Superbikers!
SUPERBIKERS!
RACE WATCH
It's happening all over, Over There
BRIAN CATTERSON
TELEVISION CAN MAKE YOU AN instant celebrity. Just ask any politician, Hollywood starlet or pampered pro-athlete. But what the Nielson ratings give, they can also take away. For proof, look no farther than The Superbikers.
During the late 1970s and early ’80s. motorcycle racing was maturing, and ABC’s “Wide World of Sports" rode the crest of the sport’s growing popularity by featuring an annual event called The Superbikers. Billed as the race to determine the world’s best all-around motorcyclist, the contest pitted the top names of motorcycle sport on a track that combined elements of each discipline.
Sadly. ABC’ discontinued The Superbikers following the 1985 event, claiming flagging viewer interest. But the format recently resurfaced in Europe, where it now goes by the name Supermotard, under the auspices of a French promoting group called Sekoia Bureau Brochery-Vassard, which does not try to hide the event’s roots.
“The concept came from America." admits Oliver Haim, the firm’s English-speaking financial manager.
The idea was indeed born in the USA. but not at Caiifornia’s Carlsbad Raceway, from where The Superbikers was broadcast. Instead, it began at nearby Saddleback Park, where in 1 977 and '78, promoter Vic Wilson hosted what he called the Motorcycle Olympiad.
Wilson remembers: “Having been involved in the motorcycle business for more vears than I care to count, I
thought. 'All these guys ride really well; let's see who really is the best.’ ”
Olympiad rules stipulated that each rider use the same motorcycle throughout the two-day event, and that he could only perform maintenance and repairs at specified times, ISDE-style. The first year’s event featured separate motocross, short track, TT and Scottish trials (a cross-country with observed trials sections) competitions at Saddleback, plus drag and roadraces at Orange County International Raceway. That first Olympiad was won by motocrosser Kent Howerton. The second year saw the event held entirely at Saddleback, with a dirt drag substituted for the pavement racing. MX legend Bob Hannah was the winner.
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Gavin Trippe, through his Trippe-Cox Associates, had been running the annual U.S. 500cc MX GP at Carlsbad, an event that was carried by “Wide World of Sports" on a regular basis, and that had grown in popularity to the point where ABC wanted more.
At the time, ABC Sports also had a show called “The Superstars,” which pitted star athletes against each other in a variety of sports. The network was looking to expand on that theme, and motorcycle racing was the perfect vehicle.
ABC commentator Sam Posey recalls the events of the day: “We (ABC) were in the awkward position of trying to bring the viewers a variety of motorcycle events. We like motorcycles, but it was tough to decide which type of event to feature."
So. working together, ABC and Trippe concocted The Superbikers.
“We were trying to figure out a way to get the top riders on the same track at the same time," Trippe ex-
plains. “Initially, we went down to Carlsbad with Eddie Lawson—he was a Junior dirt-tracker at the time—and his tuner. Shell Thuett. They brought a 750cc Yamaha Twin, and Eddie helped us lay out the track."
The Superbikers was held from 1979 to '85 on a single circuit made from a combination of Carlsbad’s dragstrip. roadrace and motocross courses, with a slice of dirt-track thrown in, in the form of a “halfmile" cornerand TTjump. Machines were limited to 500cc two-strokes and 750cc four-strokes, with the most successful combination being an Open-class MXer with lowered suspension and a huge front discbrake; the use of Carlisle dirt-track tires was mandated.
Throughout its seven-year run, the event was won by just four men — Howerton, MX er-turned-road racer Steve Wise and dirt-tracker-turnedroadracer Lawson, each of whom won twice, plus motocross wildman Danny “Magoo" Chandler, a onetime winner.
The TV show was aired in two parts on consecutive days, and although it drew remarkable ratings early on, it was finally canceled due to dwindling interest.
‘At first, there was a definite difference between the riders," Posey says. “The motocross guys squirted ahead in the dirt and the roadracers outbraked them on the pavement; you'd see gaps opening and closing. But as the years went on, they all got so good at it that it became just another motorcycle race.
“Eventually, exactly the same thing happened as with “ The Superstars.“ People started to specialize in
the event. The sense that you were seeing something different began to
slip away.”
The Superbikers' downfall was paralleled by the rise in professionalism of motorcycle racing as a whole. When The Superbikers began, its $50,000 purse ($10,000 to the winner) was big money, and the race was the only opportunity most of the riders had all year to appear on TV. But during this period, money and television came to conventional bike racing, largely through the growth of grand prix roadracing and stadium supercross. This, coupled with the reluctance of ABC to mention brand names, led to the end of the factory riders' involvement, which took allure away from the show.
Trippe compares the scenario to that of Formula One car racing.
“Back in the days of Jimmy C'lark and Jackie Stewart, they'd race whatever they could during the off-season. It was that way until just a few years ago in bike racing. But now the sponsors have so much money invested in the riders that they won't let them ride anything else.” he says.
Regardless, for the past two years, many of the world’s top riders have participated in just such an event: The Guidon d'Or, or Golden Handlebar. This race is the grand finale of. would you believe, the French Supermotard National Championship, which in 1990 comprised seven rounds.
The I 990 edition of the Guidon d'Or was the second-annual running, and like the first, it was held at the Circuit Carole, adjacent to Paris’ Charles DeGaulle Airport. The race attracted Eiddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Wayne Gardner. Randy Mamola and Eric Geboers, and the promoters paid handsomely for their participation. Exactly how much, Haim won’t divulge. “It is a lot of money for us, yes,” he admits.
And the riders are treated like royalty, says American motocross star
Broc Glover, who’s competed there both years. “The budget must be huge,” he says. “There's even policeescorted limos. It’s a very, very big thing.”
In addition to attracting the top riders, the Guidon d'Or draws specta>
tors—some 30-40,000 over a two-day period—which was something that The Superbikers never managed to do. And, yes, TV is present, as well. The French promoters claim the race is beamed to 12 countries.
The event is divided into two days, with Saturday being a sort of pre-race for the benefit of TV. On Sunday, each rider competes in three of six heat races, with points awarded based on his finishes and used to determine grid positions for the final. The starting procedure is also quite different: bike running in neutral, rider’s clutch hand held aloft until the light goes green, at which point it’s clutch it, stomp the gearshift, and away.
T he 1990 event, held in the rain, was won by newly crowned 500cc World Roadracing Champion Wayne Rainey after a titanic struggle with two-time ISDE overall winner Stephane Peterhansel. Rainey, riding a trick, liquid-cooled Sonauto Yamaha YZ490 shod with Michelin roadracing rain tires, shadowed the similarly mounted Frenchman, then dove past him going into a hairpin to take the win. Still, it wasn’t easy.
“1 crashed four times there in prac-
tice,” Rainey said, in marked contrast to the one time he fell off his YZR500 during the entire GP season. “I had to get serious just to keep from falling down! But it was probably the most fun I’ve had all year.” Rainey’s Marlboro Yamaha teammate Eddie Lawson finished third behind Peterhansel in Sunday’s final after winning on Saturday. (Lawson won 1 989’s inaugural running on a Honda.) Glover finished fourth, while Mamola was his usual self, falling off and remounting to perform spectacular wheelies for the fans.
In 1991, the French are taking Supermotard on the road, expanding the series to include rounds in four additional European countries—Belgium. the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
In light of the success of Supermo tard overseas, will we see a Superbikers revival here at home?
Sam Posey, for one, thinks not. ”ln TV, it’s our business to know when a concept has run its course. The Superbikers is an event whose time has come and gone.”
Well, in Europe, at least, they're playing it again, Sam. S3
