With the number of cars and tailgaters on the North Shore Saturday, passersby would think fans were gearing up for a Steelers game.
Hardly.
The excitement was for the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at Acrisure Stadium.
Elite riders like Jett Lawrence, Cooper Webb and Haiden Deegan will vie for the title of Supercross Champion. And Beaver County’s Brian “JR” Saunier, a Hopewell Area High School graduate, is competing as well.
Though the final races didn’t begin until 7 p.m. fans began flooding the parking lots just after they opened at 10 a.m.
Rob Roth and his wife, Carrie, arrived at around 10:15 a.m. with their kids.
“We’ve had it planned for months,” said Roth, 32, of West Deer. “We bought tickets back in October.”
All three of his kids — Isaiah, 14, Aubrey, 9, and Chubs, 7 — race dirt bikes. He said they’ve never seen an event like Supercross before.
“It’s mainly just for them,” he said. “We enjoy watching it.”
Though Roth rode dirt bikes his whole life as well, he never got into racing.
“But watching my kids do it, it’s kind of bringing back childhood memories I never had,” he said.
When Roth drove in Saturday morning, he said he was shocked by the parking situation on the North Shore.
“I didn’t pre-buy a parking pass like some others did,” he said. “It was kind of crazy how many of them were already booked or … sold out.”
Once he found a spot, though, tailgating commenced.
“When you get a chance to drink some beer and hang out with good people, it’s hard to pass up,” Roth said.
His kids are excited to watch the races.
“Just the competitiveness and just seeing it bring the people of Pittsburgh around to watch something different other than just the typical baseball, football, hockey,” Roth said. “I think it’s great that it’s back in Pittsburgh.”
The last times Supercross came to the city was in 1978 and 1983, according to the Western PA Motocross Time Machine on Facebook.
For Bill Goerl, who travels around the United States watching motocross events, he wasn’t even alive when Supercross last came to Pittsburgh.
“It’s a little cold, but there’s a lot of people here,” said Goerl, 40, of Warren, Ohio. “It’s going to be pretty crazy in there.”
Originally from Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill, Goerl has traveled to cities like Daytona, Detroit, Tampa and Indianapolis to watch the sport. He said he’s never seen tailgating like Pittsburgh, as it usually takes place in smaller stadiums.
“The sport’s actually getting bigger and more popular,” he said. “It’s pretty crazy.”
‘In the blood’
Calvin Mullen said he remembers attending the 1978 and 1983 Supercross events in Pittsburgh — and he came back on Saturday to see it again.
“It’s been a long, long time,” said Mullen, 68, of Kennedy. “I was at those races back then. Things were different then.”
He said he hopes there will be more preparation for weather this time around, with the possibility of some rain.
Mullen, a self-proclaimed motorcycle enthusiast, raced motocross at the amateur level when he was 16. He grew up around dirt bikes.
“In our neighborhood back then, we didn’t have video games,” he said. “Everybody came outside to play.”
A friend of his turned pro, Mullen said, so he’s been to all of the major tracks around the country, touring nationally with his friend.
Michael Vith, Mullen’s nephew, said he probably got his first bike when he was just 3 years old. And by 7, he was racing motocross. He still rides dirt bikes today recreationally.
Vith, 30, of Hopewell, said the sport experienced a lull for awhile, but the hype is returning.
“It’s probably the closest to flying you can get without actually flying,” he said, speaking to the draw of the sport. “Normally, you’re riding with a bunch of buddies — just go out and have fun.”
Mullen believes more people should get involved in the sport.
“Once you start to race, that becomes a family affair. Getting ready the night before the race, going to the event and having food, spending (the) day together,” he said. “It’s in the blood.”
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
