Pierre Karsmakers, the first man to ever win an AMA Supercross Championship, is headed to the AMA Hall of Fame.
Karsmakers was already a three-time motocross champion in his home country before coming to America and signing a factory contract with Yamaha, which was just coming into its own with its line of YZ motocross machines.
“All the Japanese (sponsorship) contracts were going to Belgian riders,” Karsmakers said. “I got mad, because other European riders were not getting noticed. But after I started winning in 1972, it began to open doors.”
In 1973, Karsmakers won seven of the 13 rounds of the AMA 500cc National Championship Series and was the “top American” in seven of the 11 Inter-AMA rounds, in which the top European riders races against the AMA riders. Karsmakers scored a total of 2659 points while runner-up Mike Runyard scored 1427 points. The following season, Karsmakers won the inaugural AMA Supercross Championship. He retired from racing in 1979.
Karsmakers is the first member of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame class of 2014 to be announced. More 2014 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced in the near future.
“It’s been a long time since I raced, so it means a lot that America still recognizes me as one who brought motocross to the United States,” Karsmakers said in response to his induction announcement.
The 2014 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled to take place Friday, October 17, as part of the AMA National Convention, October 16-19, in Orlando, Florida. The event is also being held in conjunction with the American International Motorcycle Expo (AIMExpo). For more information, see www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers are selected through a nomination and voting procedure that includes ballots cast by living Hall of Fame members, members of the American Motorcyclist Association and AMHF boards of directors, and members of, and advisers to, the Hall of Fame category committees.
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