Real classic here The 1978 Superbowl of Motocross from the LA Coliseum is up

Man, I was there,.. That Kite Cycle had the whole stadium on the floor...

Awesome race.

Could you just imagine the reaction they would get if they had a huge puddle for a obstacle in today's supercross world?

Great SX race . . . one of the best.

This race made Mike Bell one of the top SX racers. All his early years of night races at Ascot and Irwindale paid off that night.

I was holding my fingers crossed all the way during the main, hoping Semics would hold on the lead to the checkers.

Hannah was on fire that night. Starting almost last by the first turn. He charged hard and got messed up a couple times during the main and came within a half lap of the win.

Just think, at that time, tear offs were minimal compared to today's goggle equipment.
Racing at night with muddy goggles . . . not fun for mid packers!

The Japanese factory teams all protested about the water, and the water hole was replaced with a sand pit the following years. All us fans loved the idea of the water to make the track more difficult.

Anahiem SX in 1987 or 88 (I can't remember exactly) tried a water pit and the factory teams threw a fit, again. The sponsors didn't like the fact that their logos on the riders and bikes were going to be covered in mud and wouldn't be seen during the TV race coverage, or in the published photos.They drained the water, and it still was a mud pit that the riders had to navigate.

I think they should have a natural element in SX track design, at least some deep sand whoops to keep things interesting.

Race on . . .

Good stuff again, Tony. Thanks for posting these. The off-season goes by quicker when we have cool old races like this to look back on. I imagine that it was within a couple years of this race, like 1980-'81, that doubles and triples really came into the supercross picture.

DC
MX Sports