THE SPOTLIGHT ON SUPERCROSS

It was 1996. The Spokettes swung their pompoms on the tabletop, framed in the two-stroke smog that filled the air. Full grids were bursting with talented racers who fought for supremacy. The crowd was big. I peered through the mesh surrounding Parramatta Speedway — I was just five years old. This was my first taste of motorcycle racing, the Supercross Masters unfolding before me. I still remember that feeling, that excitement. No word of a lie, I got the same feeling sitting in the stands of the AUS-X Open in Sydney 23 years later in 2018. As the intro rolled and the crowd roared, for that one night it seemed as if nothing else mattered in the sport and the industry stopped.

The Australian Supercross Championship has ridden a roller coaster of success and failure since the first “supercross” in 1978, which was held at the same Parramatta Speedway where I witnessed the sport for the first time. Promoters have come and gone, events have featured in the largest stadiums and regional showgrounds, and the sport has ebbed and flowed.

As we stand, the sport of supercross in Australia is in good hands. With the team at AME Management overseeing a group of passionate promoters taking the series through spectacular venues, we are looking good. In 2014, there were whispers and reports that the series was no longer continuing and we would be a motocross-only country. Five years later, we are now seeing the sport bashing through the indoor excitement of the Brisbane