Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2013 Semics had won one of the three motos at Daytona heading into Houston with the Texan round to be run over two days with 17,000 fans showing up on Friday night and 24,000 Saturday evening. The race featured two motos each and Karsmakers would win the 250cc class comfortably over Rich Thorwaldson, but the 500cc class came down to the wire between factory Husky's Semics and Yamaha's Tim Hart. In fact, the 500cc Supercross title came down to the fourth and final moto in what was basically a winner-take-all race between Hart and Semics. Bultaco's Bryar Holcomb got away at the front, while Semics held off Hart in the battle for second. In the end the standings were tied, but Semics won the 500cc Supercross title by virtue of his better final-moto finish. For Semics the Supercross title was a bit of an enigma. He was of the opinion of many of the riders of the era, that stadium racing was a poor substitute for the real deal of motocross. "I have to admit I wasn't that big of a fan of the stadium races," Semics said. "We had no idea at that time where the sport would go and what Supercross would become. It was kind of what we did on the side between the real racing, which was the outdoor stuff. What I do remember is the double jumps that Supercross brought us. Houston was the first track that had real double jumps. There were four in a row there and they were pretty big, pretty steep. Everybody was singling them and I'm pretty sure it was Warren Reid who was the first rider to double, double them. It was a really big deal - it was like 'Wow!' I think after the first night maybe five or six guys were doing it. The crowd went crazy. They were loving it and that was the spark that lit the big jumps of Supercross." Motocross still reigned supreme in the mid-1970s so the champs of the Yamaha Super Series didn't get all that much recognition, according to Semics. "It wasn't that big of a deal back then," Semics admits. "Maybe to Husqvarna for advertising purposes, but among the riders and the fans I don't think anyone thought that much of it. It was still cool P95 to win that championship and, of course, winning a championship that first year actually became more important as the series grew." Semics racing career continued to have good success for several years. In 1976 he came up agonizingly close to winning the AMA 500cc Motocross Championship after a late-season surge saw him win three straight Nationals – coming within a heartbreaking seven points of winner Kent Howerton. The near miss proved that Semics had all the tools to win a National title. In 1977 he raced as a member of Team USA in the Motocross and Trophy des Nations that were held in France and Holland. In 1982 he began racing in the 500cc World Championship Grand Prix. His best year was 1982 when he placed seventh in the 500cc series. Semics was retired from full-time competition by the mid-1980s, but he continued to do on-off Nationals here and there through the early '90s, making him perhaps the only rider to race the start of the AMA Motocross and Supercross Championships through to the decade of the '90s. It was an incredible run that spanned multiple generations of racers. Known during his career as a fitness rider, the hotter and tougher the race was, the better Semics did. That reputation served him well when he turned to training other riders. His big breakthrough came in 1987 when he began working with an up-and-coming 16 year old named Jeremy McGrath. Over time Semics' reputation as a trainer overshadowed his accomplishments as a racer. So as we approach the 40th anniversary of AMA Supercross, let the record show that Gary Semics was one of the past champions of the series. Semics is thankful he has at least a small place in the record books, even if you have to look hard to find it. "While it wasn't that big of a deal when I won it, looking back I'm glad I did." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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