Questions and Answers about Supercross

Hi. Last week I talked a little bit about the bikes and where they came from. This week I am going to try answer a few questions that bothered me about supercross and some other people I know. How much does a supercross rider earn? Most riders would earn in the range of a few million dollars a year, this is mainly due to contract with gear and boots companies and also energy drinks. Most riders don't actually earn that much money from the races on their own.

What kind of people are on a riders team? Well there is usually a personal mechanic, suspension and engine specialist. There are also test riders and mechanics who work to get the best out of the bike. There are PR staff as well as riding and personal trainers.

How are the tracks built? Dirt Wurx is the name of the company who have been building supercross tracks for more than ten years now. There are hundreds of truckloads of dirt piled onto the stadium floors and then they are shaped to make the track and jumps. When the race day is over, they usually have all the dirt taken away within 24 hours and it is reused at the next track.

That's all the questions I have to answer for this week.   

Supercross Bikes

Last week, I talked a little bit about the history of supercross and where it came from. This week I am going to talk about the bikes, where they come from. So what are the big bike manufactures in the supercross scene? Well there are Yamahas, Suzukis, Hondas and Kawasakis. However these all come from Japan and the only other well known bike at the minute not assembled in Japan is the KTM ridden by Ryan Dungey. This is not to say that the dirtbike manufacture scene is dominated by Japan, because it's not. The bikes are just assembled there. The exhausts are made in America and engine parts generally come from Europe. Yamaha offer the YZF whilst Honda sell the CRF, Suzuki RMZ and Kawasaki KXF. All of these bikes are designed and a new model roles onto the production line every year. Usually there is very little change although sometimes there are big changes like Honda's new dual pipe system this year. The factories set a stock bike that is usually on a budget then the big supercross riders get sponsored by these makers and receive their bike to ride. This is not to say the riders are handed a bike straight off the production line, oh no! The teams work long and hard and go through many thousands of dollar working out the best features for the bike and putting in more lightweight and durable parts for their new bike. Some of these bikes have bee known to start at a price of $6000 and rise to well in excess of $70000 by the time the mechanics are finished with them.