Australia's First Supercross

[Kenneth S (222)]

Australia's first Supercross. I think it had to be late 78 at Parramatta Speedway (The Speedway by the Freeway!) I was racing my Suzuki RM400C. It rained and was as slippery as ice. What's your memory?

[KTM47]

This is an interesting question.

Was the Parramatta one a Supercross or a MX under lights.

From a Queensland point of view we have always considered the meeting Blair Sheppard run at Archerfield in 1979 to be the first Supercross.

Blair brought Mike Bell and Rex Staten out from the US also.

It wasn't called a Supercross, it was called Superbowl of Motocross which is the name Mike Goodwin called the first Supercross in 1972.

I even raced at the Archerfield meeting.

[skypig]

I raced my RM125X at Sydney showground in 1981.
An early SX for sure, but by the sounds of it, not the first.

[xl59]

Na I think your right first actual supercross was at the  showground we came down to watch. Doug Demokis did a wheel stand across the Sydney harbour bridge paying the toll on his way past without putting his wheel on the ground .It was publicity for the event ..Or I may stand corrected but I remember we rode a club day at Dargle the next day . I slept in between our 2 bikes under a tarp in front of a park on way to Dargle as it started to rain and I was sleeping in the park till it rained . AH the good old days when you could do that without the fear of being mugged .
    Cheers GREG

[skypig]

The Showground Supercross was promoted as the “first Supercross”. (Could have been “first Sydney”, “first city”, “first Showground”)

A few of us drove down from Newcastle to race.
One of my friends was amazing us all, including Steve Gall, by jumping through the woops on his YZ125H. Later that night he got a false neutral over a big jump, landed on his back and cracked some vertebra. This was the start of a theme; of visiting capital city hospitals late on Saturday nights.

That track had the “corkscrew” obstacle (once one rider crashed, no one could get passed - disaster) and the semi trailer backs up into the stands, then a jump back down onto the track.

[shelpi]

1st one for me was 1981 at Avalon on a RM250X and YZ465H was inside the speedway track at Gelong it was so cold steam was coming off the riders