The AMA Supermoto Championship was an AMA Pro Racing-sanctioned
Supermoto motorcycle racing series that ran from 2003 through 2009. AMA Pro Racing was a wholly owned subsidiary of the
American Motorcyclist Association. An amateur national championship, known as
AMA Supermoto and sanctioned by the
American Motorcyclist Association as AMA Sports, was launched in 2013 with USA Supermoto as the new promoter.
Classes
Main classes consisted of Supermoto (also later known as Supermoto Premier) for 400-450cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycles, and Supermoto Unlimited, open to two-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycles 490cc and greater, four-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycles.
Support classes included the Honda Junior Supermoto Challenge with riders on identically prepared
Honda CRF150F
The Honda CRF150F is an off road motorcycle that was introduced in 2003 as the successor to the Honda XR series. The 150F Is a bike for beginner to intermediate riders, teens or adults. It is mainly used for family recreation and easy off road ...
s,
and, beginning in 2005, Supermoto Lites for 200-250cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycles.
Course design
Racecourses were designed with approximately 80% pavement and 20% dirt, with jumps, whoop sections, and a flat-track-style turn. Courses were between .6 and 1.1 miles in length.
Tabletop and Kicker "Urbancross" jumps were designed, fabricated, and then built on-site by ASD (a subsidiary of All-Access Staging and Productions) and these added an extra Motocross dimension to the paved portion of racecourses.
Venues
Unique to the AMA Supermoto championship were the use of temporary race venues in addition to traditional, purpose-built courses.
Temporary venues such as
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...
(unused portion of the racetrack and a parking lot),
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
(public streets),
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
(public streets and parking lots)
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
(
Reunion Arena
Reunion Arena was an indoor arena located in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena served as the primary home of the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars and the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. The venu ...
parking lot), Las Vegas (Rio Hotel parking lot and Bally's Casino
parking lot),
Copper Mountain (parking lot) were converted into racecourses complete with dirt sections and Urbancross ramps.
Kart tracks (
Miller Motorsports Park
Utah Motorsports Campus is a race track facility located in Grantsville near Tooele, Utah, United States. It operated under the name of Miller Motorsports Park from 2006 until October 2015. The course has hosted auto, motorcycle, bicycle and ka ...
,
Road America, USA International Raceway
) were also used as the tight, winding circuits lend themselves nicely to the agility of Supermoto motorcycles.
Dedicated racecourses (oval automobile courses with infield road courses) were also used. Examples include
South Boston Speedway
South Boston Speedway, or "SoBo", is a short track located just outside South Boston, Virginia. SoBo is located approximately east of another area familiar to most NASCAR fans, Martinsville. It is owned by Mattco, Inc., the Mattioli family tr ...
,
Irwindale Speedway
Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, w ...
, and
Music City Motorplex
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand Natio ...
.
2003 Championship Format
The 2003
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
AMA Supermoto Championship (6 rounds) was structured in a winner-take-all format in order to attract riders from other motorcycle racing disciplines who may not have otherwise been able to compete in the new series.
The first five rounds were used as qualifying rounds for the final round, the Red Bull Supermoto-A-Go-Go held at the
Rio Hotel and Casino in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
. Riders and teams were able to participate in the final championship event based on points earned in earlier rounds. Seventy-four riders qualified for the Championship finale.
The unique championship format was successful in attracting racers who were competing in other series. Examples include
Ben Bostrom
Benjamin Bostrom (born May 7, 1974) is an American former professional motorcycle racer. From 1995 to 2011 he competed in the AMA Superbike Championship, the World Superbike Championship and the MotoGP world championship..
Motorcycle racing car ...
,
Eric Bostrom
Eric Bostrom (born November 19, 1976 in San Francisco, California) is an American professional motorcycle racer and brother of Ben Bostrom, who also races motorcycles professionally.
He is currently racing in the AMA Superbike series for Attack ...
, and
Jake Zemke (
AMA Superbike
AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned b ...
),
Chris Carr,
Joe Kopp, Jay Shelton and
Roger Lee Hayden
Roger Lee Hayden (born May 30, 1983) is an American professional motorcycle racer, the younger brother of both 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden and AMA Superbike Championship rider Tommy Hayden.
Career
In July 2007, Hayden made his MotoG ...
(
AMA Flat Track), and
Grant Langston (
AMA Motocross).
In addition, many riders who had retired from competition in other disciplines participated in the 2003 series. Among them were
AMA Supercross
The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from J ...
Champion
Jeremy McGrath, AMA Flat Track and Superbike racer
Larry Pegram
Larry Pegram (born September 5, 1973 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American motorcycle racer.
Racing history
AMA Superbike
Pegram has been in the AMA Superbike scene for over a decade, first entering the championship in 1996.
In 2009 he had his bes ...
, AMA Superbike Champion and Grand Prix racer
Doug Chandler, ACU British National Motocross Champion
Kurt Nicoll
Kurt Nicoll (born 15 November 1964) is an English former professional motocross racer.
Nicoll was one of the top riders in the Motocross Grand Prix World Championships during the late 1980s and early 1990s, finishing as the runner up four times ...
, Grand Prix Champion
Kevin Schwantz
Kevin Schwantz (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was the world champion of the 1993 FIM Road Racing World Championship.
Early life
Schwantz, whose parents owned a motorcycle shop, learned to ride ...
, AMA Motocross Champions
Micky Dymond
Micky or Mickie can be a given name, but it is most often a nickname for Michael or non-Anglo Saxon equivalents, such as "Mikhail". People with the name include:
Men
* Micky Adams (born 1961), English football manager and former player
* Micky Ari ...
and
Chuck Sun, AMA Superbike racer
Mike Smith, FMM Champion
Omar Isaak, and French Ice Racing Champion
David Baffeleuf.
2004–2009
In 2004 and subsequent years, the Supermoto Championship was a traditional cumulative points championship with points from each round contributing to the championship.
Television
The series was broadcast tape-delayed on the
Outdoor Life Network
OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel. OLN primarily broadcasts factual-based and adventure-related reality programming aimed at male audiences. OLN is wholly owned by Rogers Sports & ...
from 2003 through 2005, with the 2003 Red Bull Supermoto-A-Go-Go televised live on November 21, 2003.
AMA Supermoto champions
References
{{reflist
Supermoto
Motorcycle racing series
Motorsport competitions in the United States