Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW Team Suzuki's Larry Ward lor 1998 alter arm ed to the tee th an d in a position to make a serio us ru n at the 1998 AMA 250cc Supercross a n d National Ch ampion sh ip se ries tit les. We caught up wit h Larry at his home in Florence, South Carolina, where he was getting in so me white-taileddeer hunting a nd making preparati ons for another trip back to Europe to compete in the o pening round of the 1998 F1M World Supercross Championship op ener in Barcelona, Spain (w here he finis hed second to 1997 series champio n Jeff Emig). As expected, he had a lot on his mind . Your annual European offseason supercross tour has s ta r t e d off e xtremel y well. Are you e xcited about your chance s in the approaching FIM World Supercross Championship? Yeah . I've wo n two races, the Fastcross in Arsago, Italy, and th e Sheffield, Eng la nd, Su percross. Working with my mechanic, Marshal Plumb, we've won eve ry race I've e ntered over there - heat races and every thing . I had a lot of co nf ide nce goi ng int o the Fastcross race because I wo n there last year and Sheffield was a tigh t, technical track, and it too k abo ut half the race befo re I started to feel good enough to w in. I'm going to the opening round of the World Supe rcross Championship in Barcelo na, but not the Paris Bercy Supercross. However, that could change if they pay me to go. If they Pay me start mon ey. I'll go, but they seem to want to wait until the last moment and I don't think that's fair for me, or for the other p romo ters that have already had to pay me and the other Americans to finish ing fourth in race . In recen t years, you have managed to both th e 1997 AMA 250cc Supercross become One of the premier ri ders of the globe-trotting internatio nal supercross circuit. What do yo u attribute that to? I don ' t really know. I go with an open mind and ca n rid e th e s ma lle r tracks well. I don 't try any harder than I do in Ame rica, but thin gs jus t seem to go well for me ove r there. When the international season ro ll s around, the American fac to ry rider s pack up their works- fab ricated suspension componen ts and engi ne parts, fly to Eu rope, and bolt the st u ff onto the production bikes th ey are s u pplied wit h. On the o ther hand, yo u are essentially raci ng a pro ductio n-oriented motorcycle tha t yo u are mu ch more familiar with. Does this dynamic' help yo u at all? Yeah, a lot of the guys a re now goin g over there wi th all of their factory stuff, But when I think abou t it, I rod e very, very we ll in the last four or five AMA outdoor Nationa ls and was real close to the leaders at those races. When I went to the Fastcross in Italy, my prod uctionbased CR250 was ru nni ng perfectly, and I felt tha t those guys d id n't have much of an advantage over me. Despite the fact that you have nol been a factory rider since 1993, yo ur enthusiasm and dedication to the s po rt have seemingly never wavered. And while a number of riders have fallen by the wayside in the past five years, you have manage d to stick with it and rontinue to improve. Why? I lov e it, bu t it's still a job an d I have to earn mo n ey. When I left the fa ctory ' teams, Team No leen and Team Hond a of Troy bel ieved in me and sup ported me - they pushed me to be bett er. I also learned how to ride better, and it's easier fo r me now 10 ride faster and o the (Left) Lany Ward ~amed a factory ride from Suz uki and Nat ional Motocross series. thou gh it's no t e tched in marble, here is an unwritten law in moo rn American p rofessional mo tocross tha t declares if a fact ory racer , throug h poor results or politics, exhausts all of his options wi th the "Big Fou r " works tea m s, they ar e fo rever r-, 0\ 0\ ...... 0\ ...... ... (l) ..0 E (l) ~ o Z 10 written off. Think about it: Who was the last factory rider to be fired , or una ble to find a place in one of the factory semis, on ly to return at a later date? Enter Larry Ward . After being tou ted as one of the g reates t young talents in America in the late 1980s, Ward fou nd a place on Team Honda,in 1989, where he won the 12Scc Southwick Na tional and placed third in the AMA UScc Western Regiona l Supercross Series . The futu re looked very bright for Ward . In 1990, Ward was hired by Suzuki to compete in the AMA 250cc Su pe rcross Series a nd 125cc at io nals. Talented and fast, Ward won the Seattle Supercross and finished an impres sive six th in points. Howe ver, fro m th ere, d espite 125cc wins at Washou ga l in 1991 and Sou thwick in 1992, he began a slow slide int o med io crity which led to his di smi ssal from Suzu ki at the end of th e 1993 ca m pa ign . Ward w a s n ow , for a ll in tents a nd purpo ses, on the ou tsid e, look ing in. Ad mirably, he kept wit h it, and in 1994 he joined Team N ul eerr /Yama ha . where h e carded some impressive results, ultimately stu nning the industry in 1995 by placing an as to u nd ing second to Jeremy McGrath in the AMA Supercross Series. In 1996, Ward joined Tea m Honda of Troy, a nother determin ed factory su ppo rt ou tfit. and con tinued to gene rate s teady, consi ste nt and impressive res ul ts, which climaxed wi th a fine fourth ove ra ll in bo th th e 1997 Supercross and National series. However , ast onishingly, Ward could still not find a place am ong the factory eli te. It appeared th at the aforementi o ned u n wri tt e n la w truly di d hold wa ter. Undau nted, Ward continued on . and won a recent Fast cr oss, a massive Italian-based internatio nal race, where, for the second year in a row, he took the measur e of the world 's best riders. A few week s later, Ward def eated new Yamaha recru it Jerem y McGrath at the Sheffield, Eng land, Su percross. Tru e to form , Ward was having another o n e of hi s da z zling European off-season tou rs, in which he has become notorious for recent years. Well, wheth er Ward realize d it or not , someone d id tak e notice of h is hard work, determinati on , tena city and speed - namely Roger DeCoster. A few w eeks a go , DeCoster - left in n o man's land by Jeremy McGrath's de par tu re from the Suzuki fold - approached Ward abou t rid ing for Suzuki. The two camps came to terms and, on October 10, War d Signed on to ride for the yel; low nameplate in 1998. "After losing Jeremy McGrath. Larry Ward was the bes t guy in the supercross , point s tand ings who was not signed ," said Roger DeCoster from his American Suz uki office in Brea, Ca liforni a. "My feeling is tha t he has a lot of talent, and it cou ld be time for him to come through now. He is ready to bloom, and I hope that he wi ll. He is yery consis tent and can definitely win races." By sig ni ng his name on the d otted lin e, Ward has n ot only smashed a myth, but heads into the 1998 campaign ,

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