1981 Supercross Number Plates Motocross - 2-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1981 Supercross Number Plates Motocross - 2-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine advertisement / article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)
Condition: Good
AMA-legal numbers and plates By Jody Weisel
□ In 1980 the AMA requested that Team
Suzuki and Team Honda aid them in an ex-
periment to see if larger number plates
(and numbers) would increase rider identi-
fication in the stadiums. JT Racing made a
special run of large number plates and 10-
inch numbers for the fledgling test. The
motivation was a suggestion by the stadium
promoters that the fans would be more in-
terested in the race if they could identify a
rider from farther away than the twentieth
row. Everyone concerned felt that it was a
good idea, and Suzuki and Honda
volunteered their bikes.
The riders by and large disliked the
number plates because of their ungainly
looks, butby the start of the 1981 motocross
season the AMA felt that the input was good
enough to pass a rule requiring 12-inch by
12-inch number plates on all bikes, not
only for stadiums, but for the Nationals
also.
Problems arose as soon as the first bikes
hit the tracks. The water-cooled 125 Yama-
has had to have a hole in the number plate
for their radiators. Riders simply bolted
12x12 plates above their stock air scoops.
The AMA referee at the first race felt that
bolting number plates above the radiator
had made the plates dangerously high. He
filed a statement with the AMA.
Honda tried to meet the new rule by re-
leasing its new, winged 12-inch number
plate. Scorekeepers started moaning al-
most instantly and most riders tried to fit
regular 12-inch plates instead.
Kawasaki had the whole scene dialed by
making their bikes come stock with 12-inch
number plates from the factory.
The next problem arose when the rule
book was checked and the JT Racing num-
ber plate was found to be illegal. The
company that had done all the testing for
the AMA for one year prior had had their
plates outlawed by the 12 x 12 rule. TheJT
Supercross number plate was less than 12
inches wide. Luckily, the AMA, realizing
the flaw in their rules, modified them down
to a more reasonable 10 inches by 11
inches to fit the JT plate.
By the end of the year, every bike that
races at an AMA professional race will be
using a Supercross-sized number plate and
extra-large numbers (ten inches high for
two digits and eight inches for three digits).
There are lots of new shapes to choose
from.
JT Racing's Supercross plate was the
first and most popular of the big digit
models.
JT WORKS PRO PLATE
JT Racing was the innovator in the field
and offers its thick, white, plastic number
plate with a white, black, yellow, red or
green background color panel. The JT
plate is die cut with a cut-out for the brake
cable guide and JT sticker. Retail price is
.95 for the Works Pro Plate and .95 for
the Mini Pro Plate. Write to JT Racing, 303
West 35th Street, Ste. C, National City,
California 92050 or call
Pro Circuit offers this sano vented model
in red, yellow and white with corres-
ponding background colors.
PRO CIRCUIT SUPER PLATE
Pro Circuit Racing offers an AMA-legal
Supercross number plate in white, red,
yellow or green plastic which is designed to
work on all bikes (except the YZ125H). The
Pro Circuit plate includes a cable guard
and is slotted along the bottom to allow in-
creased airflow to the engine. Pro Circuit
will also include the correct background
color for AMA racing if you include the
engine size of your bike with the order. Re-
tail price is .95 from Pro Circuit
Products, 6820East Lincoln Ave., Ana-
heim, California 92806;
DG Performance is the first accessory
house to try and solve the radiator prob-
lem with their vented 125 plate.
DG PERFORMANCE YZ125H
BREATHER PLATE
In an effort to solve the problems caused
by the YZ125H radiator placement, DG
Performance has released an AMA-legal
plate that incorporates a breather hole for
the radiator underneath a full-sized
number plate. DG's YZ breather uses the
stock mounting holes and comes in Yamaha
yellow. Retail price is .50 from DG Per-
formance, 1170 Van Horne, Anaheim,
California;
Fox and Zero Nine used the straight for-
ward square approach to meetthe AMA
rules.
FOX AND ZERONINE STADIUM
PLATES
Moto-X Fox and Zeronine market the
same style of Supercross number plates.
Both plates are available in a variety of
colors and come with double cable savers.
Holes are cut into the cable saver straps for
style. The Fox and Zeronine number plates
are the cheapest of the Supercross number
plates, with Fox retailing theirs for .95
andZeronine for .95. Zeronine also
markets a useful installation spacer kit for
that would come in handy with any of the
numberplates. Zeronine, 1690Kingsdale
Rd., Hoffman Estates, Illinois60195.
Moto-X Fox, 520 McGlincy Lane, Camp-
bell, California 95008;
16658-AL-8106-30