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Riders in the SuperMotocross World Championship fill stadiums around the country, soaring off massive jumps in a chase for glory and a million-dollar check. It's fair to say that they live a special life on two wheels, and the way their motorcycles travel is also a little different.
In the case of the Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki team, two full semi trucks carry all of the things the group of mechanics and staff need to get through a weekend. That is, machines for three riders, a full workshop to fix any and all of them, plus hospitality for team guests and areas for everything from data analytics to a hot shower.
As huge as the rigs are, it doesn’t take many hands to transform the truck from a 78,000-pound rolling mass to a temporary building that will stand for about three days at a time. Only a few people are needed to set up the entire canopy, unload all of the outdoor infrastructure, and prep the truck to host an active race team.
The overall capacity of a full-size rig is massive, but putting the space to good use is the trick. Like most setups, the Suzuki trucks are split into two levels. Motorcycles are hauled upstairs along with long-term storage items, and sometimes a bit of lounge space. Most of the magic happens at ground level. Only six or eight people work full time out of the truck over the course of the race weekend, which goes to show how much stuff is waiting inside to support the mechanics.
Along most of the bottom floor is a fully equipped work area. Suspension tuning, brake repairs, engine swaps, and everything in between has to be easy to accomplish quickly. Race-day schedules (especially for Supercross) are often extremely tight, sometimes leaving an hour or less to replace parts between a crash and the next opportunity to qualify for the main event.
Lining the downstairs hallway that runs down the center of the truck are cabinets with just about everything, small or large, that you might want or need at a dirt-bike race. A wall of drawers and cabinets hold basic things like flashlights, zip ties, charging cables, rags, and umbrellas, as well as gaskets, spare spokes and rim locks, levers, extra graphics kits, and tray after tray of hardware.
Delicate and expensive items ride in custom racks, stuff like spare shocks and fork tubes. Front-brake systems — fully built and bled, from lever to pad — hang waiting to be installed, just in case there’s just not enough time to replace a singular part and bleed the lines.
More than 30 engines are used over the course of the year, and the ones that are next in the rotation are easily accessible in the cabinets. After 10 to 15 hours of use, a fresh mill is installed. A lot of the rebuilding of parts or assemblies takes place off site, when the mechanics are home or away from the truck. Pressing in bearings to a shock linkage, for example, can be done at the races, but they avoid it if possible.
When the work does get greasy, the rear section of the truck’s hallway is equipped with a full suite of lubricants and cleansers, plus solvent tanks and vices. Upstairs in one of the trucks I found a bare frame for a Suzuki RM-Z450 lying in wait. “If you have it,” said one of the mechanics, “then you won’t need it.”
Theoretically, the team agreed that they could build an entire Supercross-spec machine from the parts they carry in the truck. Typically, though, it’s maintenance. Hand grips, plastics, clutches, cables, and a handful of other small items are changed every weekend. Every seven to 10 hours, each bike gets a new chain.
Some swaps are Suzuki specific, like “the damned yellow seat covers” as one mechanic said, which get dirty faster than most colors and need to be swapped after every race. “You can almost get three races out of a black seat cover,” he said, shaking his head and smiling.
All told, the trailer and everything the team carries weighs about 65,000 pounds. Once parked, the rig is powered by a 35kW on-board generator, which runs off its own diesel tank and can produce power for an entire weekend of 10- to 12-hour work days without needing a refuel. Once the checkered flag has flown and the champagne has lost its fizz, everything is packed up and moved to the next city or town.
Some teams have one truck for hospitality and another for wrenching, or slides that expand the usable area of the truck when parked, like high-end RVs have. Others carry a passenger car so that the team has wheels wherever they land. No matter what, the slog is the same, and it’s one that’s only sometimes glorified.
Phoenix to Tampa; 2,200 miles. Then Tampa to Detroit; 1,200 miles. Birmingham, Alabama, to Seattle, Seattle to Foxboro, Massachusetts, Foxboro to Philadelphia, and so on. Over the course of the season, these trucks will crisscross the country following the SuperMotocross circus and log around 50,000 miles.
It takes more than talent to make motorcycles fly.
