M
HALL OF FAME
Mark Barnett ‘The Bomber’
shoulder injury later in the season brought his year to a premature end, which also hampered the first part of 1979. However, when he returned, Barnett proved to be the toughest rival of Broc Glover, who was dominating the 125cc class; Mark won a couple of National events, dominated the US Grand Prix and also got his first supercross win at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. “It is one of my best racing memories. We had a huge crowd that night, something Born on September 16th 1960 in like 79,000 people and I won in Bridgeview, Illinois, Mark Barnett learned to ride a bike when he was front of all those screaming fans. It was crazy, I was only 18 and a kid, before successfully domiI beat Mike Bell by a bike length nating all the classes he entered after two memorable final laps,” he in his native region, culminating remembers. with a win at the AMA Amateur National Championship when he Mark was the first rider from the was 15. The following season he Midwest to get a factory ride, he was a lucky member of the FOX was used to the mud, ruts and team and became a Pro rider and after what turned out to be a great roots and had in his eyes a slight rookie season he joined the factory advantage at the east coast races; he may have been short in stature Suzuki team in 1978. This was an but he was a giant in confidence absolute dream for him, because as a kid he’d seen Sylvain Geboers and determination, with an aggressive, explosive riding style, race a Trans Ama race in Wisconsin and became a long-time fan of which is how he acquired the nickname ‘Bomber’. the Belgian rider! Mark Barnett didn’t race so long as a professional rider, but in a very short time – five seasons – he collected all the main titles in the USA with one supercross and three motocross titles, a couple of podiums and two grand prix wins in the US round of the FIM Motocross World Championship. He was also a winning member of the US Team at the 1983 Trophy and Motocross of Nations!
In April 78 he won his first AMA motocross race in Houston, but a
After winning a couple of races in ‘79, Mark put an end to Glover’s
domination the following season where Broc was looking for a fourth consecutive championship but he lost the title at the final round of the season as Mark won four of the seven rounds on his Suzuki, using the new ‘Full Floater’ suspension technology. He may have only been 19 years old but Mark was a hard worker at his private training facility, a 400-acre ranch owned by his grandmother in Alabama. He was the man to beat in 1981, and it was nearly the perfect season for him as he clinched his and Suzuki’s first supercross title as well as a successful defence of his 125cc motocross title. He had won the first fourteen rounds of the 125cc outdoor series, but the perfect season was brought to a halt when he broke his collarbone whilst training at home and missed the final race of the series. Before his injury though he raced and dominated the US Grand Prix at Mid Ohio, where he humiliated the European riders, lapping up to 10 in the first moto before winning the second race by nearly two minutes!
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