Saving riders money for 30 years.

Project Supermoto, Part 1

From stock to box: The bike is torn down

Story by Lance Oliver
Photos by Bill Andrews

May 20 –  How new is AMA Supermoto racing? So new that, with few exceptions, you can't just go out and buy a Supermoto racebike—you have to build it yourself.

Compare that with more established racing disciplines like motocross or road-racing. There, the major manufacturers have done all the R&D work for you, and they build excellent race machines. Top pros can even buy factory and aftermarket race kits for a variety of bikes.

Not so in Supermoto. With the exception of several KTMs and a few machines by other small European manufacturers, off-the-shelf Supermoto bikes just don't exist. In most cases, if you want to run up front in the AMA Supermoto Championship, you're looking at some serious garage time before you can even start to practice.

Mark who?
Burkhart makes a name in Supermoto

When the first AMA Supermoto grid lined up at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in July, 2003, fans were pointing to some big names.

Over there was all-time Supercross great Jeremy McGrath. Just a little further down the paddock was former Superbike champ Doug Chandler. And not too far away was flat-tracker Chris Carr, and the Godfather of freestyle motocross, Mike Metzger.

It was a gathering to put any motorcycle-racing fan off-balance.

But, at the time, nobody was pointing at Mark Burkhart. He was the guy on a home-built Yamaha, a pure privateer ex-motocrosser whose entire experience on pavement could be counted in hours, not years.

A year later, people are paying attention — especially, and most importantly, Yamaha and the aftermarket companies that supply the go-fast goodies that make a Supermoto bike rail.

Running up front will do that.

That's exactly what Burhart did in the inaugural season of AMA Supermoto racing. He finished in the top 10 in each of the first five races, including a fifth-place finish in the Virginia round. He also showed competitive speed at the round in Columbus, Ohio, proving he could contend for race wins.

Those finishes attracted the attention of Yamaha's race department, who called to offer help. And although Burkhart's year ended in frustration, with mechanical problems that forced him to miss the main at the winner-take-all final round in Las Vegas, Burkhart is back for 2004 with a stronger ride and more experience.

So who is this guy? Burkhart, 24, lives in Pickerington, Ohio, the AMA's hometown. He came up through the motocross and Supercross ranks, but was often hampered by injuries. And after several operations on his knee, he decided to try Supermoto.

"Last year, I did it on a spur-of-the-moment thing," says Burkhart. But now, he's looking at it as a new racing career.

"If I don't ride motocross again, it's no big deal, as long as I do well in Supermoto," Burkhart says. "I love it. It's the most fun I've had in the last few years."

So how was the transition from loamy dirt to the hardpack and asphalt? Burkhart says the big revelation was just how much traction a Supermoto slick can generate on pavement.

"It's just amazing how well the tires stick, and how far you can lean over," he says.

The mix of racers and racing surfaces in Supermoto also guarantees a mix of riding styles. In many cases it comes down to a question of knee-out versus foot-down riding. Do you ride road-racing style, hanging off the machine? Or do you ride motocross- or dirt-track-style, sitting upright and snapping the bike into a lean with your foot out?

The short answer is that it depends on the corner—its radius and the speed with which you take it, with the dirt-track style ruling most of the time. With his motocross background, it's no surprise that Burkhart favors the foot-down style. And that seemed to be the dominant style last year, with even roadracers such as Ben Bostrom, the 2003 Supermoto Champion, often adopting a motocross approach.

And that's part of what makes for an interesting race, with different riders trying different styles on different tracks, or even in the same corner at different times. And that's part of the beauty of Supermoto: Nobody really knows yet which direction the sport will move.

Make no mistake, though—Supermoto technological development is moving forward extremely quickly, as the lap times show. While racers in more established forms of racing, such as Superbike or motocross or dirt-track, struggle to trim split seconds off their times, Supermoto guys like Burkhart found they could slash full seconds off their laps as they learned new techniques and discovered the parts that made the bike faster.

"The sport's so new to us," says Burkhart. "We're trying out stuff that works better and better all the time. Something new comes out every month."

And as that testing continues, Burkhart offers a promise that has to intrigue Supermoto fans: "We'll definitely get faster."

That means that outside of a select few teams, most of the fast guys are using purpose-built Supermoto racers that started life as Japanese motocross bikes, then are modified for the new sport's unique mix of asphalt and dirt, flat turns and jumps.

So how do you build a winning Supermoto bike? To find out, we hooked up with Cycra, a major supplier of body parts, workstands and other equipment in the motocross and Supermoto world, and Ralph DiSanto, tuner for Mark Burkhart, one of the top AMA Supermoto racers. DiSanto graciously allowed us to look over his shoulder as he transformed a stock Yamaha YZ450F motocross bike (above) into a competitive Supermoto machine for the 2004 season.


The bike comes ready to ride so all the fluids have to be drained. There's nothing like dumping brand new antifreeze and oil.

“To race, all you really need to do is change the wheels and brakes,” DiSanto says. “But to go fast, you need to do more.”

And with that, DiSanto goes to work on the stock Yamaha.

"Junk," he says, as the muffler comes off (left).

Not really, of course. It's just not suited to the type of powerband required for Supermoto. DiSanto says he’ll probably sell the exhaust and other stock parts he doesn't need.


The small bin of parts that are saved.

Still, the list of what isn't replaced or modified is pretty short. Fortunately, there are a lot of pretty trick parts on today's motocross bikes, and some of them just need a little modification for Supermoto use.

Take the upside-down fork, for example. DiSanto removes it from the MXer, but it's not going in the trash. It's headed for PR2 Racing to be revalved.

The stock Yamaha five-valve engine is a jewel, too. Squeezing 47 horsepower out of its 450cc of displacement in stock form, it's no slouch. But if Burkhart wants to run with the full factory efforts, he will need about 60 horsepower.

Almost three hours after he started, DiSanto has stripped the bike to the frame. Engine parts are set aside, destined for various shops for custom work. Other internal parts, such as the piston and connecting rod, will be replaced.

Each mod is guided by a plan that grew out of last year's race experience. In 2003, the first year of AMA Supermoto competition, DiSanto and Burkhart started out as a pure privateer team (see sidebar). For 2004, they're getting plenty of help from Yamaha and a host of other makers of Supermoto-specific parts.

"Last year, we kind of figured it out as we went and tried different stuff," DiSanto says. "Nobody really knew what was going to work. It was just, 'Throw everything together and see what happens.' "

This year, though, there's a very specific plan. To see how it unfolds, check back next week for Part 2.

Related story:

© 2004, American Motorcyclist Association