Larry Lawrence | July 24, 2022
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When Supercross Came To Hawaii
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT PALMER
It was a short-lived Supercross event, but the Alohacross held in the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium in a suburb of Honolulu gave riders who didn’t often run up front in AMA Supercross races the chance at the spotlight. It even brought out the state’s long-retired favorite son to race against a newer generation of riders.
The first Alohacross was held in June of 1984. Most of the fans and even perhaps the riders in the event had never seen a Supercross race in person. The event was promoted by Pro Motion, a rock concert promotional company. The Alohacross was the company’s first attempt at promoting a Supercross event. The race was sanctioned by the Continental Motorsports Club (CMC). CMC President Stu Peters coordinated everything for the AMA regulars coming to Hawaii. The event was the brainchild of Bart Tunick, who also happened to be the drummer for famous Hawaiian singer and TV personality Don Ho. Sadly Tunick died mysteriously in his sleep just three months after the ’84 event. He was just 39.
In the first Alohacross in ’84, only five mainland riders made the trip. In addition to Turner were Brian Myerscough, Rodney Smith, Chris Heisser and Jimmy Ellis. All riders raced 125cc bikes. One of those five was expected to win against the mainly Hawaiian rider-dominated field.
The big story was the addition to the rider lineup of John DeSoto. “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” had been retired from motocross for 10 years, but the announcement that the 37-year-old Hawaiian motocross racing legend was competing in the event generated a lot of excitement for the local fans and was a significant reason that 17,000 strong showed up for the race. Famous Supercross announcer Larry Huffman was even brought over to do the announcing. It was a homecoming for Larry since, at one time, he’d been a radio disc jockey in Honolulu.
The total purse for that ’84 event was $10,000.
Smith said he and Myerscough got to Hawaii a few days early to get a little mini vacation.
“We roomed together and woke up that first morning, went across the street, rented some longboards and went surfing,” Smith recalls. “Stu Peters reminded me years later when we were at an event together that I packed the oil for my bike in my luggage going out to Hawaii. When it came out of the conveyer belt at the airport in Honolulu, one of the bottles had split open or something, and there was oil everywhere. It was my first time in Hawaii, and it was a great time. I actually led the race for a while before I made a mistake in the whoops.”
The track was a small and tight layout. It featured three double jumps, a challenging stutter-bump section, six turns and a massive finish-line plateau jump dubbed the Toyota Lava Leap.
Myerscough slipped up on the local TV news the day before the race. When asked to compare the Supercross tracks on the mainland to that inside Aloha Stadium, he began with, “Well, back in America…” It didn’t go unnoticed, and Myerscough suffered through some boos when his name was announced before the first qualifying race. But the fans quickly forgot Myerscough’s faux pas after he showed impressive speed on his Kawasaki on his way to victory in the qualifier.
An indication of how dominant the AMA regulars could be against the Hawaiian locals came in the second qualifier when Jimmy Ellis split from the rest of the field and, in the short race, lapped everyone except the second-place rider. On the other hand, Turner had his hands full for a few laps with Hawaii’s top motocrosser at the time Phil Overland before Overland’s KTM bashed a pipe after coming up short on a jump and lost power. DeSoto was in Turner’s qualifier and finished fourth, much to the crowd’s delight, despite suffering a hard crash.
Smith beat Heisser in a close duel in the final qualifier.
The semis saw Myerscough win easily over Ellis and Smith over Turner in the second race. DeSoto crashed hard again in the semi but he remounted and qualified for the main. Unfortunately, DeSoto had broken his thumb in one of the crashes but bravely lined up with the other starters in the 12-rider, 25-lap main.
Smith nailed the holeshot and led the early laps over Turner. Then Smith ran off the track and out of the lead. “I picked a bad line through the whoops, and Turner made a good move and went by,” Smith explained.
Myerscough, after taking an early tumble, was on the charge. He got by Smith at about halfway and then focused on trying to chase down Turner, who led with about a six-second cushion. Myerscough closed the gap with the crowd cheering him on, but it was Turner, racing a Cagiva, who held off Myerscough by inches at the finish line.
“It was a real good race,” Turner told Cycle News reporter Kit Palmer. “You can never count Brian out or give him any slack. If you do, he will take it. He is a real contender, but luckily for me, his mistake was all I needed.”
Smith finished third, making it an all-mainlander podium. Despite his thumb injury, DeSoto motored on to finish ninth. He told the announcer that he thought the event would do a lot for Hawaii motocross racing.
The second Alohacross happened a year later, in June of 1985. The race was taped to be shown on USA Network a couple of weeks later. The Ron Crandall-built track was larger than the first year’s design, allowing 250cc bikes to race.
The four mainlanders racing in ’85 were returnees Myerscough and Turner, along with newcomers Jim Holley and top CMC 500cc rider Matt Tedder. And Hawaiian hero DeSoto was back for the ’85 race. The following year an even better crowd of 22,000 went through the turnstiles.
“I don’t remember them paying us any show money,” Holley said. “It was more like go over there, race, have a good time and catch a little vacation on Waikiki Beach-type of thing. I think they paid our expenses and to get the bikes over there. The track was a little smaller than our regular Supercross tracks, maybe in between an Arenacross and Supercross track in size. I remember they made it pretty mild because they didn’t want to hurt any of the local motocross guys who were racing. It was a good time, and they had a pretty good crowd considering where it was and all that.”
In the ’85 main event, it was Turner and then Holley leading early. DeSoto was doing surprisingly well in sixth when a haybale was knocked onto the track, causing him to crash and then be hit from behind by Tedder. The incident put both DeSoto and Tedder at the back of the pack.
Up front, Myerscough got up a head of steam, passed Holley and cruised to victory over Holley. Turner finished third.
“I’m really happy I won,” Myerscough said on the podium. “I finished second last year, so I really wanted to win this one. I put a lot of pressure on myself and was a little nervous, but it felt great taking the win.”
Myerscough took home $1600 for the victory.
DeSoto rallied from his crash and finished 10th, and then the 37-year-old legend promptly announced his second retirement from motocross and supercross racing from the podium.
“It was the end of my career and maybe the last race I participated in,” Heisser recalls. “It was crazy getting to race with John DeSoto. I was a little kid when he was racing stateside. The thing I remember about it was the track was decent and there was really no pressure. For all of us, I think, it was just a race to have some fun and enjoy a little time in Hawaii. My parents went out there with me. It was definitely one of the most memorable events I was ever a part of.”
Despite the growth and seeming success of the Alohacross, the race would not return. With it situated in the middle of the AMA motocross season, the Alohacross would never attract top riders from the mainland. That and the fact that the AMA regulars who did make the trip received no appearance money may have been one of the factors that led to the ultimate demise of the race after just two years.
“It was a pretty big event, even the governor of Hawaii showed up,” DeSoto remembers. “It was well received and growing, and I think it might have kept going, but the stadium was getting really bad and rusting out and it was the only place we could hold it and I think after that second year they told us the stadium was getting too unsafe to continue. But everyone who was there had a great time and it was fun coming back and racing against the younger generation of riders.”CN