Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127164
When Lechien crossed the finish line to win the final moto of the 1988 Motocross des Nations, it was "the best feeling I've had yet. " . 6 drag trouble, I know that. It brought more troub le than I co u ld handle.and it/,' ust basica ll y screwed up my w hole I I· e. " Although he's got his life back together, he'll tell you that no th in g is certain. It 's a lways th a t way with recoverin g drug use rs. " At the time it's a ll beh in d m e," he says with co n fide nce. " I ca n' t look into th e fut ure, I've go t to go day by da y. Every thing's been go ing well, though, and I don 't ha ve a ny troubles with it, things seem to be going th e right wa y." T hrough th e wh ol e ordeal Ron Lechien has m atured. " It's a problem w he n yo u ge t into drugs because yo u quit growi ng emotio nally," he says. "There are people wh o are 30 and have th e m entality of a 15-year-old because they 've been doing drugs for so long." . His new m aturity has also inspired a new enth usias m for racing , a n ew desire to win another ch am pi ons h ip. En th usias m th at h as been la ckin g for the past co u p le of years. Wh en Lec hien first started racing hi s drea m was to be 125cc Na tional C ha m p io n. His fath er , Di ck Lechien, owner o f Maxima Lubri ca nts, got h im started to wa rds that dr ea m with a H onda QASO. Ron o ften fought with his sister Lori over who wo u ld ge t to ri de it, a nd he rode all th e time after school a t trac ks nea r his El Ca jon home.' One weeken d hi s fa the r took him to wat ch th e races a t th e local tra ck, the n two weeks la ter Dick as ked Ron if he wanted to race. Ron recalls th e co nversatio n lik e it was yesterday. " I sa id, ' I think I want to go wa tch again, Dad ,' -but 'he said, ' You're eithe r go ing to .race or yo u ' re n ot go ing a t all. ' So I said, ' All ri gh t, let' s race.' I went o u t and started ra cing a ll the time." Ron Lechien and h is parents got serious about racing; traveling to all the ama teur, ra ces for several years. His father coac hed him along the way , an d Lechien' says that he helped more th an anyone or anything to get him where he is today. " H e was my coach, m yteacher , m y mechanic, everythmg , there was-to ha.ve w~n' I was yO~nger." '!dNeii was to be th e 125cc National Champion ," L echi en began , " a n d I ac h ieved that a nd I was th ere, I had made it, I did what I wanted to do. T hen I just kind of lost enth usiasm. T ha t's th e wa y it went an d I didn 't kn ow how to change it. "Then Rick y (Joh nso n) ca me alo ng a nd no one cou ld bea t h im , a nd neit her co u ld I a nd it j ust made it rea l to ugh." Lechien a nd j ohnson have been fierce rival s in th e past, bo th o n and off the track. They started o ut as frie nds fro m the same neighborhood a nd never rea lly go t to race together. " H e was a lways a class ahead o f me. Every time I mo ved u p into th e class he was in he'd be go ne," exp la ined Lechien . They managed to m eet in th e same class a few times, th ough , a n d Lechien remember s th e time he beat j ohnson a t a local ra ce and shook peop le up. But wh at really turned the ir friendship so ur an d created th e grea t riv alry began in th e pits before it moved to th e tra ck. " I kind of sta bbed Ricky in th e ba ck o nce o r twi ce, be cau se hi s girlfrien d con n ived m e into telling him so me th ing we had done at a race, so it wa s kind o f my fault," admits Lechien . " T he n we did stu ff on th e track a nd it just went from th ere." The ri val ry reached its peak in ea rly 1987 wh en J ohnson punched Lechien shuns conventional training such as running and weights. He'd rather playa fast game of Ping Pong, tennis or go Jet SIding. says. " He was serio us abo u t teac hi ng me everyt hi ng. At th e ti me I wasn 't enjoyin g it, because -he was ma kin g it harder th an I wanted it to be. But I have to owe every th ing I' ve got to tha t be ca u se i t was so m u ch a coach ing thing." At o ne t im e L ec hi en ' s fat h er m anaged h is career, but wi th so much in flu en ce th ey weren 't gett in g a lo ng. Lec h ien st ill asks h is father for help wh en it's ti me to negoti ate co ntracts or if th ere's any information he needs since he kn ow s h is father ha s close ties wit h the mo torcycle i n d us try b eca u se o f hi s business. An d Lech ien 's father tra in ed h im well. Combined with his na tu ral tal ent, Lech ien made a bi g splash wh en he hit th e National s in 1983 wh en he wa s 16-years-old, wi n n ing four 125cc Nationals a nd a supercross race in T ampa , Flo rida . Lechien jumped from Yamaha to Honda in '84, had several other good finishes , then do m ina ted the 125cc Nationals in -1985 to take the title. H e was fired late that year by Honda beca use of the drug incident in japan, but he had already signed his three-year deal with Kawasaki. He then began the sl ump that lasted until this year. ~ :' ",sim::e I started racing my dream Lechien in th e mouth following a p re-season race in California. " I just hated him with a passio n , a nd I' m su re he hat ed me too," says Lechien. " All I wanted to do was kn ock h im down or run o ver him. We both tried to kill eac h o ther for so long." That hatred is a nother th in g th at's in Lechien 's past, he says. They've bo th gotte n o lde r a nd more mature. " I rea lly like Ri ck y," says Lechien, " But it's no t even close to what it was lik e before. I went over to hi s ho use a co uple o f weeks ago an d we talked. I'd lik e to be bett er Iriends. bu t it 's just hard." One th in g th at mak es it hard is a ll the attention johnson ge ts since he is the dominant rider of th e ti me. Lechien is frustrated seeing a ll th e gl ory go to johnson, but says th at it just makes him hungrier to beat him next seaso n. The onl y edge h e gives to johnson is strength, saying th ere is no difference in ability or natural talent: " O bviously if anybody out there has natural talent it's gotta be me because I don ' t do anything about it and I'm still running with him," Lechien says. " Every body knows that I hardly train at all. " There's no weight bench .in 'the Lechien household, N~ mem~ card to th e local health club in his wa lle t. . That do esn 't m ean h e doesn't train. Lechien 's training is done with hi s toys, lik e hi s j et Ski, which he 'd like to race more wh en he retires from motocross, or h is back yard H iBall co u rt, which fields a large tra m p olin e ga me. H e a lso stays active by playing tennis with h is girlfriend, Ren ee R ungy, a nd by p layi n g golf and Ping-Pong. It h as to be fun or Lec h ien won' t do it. H e says his fat her p us hed him away from formal trainin g. " Back in the past my dad reall y p ush ed me a lot to train , I used to co me ho me from wo rk every day and th e first th ing he'd ask was if I ran. It really push ed m e a way from it and made me not want to do it a t a ll . I ca n say th at I'm j et Ski or tennis train ini?' I do a lot of ot he r sports a nd ridi ng , but as far as running or weights go , I don't tra in . " It's just m y way of doing it, " continued Lechien. " I ge t burned out on going to th e races and being on th e planes £lying a ll over the place. If I went home a nd beat mys elf up all week , wh en I got to th e race I'd be burned o u t twice as bad." Lechien di slikes th e routine sch edule of tra veling to th e ra ces a lmost every wee ken d. During the off-season when he co u ld be at home there's often ra ces in Europe he has to a tte nd. H e mi sses being with Ren ee, being away from home so much. He likes th e money h e m akes, th ough. H e h as hi s own large home o n a n EI Cajon h ill. There'r e lots of pi ctures a nd ma ga zin e co vers of Lechien o n the wall, but no t much furn iture. A pool table fill s the living room, an d a couch a nd love seat ca n be found in the de n in front of th e b ig -screen TV and ela bora te stereo syste m. L ech ien d o esn 't o w n a fan cy European sports ca r. H is j et Ski s, pract ice b ike a nd Ping-P ong table sh a re the ga rage with a Chevy Camaro IROC Z28 and T oyota 4x4 pi ckup. Lechien says he would lik e to co mpete for a t lea st five more years. Or a t lea s t as lon g a s h e feel s co m fortable. H e realizes th e dangers of racing a nd wants to be ab le to retire a healthy man. . "If things ge t bad or I get scar ed o u t th ere." Lechien begins to say, the n quickl y changes hi s train of . tho ugh t to em p hasize his point. "It's w ic ke d in th e su percrosses , you know. So me peop le co u ldn' t even ride a ro u nd th e tra cks an d we'v e got to go flying arou n d th em. It gets kind o f scary, a nd wh en I get to th at point (bei ng real sca red) I think it would be better to q u it. It 's no t reall y worth it a nd right now I have a lo t more th an I ever expected a nd I want to m ake su re I'll be ab le to enjoy th at wh en I do ret ire. I'm n ot goi n g to go over m y head beca use I don't want to risk th e rest o f m y life." Wh en he does leave the track, Lec hien wo n' t lea ve the raci ng scene ' beh ind. ''I' m pl ann ing o n goi ng int o Maxima a nd ta king over wh en my dad retires," he says. " I'd like to have a good fu tu re, ge t m arried an d h ave kids, a ll th ose good things tha t co me lat er in life." But righ t n ow Ron . L echien 's primary goa l in lire is to be th e best next season. H e will make his commitment so me time in the off season, sit down, ta lk with himself, and pl an his attack for th e coming year. He has a lready conquered th b iggest obstacle h e's faced in his yo u n g life and is happy that he ha the chance to have a second chane at life. Ron Lechien is hungry agai an d .co ul d v~ well swoop over th .com pellitio n to ,achieve ·his 'goal.