Beta Struggles With Rough Supercross Debut

The offroad motorcycle racing scene is very familiar with Beta Motorcycles. Whether it be cross country, hard enduro, trials or just offroad riding, Beta has been around a long time! The company was founded in 1905 to produce bicycles. As transportation needs changed, they started producing motorcycles in the 1940s. They know their stuff and they've been around...well they've been around everything except Motocross and Supercross...UNTIL NOW!  The Beta 300RX two stroke motocross-specific model came a couple years ago and broke the news that Beta was interested in getting involved with motocross racing. Later came the news of the 450RX 4-stroke race bike and the announcement of the Supercross race team. 

Beta made some smart moves (IMHO) by developing their 450 machine first and snagging some solid veteran racers that wouldn't "break the bank" in Colt Nichols and Benny Bloss. However, the bad luck started a couple weeks before Round 1 when we got news that Colt Nichols was out for at least a couple rounds with a rotator cuff injury. John Short was announced shortly before A1 as a replacement rider until Colt heals up. Unfortunately the bad news didn't stop when A1 arrived this past weekend. Benny Bloss pulled off shortly after being passed my Eli Tomac in the 450 Heat race. He did not make it to the starting line in the LCQ either, with rumors of bike issues traveling through the pits. Additionally, John Short did not line up to race at all, with rumors swirling that his motorcycle engine failed on Press Day. As of publishing this post, Beta USA have not confirmed the issues. Hopefully Beta gets these issues remedied and will be back on the track next weekend in San Francisco for Round 2 of Supercross!