Supermoto, Supermotard, Motard, Supersuper.....

What is a Supermotard you may ask? In the late 70's someone asked who is the very best motorcycle racer in the world? To this measure a series was introduced where by motorcycle racers would compete in an all around Motorcycle Olympiad consisting of dragracing ,dirt tracking ,roadracing ,motocross and ISDT. The focal point was all the events had to be completed on the same motorcycle. The diversity of machinery became readily apparent as BSA flattrackers competed against Yamaha TT500's and big bore MX bikes.

The field of riders in the beginning included such notables as King Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer.The event was eventually won by Kent Howerton on an RM370 Suzuki. Of note King Kenny didn't fare well as he crashed when he attemted to slide his TT500 dirttrack bike through a paved corner and one of his rear shock mounts broke!

As the Olympiad format was quite lengthy it was decided to form one hybrid course for the following years race now titled the "Superbikers". This course layed out at Carlsbad California with the help of Eddie Lawson consisted of about 1/2 pavement and 1/2 dirt. The dirt section included sweeping turns as used in flattrack racing and some bumps and jumps reminiscent of motocross.The choice of machines at this point was still open with 500MX bikes being the weapon of choice although tires were now restricted to 19 inch diameter dirttrack tires.The most curious machinery match took place in the mid 80's as the Harley Davidson factory team competed on XR750 dirttrack racers making for an interesting match as the high horsepower 750's pulled out a lead on the paved sections only to lose it to the lighter MX bikes in the dirt. The 500cc MX bikes eventually became the standard but allas the Superbikers came to and end in 1986 as ABC TV discontinued coverage.

All was not lost though as the French became fascinated with dirt bikes doing lurid rubber burning slides on pavement that they started a series that to this day is known as "Super Motard" or super motorcycle as it translates. In addition the original California series has been showing signs of resurrection with some local races held under the new banner of "Super TT" in Dec/97 with the promise of more to come. The evolution of the motorcycles used has resulted in a new breed of enthusiast type motorcycle as can be seen in these pictured examples. The competition models nowdays are usually 500MX two strokes or 600cc four strokes with stiffened and lowered suspensions ,wide rims with hand cut slicks and massive front brakes. The series is now popular all over Europe and usually culminates each fall in France with a final round called the Golden handlebar. Long live the new Superbikers!