THE SUPERCROSS EXPERIENCE
P100
Feature
racing mixed with the excited atmosphere of a sold-out stadium.
Back in the day, having been limited to satisfying our obsession
for motocross through the medium of print magazines, the Su-
perbowl of Motocross granted us the chance to see our heroes
racing in the flesh. We were duly awed. Seeing Wyatt's wide-eyed,
gaping-mouth response to the racers as they navigated the course
allowed me to be a kid again. I stepped back and relived some of
that excited, unabated enthrallment that maturity and adulthood
had conspired to quell a bit. I was also able to appreciate how the
sport has evolved.
Over the years supercross has changed from its original format
of three motos (with points determining the winner—as was the for-
mat of traditional motocross), into a more spectator-friendly main
event with one winner. This format has proven a crowd pleaser,
allowing people who may not be die-hard fans, the opportunity to
enjoy the simplified format and make sense of the evening's quali-
fying races, helped along by live color commentating.
Feld Entertainment took over the series in 2008, bringing an
increased level of professionalism and accessibility to the sport,
as well as an aspect of showbiz, with a strong television presence
AS THE EVENING IN OAKLAND
PROGRESSED, THE LIGHTS CAME
ON, LENDING THEIR OWN KIND OF
MAGIC TO THE SCENE.
Ken Roczen has a
new fan for life.
Wyatt experiences the thrills and
spills of supercross racing; this
was probably one of the many
spills that he saw during the
Oakland Supercross.
and a full day of activities that
lead into the night of racing. Feld,
a family entertainment-oriented
company, has created a user-
friendly atmosphere in the form
of a pit party with a slew of events
geared toward entertaining the
entire family.
Over the four-plus decades of
supercross the machines have
evolved from two-strokes to four-
strokes, and modern suspension
has seen a radical evolution of
what rider and machines are
capable of. The triples and quads
that today are leaped with fluidity
could not have been imagined
back in the '70s. Fortunately,
supercross survived a potentially
damaging hit when Mike Good-
win, the original promoter, the
Godfather of Supercross, was
caught up in a murder scandal
