One Super-Cool Experience!
At first, I thought I'd drawn the short straw. Both our editor and associate editor were off to frolic in the sludge at the Mud Nationals in Texas, while I was relegated to cover some other, relatively newer and lesser-known event in Primm, Nevada, just over the California border. But hey, I was the new guy and this was my first real story. So if the race had a few ATVs and they were going faster than 5 mph, I was thrilled to report on it. My skepticism soon transformed into anticipation when I discovered that the event was the Stateline Supermoto Challenge. I'd previously seen videos from this competition and had a rough understanding of what a supermoto race entailed-something like TT, only on asphalt and juxtaposed with a decent motocross section-but I'd never experienced it firsthand. As a connoisseur of all things awesome, I couldn't wait to see quads quickly clicking through gears and two-wheeling around turns on the blacktop. As it turned out, the Stateline Challenge offered all kinds of sick action to racers and race fans alike.
Supermoto For Dummies!
Supermoto is basically a hybrid of superbike and motocross racing disciplines, hence the "supermoto" moniker, where the track is split into about 70 percent road course and 30 percent motocross track. The road section varies depending on the location, sometimes at an existing roadracing facility or, as in the case of the Stateline event, marked out in a hotel parking lot. Either way, the road course will have its fair share of sweepers, long straights, chicanes and a hairpin or two thrown in for good measure. The motocross section is usually similar to a vet or amateur track with smaller, more rounded versions of tabletops, step-ups and doubles.
Supermoto kicked off back in the late 1970s, when everybody must've gotten bored with only racing on one surface at a time and decided to throw them both together and see who was the best at it. ABC thought it might make a good television show and decided to air the races on its hugely successful "Wide World of Sports." The show was unfortunately canceled in '85, initiating a long hiatus of the sport in the United States. There were some small clubs that held races, but it wasn't until 2003 that SMX made a huge comeback in the States when the AMA held its first Supermoto Championship. The sport has been growing ever since, with the help of independent events like the Stateline Challenge.
KTM's new ATVs are rapidly making their way to racetracks across the country.
Enter Stateline
The Stateline Supermoto Challenge started back in 2004 when racer and promoter Marche Karger thought the supermoto scene was missing a big once-a-year blast event, based more around enjoying the sport, rather than all-out competition. Thankfully for us, there was one more thing Marche thought was missing from supermoto: ATVs! There were enough racers interested and he thought it would be true excitement-for him and the fans-to watch quads break out of their shells and get sideways on the asphalt. Fortunately for us, he was right! At the inaugural event, 35 ATVs took to the track. An instant crowd favorite, they were just as fun, if not more fun to watch than the bikes. The fans loved it and the racers were hooked. In the years since, the ATVs have grown to be a substantial part of the event and have spawned a following all their own.
The Stateline race definitely includes the quads as a main portion of the event, not just a sideshow to the bikes. We didn't have quite as many races as the bikes, but there were more than enough classes to fit the 130 ATV racers that arrived ready for high-speed action. Along with the pros, there were the standard beginner, novice and intermediate classes as well as a 25+ Vet class and happily a mini class so the little guys could get out and rip up some pavement. There was even a team race on Friday afternoon after the practice sessions, where teams of two riders would each run half the race.