An ambitious preview of the already changed (and sure to change even more) 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship

WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
PHOTOS: SIMON CUDBY & OCTOPI MEDIA

It was nearly 50 years ago on a Saturday evening in Los Angeles when the starting gate dropped on the first “Superbowl of Motocross,” the very invention of supercross as we know it. It was a radical change from the sport people knew as motocross—dirt bike racing on a Sunday afternoon around a natural-terrain, closed-course circuit—as the lights came on and the stadium filled with curious spectators, many of whom had probably never ventured out into the countryside to any kind of professional motocross race before. Although there were plenty of skeptics and critics of the concept back then, the race that night—July 8, 1972—was probably the most significant moment of change this sport has ever seen.