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A SEASON IN SUSPENSION
mm
If you believe the television commercials,
you will think it's a spectacle lor disaster-
video junkies. When you hear the announcer,
you will think you bought a WCW Thursday
Night Nitro ticket by mistake. But the hype
ends there.
Once the gate drops. Supercross evi
dences Itsell as a serious sport peopled by
serious athletes. Indeed, because of Its
youthful gravity-taunting leaps and its dis
play of strength disciplined by grace. It has
been called "ballet on wheels" (though I like
to think of It more as flamenco on wheels due
to Its more earthy storyline). Supercross
defies tight analogies; it is reckless abandon,
squaring-off round comers, fluidity in the air,
It Is a phenomenon where braking saves
more time than accelerating, where suspen
sion exists to keep things on the ground, and
where dropping into a rut can often be the
fastest way around.
Supercross is a. childlike as wanting to
fly, as adolescent as I'ving. and as adult as
picking your landing spo* with a strong view
towards the future. It furrows the earth and
sounds like a swarm of locusts. It begins with
the blur and flurry of a mass drag race, yet
ends with the lone winner In graceful arc
across the finish-line jump And, in what is
surely evidence of human adaptability on a
molecular level, two-stroke engine exhaust
begins to smell as sweet as baking bread
HISTORY
In the early 1960s. European motocross
stars came over to America to Introduce
their sport to dusty, eager kids weaned on
FlatTrack racing and playriding Saintly as
promotional ambassadors, the Europeans
were savage on the track, regularly trouncing
our nation's best foundlings. But the young
Americans latched onto motocross; they
were enthralled with the Europeans and their
tough and stylish riding style. The riders and
motorcycles (CZ, Malco, KTM. Montesa.
Bultaco. etc.) were pure exotica, but the com
mon currency was dirt, and motocross cap
tured a solid foothold. The Americans soon
proved to be fast learners with some ideas of
their own. A promoter named Mike Goodwin
(l wouldn't make that up) hit upon how to
gain even more of an audience — bring
motocross to the people. So. In 1972, the Los
Angeles Coliseum hosted the grandfather of
Supercross, the “Superbowl of Motocross " In
the years to come, the event’s name col
lapsed to read simply. “Supercross. ’ but the
single race exploded to become a 15-racc
series held in stadiums In all four of
America's corners. On Feb 22, the Georgia
Dome hosted Round 6 of the 1997 Supercross
Series.
THETRACK
Obviously there are no pre-existing
jumps, trees or sandbeds on a flat concrete
stadium floor, so the track designers haul in
tons-upon-tons of dirt and pile It up in pat
terns designed specifically to impede a rider
from going as fast as he wants. The set of
obstacles resembling a distorted washboard
is called “Whoop-Dee-Doo s " A funny name,
but the "whoops" are the site of the most
anxious and improvisitory riding on the
track. "Tabletops" are plateau-like jumps
that, after the initial face of the jump, stretch
for a length before resolving into the down
slope “Doubles" and "Triples" are those suc
cession of jumps that faster riders can clear
with one leap
The start is an obstacle as well. It consists
of lining up 20 riders side by side, and after a
high-speed straightaway, tunneling the whole
field into a slow turn capable of handling —
with handlebar-tangling — only three riders
abreast. It Is the most nerve-wracking
moment of the evening If you fall here, you
lose. Once you pick yourself and your bike
up. remount and ride off. you may as well
chase the sunset, because the leaders are
long gone.
Regardless of the impression given by the
television commercials, this sport is not
roller-derby. A fall costs positions, points
and. ultimately, money The sport's drama is
in riding as fast as you can without losing
control, in an environment designed to make
you lose control. (Sounds like my day Job )
There is one more obstacle that no track
design purposely includes, but by mid-race
affects the entire course ruts. Knobbed tires,
spinning furiously on loose soil, create ruts. If
you’ve ever had the front tire of your bicycle
fall into a rut. or off the lip of the sidewalk,
you understand how adversely ruts affect
your balance. You probably have the knee
scars to remind you.
THE RIDERS
If in evaluating the present we sometimes
misidentify windmills as giants, in motocross
there is little, if any. doubt that we are in the
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