Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Interview: 1987 Daytona Supercross winner Rick Ry!!! Doing what nobody thought could be done By Na te Ra uba Photos by Henny Ray Abram s and Rauba When Rick Ryan wen t to Florida for the Daytona Supercross las t year, the odds were again st him. Privateer Ryan had li ttle h ope of beating the factory-backed supers tars, especiall y since no privateer had ever won an AMA supercro ss e ve n t, And J ust the week ' . befo re Ryan had twea ked h is 22 kn ee a t th e Ga insevi lle 125cc National and, by his own admission , was at Daytona with just the hope of qualifying for the mai n to earn a few points and a little money. But Ryan beat the odds, th e factory riders , the pain, a nd sile nced skep tics a t Da vtona whe n h e s li t he red thro ugh the muck a nd mud to tak e the Dayto na Supercross victory and become the first priva teer to ever wi n a major supercross event. H e co u ld hardl y stand up after the race. " I tri ed to step off m y bike at the finish, a nd fell down because it hurt so bad. ' " O ne week befor e a t Gainesvill e th ere were some ru ts going through a jump and I ca ugh t th e edge of m y boot, twisted th e kn ee and rip ped m y ligam ents," Rya n exp la ined. " I still won th e first mo ta ; it was abou t 10 minutes (o f a 3D in u te rnoto) into -m it a nd I had abo ut a IS-second lead." After th e ra ce Ryan flew bac k to his home in San J ose, Ca li fornia , an d had the knee exami ned. T he do ctor to ld him to stay o ff the kn ee for three to four weeks, but three da ys later Rya n decided that he was going ba ck to Florida. " I sa t aro u nd for three days and decided it was bo ri ng. I flew home Monday, and on T h ursday afternoon I figured out I didn't wa nt to sit th ere for four weeks; I.h ad to get o u t th ere a ~ld do so.meth l~g. Sq I .rode m y bicycle a little bit . a~d decid ed that I co uld mov e (the injured knee), but . th ere was just no muscl e th ere." Ryan was o n a pl an e to Florida the next day , bu t he still alm ost wasn' t able to ride. " Whe n I cam e to Daytona I d idn 't even get there in tim e for sign u p ; I had to sign up late. A lo t o f people di d n 't even know if I was going to be there." Alt ho ug h he was there and registered late, Rya n sti ll almos t m issed the race . With a steady rain falling, ru mors had it th at the race had been ca nceled and Ryan decided to leave the hotel and go to a restau rant in th e shop p ing ma ll across th e hi ghway. In th e hot el lobby Ryan bum ped i nto L a rry Ma ier s, th e ra ce a n no u ncer, wh o as ked Ryan if he planned to race th at day. Ryan to ld him that he d id if the race were indeed run. Wh en Ryan left, Mai ers told th e group he was with , "You just can' t tell these you ng riders a ny th ing. H e doesn ' t stand a cha nce in hell today. He sho u ld be home resting th at knee;" Two pho toj ournal ists sitt ing on th e ba n kin g la ter ob served Rya n lim ping as he wa lked part of the track and didn 't give him much of a cha nce either. One rep o rt edl y turned to the 'o ther a nd jo kingly asked if he should shoot a picture of Rya n 's face in case he won, to which the other replied " No, I do n 't thin k .we' ll need any pictures of him." " It was rea l mi serab le," reca lls Rya n. They sai d th e race was canceled and I was happy beca use of m y kn ee. I was rea dy to let it recuperate a coup le more days . So we went a nd had som e Mexican food and were a t the mall and someone said ' H ey, the race is go ing on'." Rya n made it to the track in time a nd rod e a couple o f cau tio us laps in practice, then 'q ua lified for the ma in by finishing third in his heat. The mud not on ly helped even out the field of riders, but it a lso hel ped R yan co pe with ridi ng with his inj ured kn ee. " In the mud you can si t do wn a lillie mo re, so actua lly it kin d of helped me." ·T here was still pain to deal wi th , but ge tti ng the hol esh ot in th e main helped to block it o u t of Ryan 's mind. It a lso helped whe n three of the fastest rid ers in th e field were virtuall y eliminated on th e first lap. Honda factory rider R ick J oh nson tan gled with T eam Kawasaki 's Ro n Lech ien a t the start a nd they bo th went down, while Ka wasa ki 's J eH Ward had p ro blems a nd lost a lap a t th e beginnin g. Ryan mad e some mi stakes of his own a nd dropped back as far as fourth , battled back to second th en becam e the fir st p rivateer to wi n a supercross event when a roc k ja m me d Tea m Yama ha rid er Keith Bowen 's cha in two laps from th e finish. "It (the feeling of bei ng the first p ri va teer to win a supercross) took a while to si nk in. I always used to say that 's the o ne I want to win if I'm go ing to win on e. • " It (the kn ee) didn 't aHect me too mu ch in the main because I was out front. I was riding real smooth; I wasn 't rea lly going that fast. I go t a good rhythm going a nd kind of just stayed there. I wasn 't th e fastest rider but I was th e most consistent. "T here was still a lot of pain. I twisted it (the kn ee) again about a lap a nd a half from th e end." Some peo ple may consi der Ryan 's victory a fluke; they might say th at al mos t an yo ne co u ld h a ve wo n becau se of the m iserabl e cond itio ns. : Bu t Ryan is qu ick to defend his acco mplishment. "Everybody has to ride the same track. It 's the sa me for everybody whe ther it' s dry a nd hard (or wet a nd muddy). T he chances (for a privateer to win ) are a little better whe n it 's mu dd y because the (factory) bik es don ' t mak e so much o f a differen ce, I don't thi n k th e facto ry bik es are much faster, but th e sus pens ion is bette r. I see thin g s th at (R ic k) J ohnson can hit a nd I try the sa me thing and land twi ce as hard." T he win ga ve Ryan mor e exposure; th e purse (the largest of th e se r ies) a n d co n ti nge ncy money helped his bank acco unt, but despite the win and stro ng showings in the 125cc Nationa ls he sti ll rem ained a true priva teer with Pro Circu it , a Cal ifo rnia -based aft ermarket accessory com pa ny, providing the mos t support. H e a lso received hel p fro m Arai Helmets, Yoko, Ren th a l, Dunlop, Boyesen Reeds and PJI Oil. " Honda star ted helping me with 'parts a fter th e wi n," says Ryan. , Altho ugh receiving help, Ryan does n't feel that Honda was exac tly happ y wi th his performance. " It kin d of seemed th at they were mad tha t a priva teer wo n because they had to pay a big bo n us. Dave Arno ld didn ' t seem ma d, bu t the d epartment (of) R ic k Spi llma n didn't seem so happy. They kind o f made a couple of co m me nts that a privat eer 's no t supposed to wi n, th a t's why th e big bonus is there. They didn 't say it straight out, but that's th e feeling I go t. "T hey (Honda) a lways tri ed to help o u t through the whole year, but they.on ly have so much support they Rick Ryan made motocross history at last yea r 's Daytona Supercross when he be cam e the first privateer to ever w in a major supercross event.

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