Rough Riders

"The problem with what we've done, we basically started a new sport," Caraboolad says. "We pioneered a new sport. It's borderline illegal. That's the biggest thing we've been dealing with all along."

When the Boyz started riding at drag strips and visiting trade shows, other motorcyclists and manufacturers saw them as outlaws and punks. "People were looking down on us. [But] we were, like, 'Take a hike.'"

Any professional sports league needs corporate sponsorships. But when it comes to stunt riding, motorcycle manufacturers don't want to endorse activities their bikes weren't designed for. Helmet manufacturers don't want to risk the liability. Meanwhile, apparel companies are "all over it," Abbott says, and the tire companies are interested, too. "I think there is a future in it," he says. "The XSBA as we see it is ready to explode."

XSBA's backer, Clear Channel, operates more than 1,200 radio stations across the country and is one of the largest live-entertainment promoters in the world. The company has already helped turned motocross into a big-time arena sport and attracted sponsors.

Compared to motocross, extreme sport-bike riding should be easy. All you need, Abbott says, is a parking lot and some catch fencing to protect spectators. As a sanctioning body, Clear Channel's league takes on liability for safety, letting manufacturers off the hook. Riders know they have a professional, coordinated series of events where they can compete and earn money, maybe even make a living. Beyond that, everyone hopes the sport snowballs. That the X Games, the premier televised showcase for alternaculture sports, gets involved. That maybe a competition pops up on ESPN. That local dealerships get in the mix and Red Bull signs on as sponsor. Ratings jump. Television revenues rocket. People start getting paid.

A good game plan, except that Clear Channel nearly wiped out in the beginning. In 1998, during a dealer show in Indianapolis, Caraboolad met Cliff Nobles, who'd been hired by Clear Channel to launch a league. "They wanted to contract with us to participate, do shows," Caraboolad says. Over the next two years, both sides discussed ways to put on an event. "We met with this guy a couple times, and I started putting together an event," Caraboolad says. But, he explains, Clear Channel was on a tight budget, and the company wasn't planning to sink a lot of money into this new endeavor.

Nobles never returned calls. Months went by with the Star Boyz unable to get hold of him. In 2000, Caraboolad finally got a note from Nobles inviting the Star Boyz to an inaugural XSBA event in early 2001 at the Pocono Cycle Festival, outside Philadelphia.

"They give us an invitation to an event that we basically gave them all the ideas for," he says. Instead of being partners on the deal, the Boyz were just another team.

"They drew the first blood on the issue," Caraboolad says. The Star Boyz quickly struck back.

"The Star Boyz thought they were of a status where they should be paid to go, rather than just going," says Abbott, who took over from Nobles in August 2001. "The Star Boyz basically said, 'Screw it.' They did their own show in Ohio. They tried to draw some other people over there."

Before the XSBA could get any momentum, the biggest names in the sport had staged a successful competing event. In 2002, the XSBA hosted four competitions, in Pocono as well as in West Virginia, Wisconsin and Oregon. Meanwhile, the Star Boyz continued to hold their own events. The payout for riders in either series is minimal. Still, Caraboolad tells the Pitch that fewer than 1,000 people are coming to XSBA events, but Star Boyz events are drawing between 6,000 and 7,000 spectators.

"Riders are suspicious of corporations," D-Mann says of the dilemma for riders when it comes to the XSBA. "This is a sport that started in the street. Riders feel they have ownership in it." Yet the riders also want to get paid.

Peter Jones, editor of Motorcycle Street and Strip magazine, likens this stage of professional sport-bike riding to the beginning of rock and roll. Like early musicians, the riders and teams can't make it big on their own. But, he asks, "Are corporations going to come in and take more than they give?" Riders like the idea of being backed by the deep pockets of Clear Channel. They're just not sure they like the company.

Some riders say the Boyz won't compete in the XSBA because they're no longer the best and they know it. "If you talk to a lot of the riders, their skills are not as highly tuned as some of the riders on [the XSBA's] series," Jackson says.

Caraboolad says that's crap. Nevertheless, the Star Boyz aren't going to Bike Week.

KC's riders believe the league will succeed. "There's no question the XSBA will take off," Sunday says. "That's what I'm hanging in there for. I have the potential to be a competitor."

"We know it's going to work out. That's why we're so committed to doing what we do," Seales adds. "Everybody feels this is a new career. We're trying to put everything we can into it now so it will pay off."