Sweeping For Superbikers
SWEEPING FOR SUPERBIKERS
Cameras rule. When those demon promoters convinced ABC's Wide World of Sports that what the program needed was a confrontation among the best riders in the world. they told us the program would he fun, and mostly for television. and that they didn't especially care if any fans showed up.
Right on all counts. The fancy format worked fairly well, in that the road racing portion wasn't like Louden, the flat track wasn't Springfield and the motocross bits were a long way from Unadilla. But because the riders got a chance to make some tidy sums, with $15.000 at least for first place, there was no trouble signing up 40 entries. Top guys; Kenny Roberts, Steve Eklund. Jeff Ward. Kent Howerton. Mike Bast. Larry Roeseier. Dave Em de, David Aldana. Rick Hocking. Jimmy Weinert. Brad Lackey and others.
First, there weren’t many fans, enough to fill the bleachers and that was all.
Second, television ruled. There were long delays. They'd run a heat, then nothing would happen, then another heat, then nothing. And the first heat was five bikes at the start and after a few laps, one rider was left upright and kept on droning around. Before the start of the final all the riders were gathered up and paraded before the cameras.
The ABC helicopter had the right of way. There were a few print guys close to the track, taking pictures and the airborne people thought they were in the way, so the chopper buzzed the ground, dusted off the infantrymen, so to speak, and made rude gestures. The ground troops returned the compliment.
But. When it got down to the action, when the motocrossers, road racers, desert guys, speedway stars. AMA pros and allround racers got on the course, it worked.
The rules allowed 750cc four-stroke Twins, which means AMA mile bikes; 500ce Singles, i.e. TT machines, and up to 500cc two-stroke Singles, or your basic open-class motocrossers. Any tires, any suspension, any brakes.
There were a few racers w ho showed up with pure mile machinery, in the form of Harley XR750s. And there were a couple of CR250R Hondas. Yamaha YZ250s and the like, along with a Norton Twin, a CanAm. a Honda 500 engine in Husky frame, a raft of real TT500 Yamahas with racing frames, ditto Honda 500s. a raft of 750 Yamahas and Triumphs and—this is the tip-off— Kawasaki and Suzuki had figured out the rules. They sent the big RMs and KXs. lowered a few inches, fitted with disc front brakes and wearing flattrack tires.
Things didn't exactly go as planned. Roberts ran his Yamaha 750 so hard on the rough dirt sections that he broke the suspension. literally, and suffered a separated shoulder when the bike pitched him off. Brad Lackey aggravated a sore hand. cheerfully declared that now he understood why road racers get all that money, and withdrew. World speedway champ Peter Collins and world 250 motocross titleholder Hakan Carlqvist were guaranteed spots in the feature race, so they stayed out of the heats and then didn't look fast or comfortable when the final took place.
Not that too many people noticed.
What they did see was that it was more useful to lower a motocross bike and use TT brakes and tires than it was to add suspension to a TT bike. Some of the AMA pros adapted to the rough stuff, in particular Rick Hocking, Steve Eklund and Mike Kidd. (Special honor to Kidd, w ho rode an immaculate Triumph Twin out of Big D Cvcles in Dallas.)
And some of the motocrossers took to the pavement. Kent Howerton, Warren Reid, Jeff' Ward and Jimmy Weinert in particular. The RM400 and three KX400s were as fast down the straights as the TT bikes were, and the berm-busters went 'round the corners with knees out just like Roberts.
What Superbikers was, was a Television Happening. It wasn't important, it wasn’t real and for people in the stands it was an hour of thrills loosely packed in four hours of time.
But by the time the film has been processed. the fans will never guess.
ABC didn't know when the show w ill be broadcast. It will be in two parts, with the heats and interviews one week and the final event the second week. Odds are they’ll go on the air about the time this appears in print, by no coincidence about the time the ratings are taken. The television people don’t know much about racing. But they do know people like to watch motorcycles speeding, jumping and sliding. so the show will be seen when the numbers are counted. Consult your local listings for time and station, as they say.
Meanwhile, because we didn't like being dusted by the helicopter and felony fistshaking didn't give us the revenge to which we believe ourselves entitled. ABC wants suspense, eh?
Ha. Kent Howerton won.
