Just when we thought the origins of Supermoto had something to do with the rolling urban terrain of a euro-centric San Francisco Bay Area, history tells us otherwise. Supermoto, or Supermotard if you happen to be in France, started right here in Carlsbad, California as part of Wide World of Sports on ABC. The guys in the mustard yellow sports jackets incorporated this two-wheeled challenge of off and on road motorcycle skill into the regularly scheduled programming of Canadian Rules Ice Curling and Demolition Derbies, until the wheels fell off the show in the eighties. The Europeans kept the Superbikers flame alive lest it suffer the agony of defeat. Supermoto is now back, with Americans once again able to experience the thrill of victory.
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Beverly Hills Ducati Hypermotard [Internal]










Comments
carlsbad? is that the racetrack that was in back of mike mcgill's skatepark?
throw in some helemt-cams and some NASCAR/video game camera angles, and I'll be all over it.
Along with DAKAR,and Topfuel bike,Superbikers races were some of the most entertaining i have ever seen, Moto GP occasionally puts on an awesome show,cool clip.
That Ducati isn't a true supermoto. True supermotos are converted dirt bikes that weigh ~250lbs and have torque-to-weight ratios rivaling a ZX-14. KTM makes some killer track-specific supermotos (which can get plated if you're lucky) and I ride a Husqvarna SMR510 with a Stewey Griffin-esque death wish for it's owner. $30 trackdays and relatively cheap tires make it the most fun per dollar on wheels.
Here's a vid of modern-day riders: Hayden, Biaggi, Ward, et. al.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-84623784669975685...
Of note, I went to high school with one of the grandsons of the announcer, Jim McKay, who is also known for his announcing the death of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
He also spoke at our athletic banquet my freshman year.
@seanaron: Hey I'm envious, i bet that husky is a ball to ride,as for the origin of supermoto, didn't that name come out of supermotard,in France which oddly enough came from their fascination with the old made for tv superbikers races(see clip above)...and the HD's being raced there were xr750's with suspension, foot peg,and gearing mod's.....so is it possible that some of the origins of supermoto were large displacement twins?,that come to think of it are normally only raced in the dirt?,just ask'n.
Love the rally-like slip angles going into corners!
@jword2001:
Those XR750s were the dirt bikes of the day. They weren't much different than the street bikes of the day because the technology just wasn't there. Today they've gone a completely different direction than the street bikes and the advances in suspension and weight loss make it hard to believe that those guys wrestled those things around the desert the way they did. Evel Knievel rode an XR750 amazingly enough--today Mike Metzeger is doing the same distances on a 220lb two-smoker and throwing in a backflip for good measure. And not crashing.
@harumph: If it's Carlsbad Raceway that just closed in the last year or two then yes, it is.
One question, though: Why did they cut off the interview at the end that was being conducted my none other than Sam "Nobody's Flower" Posey?
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