Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Interview: 1987 Supercross Champion Jeff Ward _ Yes, Ward;s champ By Mike Larson 42 T eam Kawasaki's j eff Ward started th e 1987 Su percross Series with a serious bid to regain th e title that he, won back in 1985. Ward took a con vi nc ing win at th e 4 naheim, California, opener w hen rival R ick j oh nson suffered 'a DNF (d id not f in ish ) and to ok a rid e in th e amb ulan ce to th e hosp ital aft er being kn ocked out in a crash. Ward wen t on to win th e next round at Ho uston and seemed to be on a rol l Th en he injured his an kle in San Diego, Californ ia, virtually p utting th e titl e u p fo r grabs. . Ward held a goo d-sized p oints lead, bu t afte r San Diego j oh nson started to chi p away at Ward's cus hio n by win ni ng a string of races 'wh ile Wa rd struggled w ith h is brok en an kle. j ohnson was able to p ull even with Ward in th e poi nt s chase at th e close of the Seattle doubleheader. j oh nson 's charge at Ward ended when he crashed and injured his right wrist and brok e a fi nger tit th e first round of th e Pon tiac, Michigan, dou bleh eader, taking twoDNFs and handing Ward a su bstantial point cus hion. Ward did what he had to do fo r th e rest of th e season - tu rn in consistent perfo rmances in sp ite of his painful ankle injury . Ward's perseroerence paid off as th e on -again, off -again Sacramento round was cance lled and he was awarded the 1987 Su percross Champions hi p and picked up a $100,000 bonus from Kawasak i for doi ng so. How does it feel to win your second Go lden Sta te races I was ready to win. Supercross Championship ? I didn' t take the off-season off. I did It feels pretty good. It was a lot a lot of hard work to get strong and d ifferen t than th e first one, though, get where I was a t. Unfortunatel y, wh en I brok e my becau se of the way it was handled. The first o ne ca me down to the wire ankle It was kind of a mom entumand was a winner-tak e-all between giver to th e o ther riders . I th ink it me a nd Gl over so it was a little mor e does tak e a lot of the tensio n off th e exciting. . .. ' o ther ri ders ~h;n they k~ow th at This one would have been exciti ng ano the r nder isn tl~O%. It gi ves th em if I had kn own which race I would a fal se sense of confidence. have won it a t Instead I go t a phone Once Rick starte d wi nn ing, he go t call . , hi s confide nce back a nd that 's wha t How do you feel about the way the racing';; all ab out. . . announcement was handled? How ~Id your an~le mJury occur and , how did you feel It would effect your I don t even know wh a t the a nno ucechances of winning the title? ment was , excep t when Cycle N ew,s I go t in a first turn pil e up at San called a nd told me that I won. I don t Diego. I didn 't ge t hun there, but know what else th ey could hav e th e bik e was bent up a nd th e th rottl e done. I gu ess that th ey cou ld ha ve was pulled off th e bars. I was afra id told me after New J ersey. that it was go ing to snap when I I stru ggled throu&h after a cr~sh , landed off a jump bu t I just kept and ca me up to get fifth . It was kl~d go ing. ' of to ugh not kn owing. If I, wo~ d H alfway thro ug h the race, I cased have kn own th en I wo ul d n .t have it rea l hard and I had a bad wr ist h.ad to push as hard as I did ~nd from th e week before, a nd I guess ns.k.ed ge tti ng hurt and cras hing I just took too much of th e impact agam. in my legs. I di dn 't cras h , it was j ust What was your strategy at the beginthe im pact. ' ning of the season? It d idn 't reall y . hu rt th a t bad , Being in good condition. At the because I just kept the adrenalin going because I wantedto make up points. I just kept riding and riding a nd got up to seventh. Swelling set in the next day and I defin itely kn ew th ere was a problem . I didu 't :kn ow it was broken until th e following Thursday . I went . to therapy to get the swelling out and get some mov ement in it. I got to where I was walking pretty well, th en I went riding and it Just hurt so bad th a t I kn ew tha t th ere was som ething else wrong. I had it X-r ayed and found ou t it was broken . I go t a n air cas t to wear in my boot. That helped a little bit. How did you train with your injured ankle? I didn 't train. The week after San Diego I sat in th e doctor 's office for th ree or four days. I slep t th ere, every thing. Then I went o ut th a t one day and rode for abo u t 20 minutes a nd went hom e. I went to Miami and stayed th ere after that a nd waited for th at weekend off af ter Gainesvill e so I co uld ha ve surgery. I spe nt three weeks just sitting a rou nd, just trying to mak e it to eac h race. I didn 't want to hurt it anymore a nd th e best thing for it was tim e off. If I had to, I -would have miss ed Hangtown to get ready for Seattle. I wanted to be 100% for Seattle, but th e oper a tion was a little more difficu lt. , They were su p posed to put in a screw a nd jus t screw the bone to th e ank le. T ha t would have been it, it wo u ld have been fixed, but when they dr illed it th e bone shattered. T hey had to cu t ligaments and scrape bo ne off and where th ey a ttac hed it it's really weak . I was hoping to have it done a t th e end of th e year, so I had time off, but I had to do it in the middle of th e year. So I'm not doing much training a t a ll, it still hurts, I can 't run on it yet. I like runnin g a nd that was a big part of my training, so cycling has come into my trainin g a little bit more. When Johnson started to charge in th e middle of the series , what did you feel yo u had to do to maintain your points lead ? I had a rea lly bad race a t Daytona. I go t some sa nd in my chain righ t off th e start. J ohnson went 'down in the first tu rn , bu t I was down a lap before I got my bike go ing. I got o ne point that day , which is almost li ke a DNF . H e (Johnso n ) had a bad day, bu t he ma de up ab out 10 or 15 po ints o n me.. That reall y closed it up. From there, I rea lly tried hard. H e was pretty close. Whe n h e wa s catching up there was nothing I co u ld do . H e defini tely had th e con fidence. I didn 't ha ve the training or the preparation th at I usuall y like • to have. ' When I' d get o u t into the lead, I'd start making too many mistak es. My stra tegy was to just hang in there. Each week I was getting a Iittl e bett er. Un fortu na tely, Ri ck broke hi s fin ger, wh ich helped me o ut a lot. How much of a turning point was Johnson's injury at the Pontiac race? I th ink we both had a few turning po ints. I guess mine was breaking my a nkle, so I guess we kind of evened up there. Do you think that you still could have won the championship if Johnson hadn't broken his finger? It wo uld have been a battle down to the fini sh . I definitel y would hav e been righ t in th ere. I was up in th ere every week. With th e points lead that I had , I d idn 't have to be up th ere go ing for the win. If I wou ldn' t have brok en my ankl e a t ' the beginn ing of the year he wou ld n 't have ca ugh t me on points, but when I was getting fifths and thirds, those 30 points went away quickly. What was your most memorable moment in the series? Probably going to Miami and getting third, even with my bad ankle. I had it planned o u t in my mind after I broke my an kle that I wanted to get through Daytona and Miami and . still have my points lead. I got third a nd I was only hoping to get a top 10 or top five. How did you injure your ankle the second time? I've been hurting it all year a t abo u t every race. At New J ersey I wasn 't thinking ab out i t (my ankle) and th ere was this double. It was no big deal. You co uld do it 100 tim es wh en you 're not hurt a nd it would be fine. I felt relaxed wh en I hit it , it just caugh t me off gua rd. Wh en I'm tense, it 's OK , but whe n I'm relaxed it reall y forces it past th e point of no return and it j ust goes numb. I carne aro und to do th e double jump aga in and I missed it. I took it with o ne leg and it threw me over th e bars and ca tapu lted me off the track. Do you think that your injury will effect you in the 500cc Series? The 500s are a lot different. They're a slower riding bike. They are a little bit more slowed down going into a corner. You can' t just drive it like a 250 and slap it into a corner. The 500s aren' t going to give me a ny problem a t all. In the 500cc National Series you are tied for the points lead with Johnson. How do you see that series shaping up? I don't make a ny predi ctions because those can backfire. I'm confiden t. I think our bikes are working great and I feel that I hav e the speed to win. I think it will be a good race. Besides Johnson, who do you see as some of your contenders for the 500cc title? J I don't see anybody. I'm not worried a bo u t any body else. J ohnson's the > only one ri gh t now , but I' ve known \If tha t all year long. Lechien's hot and cold. At a n ~ i nd ivi d ua l ra ce he 's a th reat. I wo u ldn' t say I'm not worr ied abo u t hi m. Anyo ne ca n turn aro und and he's go t th e ta lent to do it. . I wa nt to win th e 500cc Ch am pi on- J! sh ip, becau se then I' d be th e fir st b rider to win all the champ ions hi p s, 125, 250, 500cc a nd Supercross ." Are there any young riders who ) impress you? In th e 500s, Mike Fish er. H e go t third in San Antonio a nd I think he's a I real good 500 rider. I think Mik e . cou ld win a moto this year, if he got the start . H e's definitely go t the speed and he's in good shape. He's defi- ~ nitely o ne of th e up-and-coming riders right now. The 125cc class has got a handful " of th em . I thi nk Guy Cooper has been rid ing very well. Larry Brooks, he's looking stro ng. Donny Schmit " look s go od in th e stadiums, too. , Maybe more than so me of the other riders . Those are definitely the guys that are co ming up. What is the length of your contract with Kawasaki? ' I've been ri di ng for th em (or 10 years a nd thi s is th e last year of my threeyear co ntract. I'm really looking forward to staying with Kawasaki. I don 't think th at I want to ride for • a nyo ne else righ t now . They have the best bikes a nd the best compa ny. I' ve been with them (or so long that it would be foolish for myself or Ka wasa ki to pan righ t now or a ny ti me for th at fact. T he names go together since we' ve been together so long. •

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