#supercross

The 2016 AMA Supercross season kicks off tonight, so for this week’s video, we take a look back to the 1978 Super Bowl of Motocross featuring an epic battle between Yamaha’s Bob “Hurricane” Hannah and Mike “Too Tall” Bell. Enjoy!

In racing lightness is everything, and that was the main objective when designing the 2001 Suzuki RM250 motocrosser, the subject of this week’s Church feature, the first one of 2016. Yep, we’re going back 15 years and checking out what MX’ers were looking as the hot ticket. Every facet of the RM250 was approached with optimum racing performance in mind, and according to author Mark Kariya, the Suzuki two-stroke didn’t disappoint. Read on to see what the RM250 was all about. 

We’re approaching the end of the year which means it’s time to look back at some of the top news stories in motorcycledom from 2015. The last 12 months saw a lot of ups and downs, and here’s to hoping there will be more of the former in 2016.

Of all the champions who needed no introduction at Yamaha’s recent 60th anniversary fest, maybe the guy who needs one least is Bob Hannah. I remember reading about Hannah at the drugstore newsrack before I could drive, so it’s an interesting thrill to talk to the guy and understand he’s not many years older than I am; he’ll be 60 next year. Here’s a short intro anyway.

This might ruffle some feathers, but when I think of an all-American form of motorsport, I think drag racing (sorry NASCAR fans). In this land of excess and consumption, what’s more Americana than 500 cubic inch big blocks drinking 11.2 gallons of nitro-methane per second, pumping out massive amounts of horsepower (top fuel dragsters make in excess of 8000 horses!), and clearing the quarter mile in under 4.5 seconds at over 300 mph. It’s impressive stuff. Add in the one-on-one competition between two drivers/riders and the emotional highs and lows that come from victory or defeat, and you have a drama-packed event with non-stop action. I mean, have you been to an NHRA drag race before? It’s intense.

Honda released the details of its 2015 Honda CRF450R last June, and we have been anxiously awaiting the chance to throw some roost on it ever since. That chance finally came this week, as Honda invited us to the picturesque Zaca Station MX Park north of Santa Barbara, California, to sample its latest red rooster. We’re happy to report that the 2015 model boasts updates to make it even more competitive in what is a brutally intense category.

Every other year dozens of countries attempt to set aside geopolitical, ethnic, religious, and cultural differences in order to gather in one host nation so that a select few citizens from each nation may participate in that spectacle of sport known as the Olympics.