ATV Supermoto Explained by Zac Willett
- Updated: July 1, 2007
photos by: Gary Davis / AtomicEffect.com
A new era of ATV racing has definitely grown on us rapidly. It’s as if someone dumped a concentrated blend of energy drinks and miracle grow on a tired and trying plant. I’m pumped things are escalading and amazed how quickly our sport is popping new branches. Don’t let it slip up on you–Just check out how professional race teams are getting with numerous team/brand/marketing managers, rig drivers, goggle mechanics and grip-installation engineers. This sport has a lot to offer just about anyone that has the love and drive for it. If you get a minute between washing and ebaying your stock parts for gas money, look at a new niche that has a ton of potential. In my opinion (prior to even racing one) ATV supermoto is the most innovative event to evolve within the past year. It really has something for riders (of any style), spectators, sponsors, and even coverage as a whole to the general public of how really rad ATV racing is. I love the feeling of rolling into a major city and not have to look for the smallest road possible to lead me to a racetrack on the backside of a mountain. Take the AMA opening round in St. Louis for an example. We pulled our rig into the Verizon wireless amphitheater right outside of downtown to a huge lot full of kids listening to a full-blown concert featuring bands like The Academy, Fall Out Boy, and Paul Wall. The minute you pulled into the facility, there was a buzzing feeling of energy.
To be racing ATVs in an urban setting and taking the show right in the faces of spectators is what it’s all about. Throughout the day there was numerous product promos, a freestyle demo with a couple of riders flipping steel ramps and a freestyle crotch rocket crew doing more circle wheelies and stoppies than a five year old with a die-cast toy. I’m not one that is big on the AMA as a whole, but the AMA Pro racing staff really does an amazing job at coordinating the events. The staff actually treats the ATV riders with the same seriousness as the pro bike crew and even has guys out with leaf blowers blowing off strands of loose straw to keep the track clean and presentable. All of the factory bike teams are there with top pilots like Jeff Ward, Mark Burkhart, Carey Hart, and Josh Hansen. The track was laid out in a parking lot featuring a 1,500-foot straight that required eighth gear to get down topping speeds in the 90 mile-per-hour range into sweeping road race-style corners that led to steel ramps known as the urban cross section.
The first jump is a set up like a spine found at a skate park. It’s about six feet tall and four feet across (Rear brake tapping required). The spine is close enough to the bigger jump to prevent anyone that might have the horrible idea they should click third and attempt to Bubba scrub over the step-up table. The larger jump has a curved face and really boots you up there effortlessly and in a hurry. Someone who has rode freestyle ramps would be able to relate jumping 70 feet in second gear. It’s really loud hitting the steel face and landing, comparable to the chatter and clanging of a roller coaster. After some more high-speed switchbacks, the run into the dirt section had your basic supermoto-style dirt layout: a tame hard-pack motocross section with some tables to step on and step off, as well as a medium sized double. A rider will get his kicks on jumping, white smoking tires while drifting corners, and feeding the speed fits all in front of a packed venue of freaked-out spectators.
I’m most definitely no journalist, but the best thing to relate it to is the fantasy of ripping your quad though a skate park and down the streets of your local ghetto. If it sounds remotely exciting to you then multiply it by 640. The only thing that really sucks about the whole scene is lack of rider participation. I’m not sure if it’s the newness or uncertainty of bike setup or simply lack of exposure that has deterred riders from showing up, but every person that I have ever met that has raced a full-blown supermoto leaves really pumped. A really cool aspect is how well suited ATVs are for this type of racing, I am not the fastest racer on the planet, but its killer to know I was knocking down faster lap times than supercross riders like, Tyler “onepunch” Evans and David Pingree (Who claims we race on couches). All a rider has to do to be competitive at one of these events is to swoop up a sway bar, (preferably a Rath) some taller sprockets, and lower the shocks a bit. Good tire combos are Duro Top Fighters. They feature a killer compound that will not shred up and will last a hundred laps or more. Hoosier Tri-Tracs, or some old knobbies and radial fronts are also good choices. Go out and get you some knee guards and elbow guards so you don’t get the cheese-grater look and your set. The series is going to be in numerous cities this year – check out the schedule. I’m really enthused to push this new side of our sport. We just need more of us to check outside the box and find out that ATV racing really can fit into the extreme sports scene as long as it keeps evolving and branching out into venues that appeal to the masses.
Pingree was speechless (for once) when I suggested he might be a little more comfortable on the track if he indeed was on a couch.
