Mark Bougas wheelies his pit bike at Road Atlanta during the 1988 WERA Grand National Finals. Bougas was there racing the Suzuki GSXR Cup Finals. Mark had a relatively short pro racing career, but there were some significant highlights. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Mark Bougas wheelies his pit bike at Road Atlanta during the 1988 WERA Grand National Finals. Bougas was there racing the Suzuki GSXR Cup Finals. Mark had a relatively short pro racing career, but there were some significant highlights.
At the novice 250GP race at the Loudon National in 1980 Bougas was leading when he got his right foot stuck under his footpeg going through a turn. Mark could do nothing but ride out the turn. “Pretty quickly I noticed my foot slipping around and blood was just pouring out. I’d ground through my boots and foot and hit a vein.” Bougas said that he finished the race, but Thad Wolff chased him down and passed him for the win. “Thad came over to find out what happened to me after the race and we became friends and still are today,” Bougas said.
Bougas earned some decent finishes in the 250GP during the early 1980s before the frame on his Yamaha snapped in two. After that he retired from racing for a few years. The Suzuki GSXR and Honda Hurricane contingency programs lured him back into the sport. He became one of the leading money winners in New England club racing.
That led to Bougas’ biggest career highlight, finishing on the podium at the Loudon AMA 600 Supersport Series race in 1987. “I qualified on the front row, but my bike’s transmission had been giving me problems popping in and out of gear. In the race I was concerned about it and got passed by a few guys. Fortunately the problem cleared up and I was able to get back by them. Doug Polen and Dave Sadowski finished in front of me. That was a pretty major accomplishment to get on the podium in a race like that and Honda’s contingency money for the nationals was pretty significant. That day was funny because it was my birthday and my number was 30 and I’d just turned 30.”
Bougas’ success on the club and Supersport level, allowed him to build a Superbike. He scored several top-10 finishes in AMA Superbike, including a sixth at Loudon in 1987, in spite of being at a huge power disadvantage to the factory and support riders.
“I think I just overrode my bike,” Bougas said of getting such a good result. “The French guys from Michelin couldn’t believe my front tire after that ’87 Loudon race. They said it looked like a rear tire it was so chewed up.
The crash that was primarily responsible for him getting out of racing came in the Daytona in 1990. Scott Russell stalled his Yoshimura Suzuki on the start and when a couple of riders in front of Bougas split around Russell, Bougas was right there at speed with no time to reacted.
“My brake rotor caught his swingarm and it flipped me over,” Bougas recalls. “I think I got Alka-Seltzer Rough Ride of the Week on TV for that one. I had to take some time off and things were going in a different direction for me so I just kind of got out of it.”
Today Bougas has a motorcycle shop in Bedford, Massachusetts. He still goes to the occasional race, the MotoGP at Laguna being his favorite.
“I had a lot of fun and met a lot of people who I’m still friends with through racing,” Bougas said.
Rider Files 
Hey, that’s my scooter he’s wheelieing!!
I remember the 1980 Loudon race like it was yesterday. Mark led the first 3/4’s of the race, then his lap times began to slow, he got passed by Thad Wolf and “Nubo” Nakamuro (a Japanese rider sponsored by ND Sparkplugs). As Mark came by pit road, he was pointing down at his foot. I had never seen this signal before and had no idea what it meant. With a couple laps left, Mark repassed Nakamuro, and took second. I grabbed the bike stand, and Mark’s girlfriend Kristen Nordahl and I ran over to the winner’s circle. We waited for Mark to come around, but he pulled into the pits, why?? AMA Ref Charlie Watson warned me, “you better get your rider and motorcycle over here, or he’ll be disqualified”! I looked at Thad and Nubo’s motorcycles and it looked like they were covered with rust stains. What looked like rust stains, turned out to be blood! Mark had ground his foot coming thru a turn, and cut an artery, losing a substancial amount of blood. The medical crew came to his aid, and let the AMA know what had happened, and Mark got the second place finish.
That same day our buddy Nicky Richichi won the Formula 1 Race on his GS Performance TZ750, beating the factory guys!
On the way out of the track we all went to the Inland Lobster Pound on Rt 106 to celebrate. Jimmy Lindemann, who at the time was with Fox Shox, and had been helping us, and many others with chassis set-up, was with us. We bought Jimmy his first lobster dinner.
I was sad to here today, that Jim passed away on Oct 12. He was a good guy, and will be missed.
LikeLike