Cycle World Race Watch
CYCLE WORLD RACE WATCH
KEN VREEKE
Maybe they should call it the Motocross and Trophee des USA
On an individual basis, America’s top motocross riders are arguably the best in the world. As a group, they are unquestionably devastating. Case in point: For the fourth consecutive year, a team of America’s best berm-slayers were dispatched to the Motocross and Trophee des Nations competition to wage war with the top riders from 13 other countries. And for the fourth consecutive year, the Americans proved to be the world’s best.
At the 500cc Motocross des Nations competition, held just outside of Helsinki, Finland, the team of David Bailey and Johnny O’Mara on Hondas, with Jeff Ward on a Kawasaki and Rick Johnson on a Yamaha, edged the Belgian team out of victory by a sevenpoint margin. This, despite the fact that former 500cc World Champion Andre Malherbe and defending champ Hakan Carlqvist headed a field of European riders with vast 500-class experience. Neither Ward nor O’Mara had ridden 500s since last year’s Motocross des Nations, and Johnson spends his time on 250s. David Bailey was the only real Open-class rider on the team.
But in the two-moto event, where a team’s six best finishes count toward the overall score, it was Ward who led the American victory with a second behind Malherbe in the first moto. Bailey injured his wrist, though he still managed to finish fifth behind O’Mara. Johnson’s Yamaha seized and left him without a finish, which meant that there was little room for mishaps in the second moto.
But in the first turn of the second heat, both Ward and Bailey were caught in a pile-up. The crash didn’t do Bailey’s wrist any good, and Ward was run over and then doused with gas when the breather tube broke off of his Kawa> saki’s gas cap. Johnson and O’Mara managed to escape the carnage and were running seventh and eighth, respectively, where they would ultimately finish. But the winning points rode with either Ward or Bailey. Having tossed his gas-soaked goggles, Ward had to avoid sandy roostertails that could have injured his eyes, and it was all he could do just to soldier to the finish. Bailey, thrashed wrist and all, managed to charge from last place to 15th in the closing laps and slip the American team into a slim victory over the Belgians.
One week later, in Sweden, the Americans regrouped for the 250cc Trophée des Nations. Bailey, feeling that his injury could jeopardize the team, stepped aside and called for the assistance of Broc Glover, who had been on the team last year and was already in Europe for a Supercross event, which he won.
By any standards, the Trophée des Nations event was an American rout. Ward won the first moto by a cool 20 seconds over Glover and O’Mara. Johnson finished behind Malherbe in sixth.
In the second moto, Glover and Ward swapped the lead until Ward slipped away to post his second win of the day. Glover was second once again, and O’Mara and Johnson, who both suffered miserable starts, finished eighth and ninth.
Using the lowball, best-six scoring method, the U.S. team had amassed only 16 points at day’s end. The secondplace team from the host country, Sweden, had collected 61.
In the history of the Motocross and Trophée des Nations events, few countries have won both events back-to-back, and fewer still have done it in successive years. O’Mara and Bailey have been on three of the past four winning teams, and Ward and Glover rode in 1983. Johnson was the only newcomer. On top of that, these five riders have held every national motocross title in the U.S. for the past two years.
Splitting their time between the wild Supercross and tough outdoor motocross racing, American riders have achieved a unique combination of diverse skill and overt aggressiveness, and they just keep getting better. As a group, Bailey, Ward, O’Mara, Johnson and Glover represent the cream of this crop, and may well be the best allaround motocross athletes this country has ever produced. And they’re not about to let the Europeans forget it.
