The Can’T Miss Kid WhaT ever happened To sTeve BulyovsKy? 1987 had been an incredible season; six Junior titles won. Check that one off the list. Six Senior titles won, check that off too. To top things off Steve had the cast on his ankle removed prematurely so that he could line up for his first Expert race at Copetown in the fall. In the span of a few months he had taken the big step from first year junior rider to Expert. The buzz surrounding Steve at this time was substantial. He was being tapped as the heir apparent to Ross Pederson. Yamaha Canada’s Motocross Team Manager at the time, Mark Stallybrass, offered a factory ride for the following season. John Mochrie from Royal City Cycle, a long-time supporter of Steve’s, stepped up his support and Don Valley North Toyota came on board as well hooking Steve up with a sweet new pick-up truck. On the surface things looked great. Steve admits however that he knew the jump up to full-time Expert racing was going to be a big one. The Yamaha deal was good for Canada at the time. “It was just bikes and parts though”, recalls Steve. Once again his father stepped in and equipped Steve with a brand new cube van and all the expense money he needed to complete his first Expert season. The Expert (now Pro) field in Canada was surprisingly deep during the late ‘80s. Steve lined up against consummate Pros like the Ross “Rollerball” Pederson, Doug Hoover, Al Dyck, Jeff Surwall and Carl Vaillancourt. This crew of wily veterans was complemented by a great core of ultra-fast young stars like Marty Burr, Chris Lemmon, Bill Wallin and at selected rounds Kevin Moore. While he realistically knew that he was in tough with this group, the ever-confident Bulyovsky felt that a top ten national number was definitely within his reach for his rookie season. So at the age of sixteen Steve struck out on what he believed at the time to be the first of many successful National tours. Things were different however and Steve noticed it right away. His support group, his family, wasn’t with him anymore. His father was busy with work and also had to travel the amateur circuit with his younger brother Rob. Steve ended up transporting Ross Pederson and his bikes around for the Nationals. Any thoughts that Ross may become a mentor to the young rider were quickly put to rest. “He was just along for the ride,” remembers Steve. In fact, after Ross punted Steve off the track one night at an arenacross in Quebec the relationship with his travelling companion deteriorated rapidly. “Basically, he went from being my hero and idol to a guy I wanted to strangle,” stated Bulyovsky. Steve battled hard in his rookie season but ended up just outside the top ten nationally. While most rookies would consider this to be a successful campaign Steve was disappointed.
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Classic late ‘80s style here, back when the T.o. supercross was outdoors at the Cne. photo by Bill petro.