RIO BRAVO

 

By Jody Weisel

This is my story of other peoples stories (broken down into bite-sized moments of glory, disgrace and dedication).

ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE WAS AT THE 1973 TRANS-AMA EVENT AT RIO BRAVO. AS A RACER, I LIKED RIO BRAVO. I LOVED THE WOODSY SETTING AND WAS ENAMORED BY A GIANT TREE LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK.

Perhaps one of the best days of my life was at the 1973 Trans-AMA event at Rio Bravo Cycle Park, just north of Houston. As a racer, I liked Rio Bravo. I loved the woodsy setting and was enamored by a giant tree located in the middle of the back straight. Okay, the tree wasnt in the center of the straight, but there was room to go on either side of it. I was a chicken and almost always went to the wider left side up the hill.

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By the time the 1973 Trans-AMA circus had settled into Rio Bravo, the rain had started to fall. Not a heavy frog strangler,as they say in Texas, but a steady drizzle producing deep puddles and an oozy surface that made riding like roller skating.

 

All the big guns of the sport had come to Rio Bravo, and all the big guns in 1973 were Europeans. The American riders were pea shooters compared to Roger DeCoster, Adolf Weil, Arne Kring, Willy Bauer, Gerrit Wolsink, Sylvain Geboers and Pierre Karsmakers (not yet a Dutch). The Euros had never been beaten in a Trans-AMA event...ever. The score was Euros 35, Americans 0. Rio Bravo was about to change that.

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Although Jammin Jimmy Weinert was a bona fide American star, he had never won a Trans-AMA event (and would only win one more in his lifetime). Whatever possessed Jimmy in the Texas mud, it was a powerful force. Jimmy holeshot the first moto and led until Maicos Adolf Weil ran him down. I admit that I, and every other drenched fan, expected Jimmy to get passed, and when he did, there was a collective sigh (with a Texas twang). But, Jimmy passed Adolf back! Texan and American hopes rose, but then Jimmy fell in the mud, letting Weil and Kring by. Hey, third isnt bad.

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If youve ever raced in the swampy land near Houston, you know that whenever the rain lets up, the earth steams like a British tea kettle. Between motos, Rio Bravo steamed, and so did Jammin Jimmy. He couldnt believe that he lost the first good chance he ever had to win a Trans-AMA.

 

A fourth-place start in moto two soon resulted in Jimmy chasing German Willy Bauer for the lead. Bauer broke, Weil broke and the guy who finished behind Jimmy in moto one was behind him again. Weinert did some quick math and let Pierre Karsmakers by on the last lap (Karsmakers had DNFed moto one).

 

Weinerts 3-2 gave him the first American win on American soil. It was about time, but it wasnt the start of an American dynasty. No American would win again for two years (when Marty Smith, Jim Pomeroy, Tony Distefano and Jim Weinert would beat the Euros in six out of ten races).

 

 

MOTOCROSS

Motocross is distinct from other forms of motorsports in having a mass start,
where all the riders line up along side each other on the starting gate, starting
simultaneously and racing the race distance.The first rider across the finish is
the winner of that "moto"; the number of motos may vary and points are
added up to determine the final winner.

Motos vary in duration, measured in time elapsed plus one or two laps, or
alternatively a fixed number of laps. Top level racing tends to have long races
(e.g. 30 minutes plus 2 laps) while at the other end of the spectrum, amateur
races can be as short as 5 minutes. When the designated time duration of the
race is complete, a finish line flagger signals via a board or flag to the racers
that there are one or two laps left, and the race is finished by a checkered flag.

Motocross tracks are often quite large (a mile or more) and incorporate natural
terrain features with varying amounts of man-made jumps and other features.
It is not unheard of for a Motocross track To be made up entirely of hills and
turns with a few jumps. The track in Sevlievo, Bulgaria was voted best track in
the world for 2006 and 2007.In contrast, Supercross is an entirely man-made
track, comprised almost exclusively of a wide array of jumps, and is typically
held in an large stadium or arena. Due to the size of outdoor tracks, motocross
races typically include 40racers, while supercross races usually have about 20 in
the main events.

Contrasting with motocross are the off-road racing events of Enduro, Hare and
Hounds, Hare Scrambles,et cetera. In these events there are a pre-determined
number of laps or long distance loops to complete within a maximum time
limit. These events, unlike Motocross, race on courses that are largely
comprised of natural terrain. The Baja 1000 is an example of one of these types
of events.

History
Motocross was first known as a British off-road event called Scrambles, which
were themselves an evolution of Trials events popular in northern Britain. The
first known Scramble took place at Camberley, Surrey in 1924. During the
1930s, the sport grew in popularity, especially in Britain where teams from BSA,
Norton, Matchless, Rudge, and AJS competed in the events. Off-road bikes from
that era differed little from those used on the street. Intense competition over
rugged terrain led to technical improvements in motorcycles. Rigid frames
gave way to suspensions by the early 1930s, and swinging fork rear suspension
appeared by the early 1950s, several years before it was incorporated on the
majority of production street bikes. The period after the Second World War was
dominated by BSA which had become the largest motorcycle company in the
world. BSA riders dominated international competitions throughout the 1950s.
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