hopping restau- rants and pubs, most notably— Sneakers, now called Sluggers. Back then, right after the Seattle Supercross, Sneakers was the place to go, where you wouldn't be surprised to see Bob Hannah inside the small bowling alley- width pub signing autographs and hanging out with the mob of Supercross fans, very likely after his back-to-back wins in 1983. The Kingdome enjoyed several historic moments in Supercross racing, including Jeff Ward and Rick Johnson's first Supercross wins. But even more memorable was Larry Ward's first Supercross win in 1990. There aren't many things much better than winning your first Supercross in front of the home crowd, and it was a thriller of a race. He caught and passed Jeff Matiasevich for the lead five laps from the finish and held him off for the victory. "I wanted to win tonight more than anything else in the whole world," said Ward afterward. "I Washington's own Larry Ward won his first Supercross in front of the home crowd in 1990. NORTHWEST Even though the place was a little quirky, the Kingdome-hosted Seattle Supercross races were always a highlight of the tour.