S
eattle, Washington, home
of the Space Needle, Pike
Place Market and Ivars
Seafood Bar, is also home to
Supercross. After all, the city
has hosted an AMA Supercross
48 times, including the just-con-
cluded 2023 edition. That's a lot
of Supercross races, one of the
most on the current schedule, so
Supercross should indeed feel
right at home in Seattle.
The first Supercross race held in
Seattle took place in 1978 in front
of 32,019 fans, and it also served
as the opening round that year.
Pace Management was the event's
promoter (when Supercross had
multiple promoters), and the race
was officially called the Yamaha
Gold Cup Supercross. But a Honda
dominated that night; in fact, there
were five red bikes in the top 10 at
the end of the evening. Honda also
won all four of the night's qualifi
-
ers, one of the two semi-finals, and
the Toyota Tower Jump Contest,
a designated jump that who
-
ever flew the farthest over was
awarded prize money that night
and points towards winning a
new Toyota truck at the end of the
championship. Marty Smith sailed
the farthest but would crash out of
contention later in the race.
But the real contest win
-
ner that February 18 night was
"Captain Cobalt" Jimmy Ellis, who
hailed from Cobalt, Connecticut.
Ellis powered his works Honda
into an early lead and never
looked back, sealing the victory
CNIIARCHIVES
P118
BY KIT PALMER
Jimmy Ellis won the first Supercross race held in Seattle in 1978.
PRIDE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
SEATTLE SUPERCROSS
