THE WEEKLY FEED: THE FIRST SUPERCROSS- 51 YEARS AGO •HILLCLIMB NIGHTMARES

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Marty Tripes burst on Southern California Moto scene as perhaps one of the smoothest and fastest riders of generation. In 1971 at the age of 14 Tripes finished 4th at the Denver Inter-Am (and was banned until he turned 16 by the AMA when they found out his age). He was signed by Yamaha in 1972 and after turning 16 he won the first Supercross ever at the L.A. Coliseum.

John Desoto and the 16-year-old Tripes at the L.A.Coliseum in 1972.

NEWS

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SOCIAL DISTORTION

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VIDEO JUKEBOX

This is quite long, but scroll through as there is superb hill climbing video, both makes and gallant attempts!

GEAR BAG

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Contact: www.boyesen.com

TESTING

It’s been a great start to our year as an ‘atmospheric river’ has launched a healthy dose of rain and snow all over So Cal. Grim for traffic, great for our water table and feeds us some killer dirt. This last weekend we bounced around our high desert zone, where I was testing some initial mods to the ’23 KTM 450XCF-W. This is a great wagon and I plan on spending quite a bit of time trying to wear off the knobs.

N2Dirt went through the suspension and fit in their dual cartridge system in front and dedicated PDS valving for the rear end. Webb fit on an FMF 4.1 w/spark arrestor for testing. It definitely enhanced the power in both power modes although it did feel lean down low. He followed this with a Vortex X10 ECU from Tokyo Mods mapped for the machine. This was flat brilliant, improving all facets of the power, and negated flame out too! Notice the bikes in the back- all 2-strokes! You would not have seen this five years ago.

N2Dirt sprung the WP fork and installed their full wrap lower guards. These are magic, reducing the pits and dents infecting the fork tubes from thrown rocks from the front wheel.

The Flexx “Enduro” handlebar enhances the hand comfort dramatically and has 9-inches of real estate per side for the various switches, starter buttons and levers. Mr. Webb uses a tall Seat Concepts Comfort saddle on his scoot.

Fastway’s Evolution 4 footage has a wide base, replaceable cleats and set in the low and back mode is perfect for taller riders looking for additional cockpit space.

The Wolf at play on his 450 XCF-W. Sprung and valved for his weight and size, the machine became much more adept at taming the terrain. Gracias N2Dirt! Look for a detailed story in Dirt Bike in an upcoming issue.

Reset time for the boys. Mother Nature made the trail perfect.

Tip Webb navigates a frosted trail on his beloved Chilean.

WOLF: BACK IN THE DAY

This was my Kolbe Can-Am 400 and I had just about wrapped up the 1980 District 37 #1 plate in the open enduro class. Of note, I had just started working for Dirt Bike and Super Hunky let me take his YZ250 test bike to practice moto. The fork was brilliant so I took it off, along with the Yamaha front wheel and brake and slipped it into the Can-Am clamps. Loved it. This was also an early photo session and I think the first time brother Mike shot some pics for me. He captured my best Pete Maly rendition.