Today in motorcycle history, August 6, 2006

  


  

  Jim Pomeroy, the first U.S. motorcycle racer to win a World Championship Motocross event, dies when his 1979 Jeep CJ5 veers off the road near Tampico, Washington.

  Jim Pomeroy became the first American rider to win a FIM Motocross World  Championship race when he rode a Bultaco Pursang to victory in the 1973 250cc Spanish motocross Grand Prix. At the time, European riders completely dominated the sport of motocross and Americans weren't even mentioned in conversation. The news of his victory created a huge wave of excitement in the States where motocross was undergoing an explosive growth in popularity. His victory signaled that American motocross riders were finally ready to compete with the best in the world.



  Pomeroy achieved great success in the World Championship and AMA Motocross and Supercross series, but just as important, he motivated a whole new generation of riders.

  A partial list of Jim's firsts: he was the first American to win an FIM World Championship MX Event (Spain 1973), first rider to win his debut World Grand Prix Motocross race (Spain 1973), first American to lead the World Motocross Championship (Spain 1973), first winner of an indoor Supercross race (Houston, 1974), first American to win a moto at the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix race (Carlsbad 1977) and the first non-World Champion to win the Trophies des-Nations event.



  Jim Pomeroy was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disabiliy (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk