Season 10+4: Motocross 2
Added 2026-01-20 20:18:44 +0000 UTCIt's a short episode this week as Nina wraps up her research on the history of motocross, bringing us forward to the Xtreme sports era of the 1990s, offering our theory on why it took Japan so long to produce an internationally competitive motocross rider, and considering the connotations Duker Iq's biker lifestyle would have carried for a 90s audience. And next week... the 13th Gundam Fight is about to begin!
Please listen to it!
Show Notes
Mark Simmon's Gundam Unofficial page on the development of Victory Gundam, which includes the behind-the-scenes story of how bike battleships came to be included in the show.
Risk Racing explains, "How Do Motocross Races Work? How Long, How Many, and How Much?"
Wikipedia pages for Motocross, BMX, the Scottish Six Days Trial, the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) Supercross Championship, and the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme).
Official Scottish Six Days Trial (SSDT) organization website "About" page.
'History of Motocross' articles from Red Bull Racing, MXGP (Motocross Grand Prix), Engine Stories, and Fuel Motorcycles.
This feature from The Motocross Vault is more specific: "Motocross History: The Defining Events that Shaped American Motocross."
As for Japan, we have the official history page for the Motorcycle Federation of Japan (MFJ), the Japanese Wikipedia page for motocross (モトクロス), "A brief history of motorcycle racing in Japan" from Paddock GP, and a brief explainer from T.E.SPORT on what motocross is, its history, and the attraction of the sport (in Japanese).
The website of current pro, Yasuhara Nozomu (安原 志), includes the page "What is 'motocross'?" (in Japanese).
Special shoutout to the Cycle World website - I don't think I've ever seen a better archive! And W. B. Swim's 1967 article, "The History of Japanese Motorcycles," was a fun, fascinating, and remarkably detailed read.
Wikipedia page for world champion Watanabe Akira (渡辺明), a 2015 interview Watanabe did with Pete Peterson for dirtrider.com, and a web archive of Watanabe's personal/business website.
Cylinders cylinders cylinders! Top response on AskMotoPros to the question, "What are the pros and cons of 2 cylinder vs 3 cylinder vs 4 cylinder motorcycle engines?"
Articles on the pros and cons of 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines from Revzilla, Big Dog Powersports, and Red Bull Racing.
For any of you who might like to dig into it, the Wikipedia page for expansion chamber technology.
A 2023 interview with then-champion Victor Alonso (a Spaniard) about his experience racing in Japan and his perceptions, as a foreigner, of various aspects of racing culture there.
Official Yamaha Motor page, "Off-road Mania," about their history making dirt-bikes. Includes video from the 8th Japan Grand Prix in 1971 (bottom of the page).
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