Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED The 1986 and 1996 Motocross des Nations By Eric Johnson Photo s fr om th e Cycle News arc hives J hOrtl y af ter World War II, bat tlew eary so ld iers from a ll ov er . Eu :op~ returned ho me to carry on With their lives , With the d ar k clou d of con flict blown off the con tine n t, th ese men had time for recr ea tiona l activities, and a number of them were able to capitalize on the large su rp lus of motors that littered a host of nations. O ne thi n g led to anoth er a n d of mo tocro ss, or off-roa d motorcycle racing, caught fire in places such as France, Eng la nd, Swed en, Holland , Bel gium and Denm ark . A sport w a s born. In 1947, a t the sandy Wassenaar circuit in Th e Ne the rla nds, th e ver v first sa nctio ned international motocr oss race - the Motocross d es Na tions - was held . The race, wh ich invi ted the best 500cc riders fro m the major motoc rossing nations of Eu rope to fig ht for na tional prid e and glory, wa s won by thr ee men fro m England . The trio - men named Nic hols on Rist and Ray - too k the measure of Belgium to win what was th e ve ry fir st cha mpionship. During the eve n t's first 34 vears, the Mot ocross d es Na tions - and'a secon d race for 250cc bik es called the Tro p hee des Na tions - becam e a hugely successful in tern ation al affair tha t was ru led by the Eng lish, the Belgia ns, the Swedes, the Du tch, the Fre nch an d the Czechs. Durin g that period, rid ers with nam es suc h as Roger De'C os ter, Joel Rob ert, Dave Bickers, Rolf Tibblin, Gu en na d y Mo iss eev, Ake Jonsso n and Ja ck Van Veithoven represented their oft-winning nations wit h honor and d ignity. Th e n in 1981, a young Ame rica n tea m co m p ri s e d of Joh nn y O 'M ara, 00 0\ 0\ ,..... t--.' ... ClJ ,.0 o .... u o 20 Don nie Hansen, Chuc k Sun a n d Danny La Po r te a rrive d in Lomrnel , Belgium, for the Tro p hee d es Na tio ns, and they proceed ed to kick sand in the face of the bewilder ed Europea n es tablishm ent. And as if tha t was n't enough, . they came backthe very next Sunda y in Ger m a n y , cli m b ed a boa rd b ig , red Hon d a SODs, a n d agai n s to m ped o n Europerts best. On those two weekends, th e ba lan ce of worldwid e mot o cross power wa s cha nged . A bra ve new era h ad a r rived a n d, to p araph ra s e Bob Dyla n, "T he ti m e s, th ey w e r e a changin.:" For the next 12 consecutive yea rs, the Yankees went on a reign of terror, win- . ning both the Mo tocr oss and Tro p hee des Nations in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The FIM, by this time tir ed of th e ru thl es s domination, decided to take matters into its own hands and , after 38 vea rs of runn ing th e tw o d es Na tio ns ' even ts in a simila r forma t, co mbine d th em in to a one-day event called the Mot ocross des ations. The reason for the "tweak " ? To ,(Clockwise from above ) David Bailey, J ohnny O'Mara and Rick Johnso n went to Italy and totally dominated the 1986 Motocros s des Nations. Were they the best Motocross des Nations team of all time? Many believe they were. help level the playing field for the European race teams . It wo uld n' t be the last time the FlM played with the rul es in an effort to snuff ou t American totalitarian rule . How ev er, non e of the meddling w orked . From 1985 to 1993, America co nti n ued to w in , tak in g th e coveted Peter Chamberlain troph y back to AMA headquar ters in Ohio on an annua l basis. Wh ile Eu rope - a nd th e rest of th e wo rld, for that matt er - hated to see the A merica ns ru le th e Mo to cro ss d es Nations w it h su ch ea se , no one co u ld d isagree tha t ea ch and eve ry fall they wo uld sho w.u p in Europe wit h so me of the best teams the spo rt had ever see n. And tha t-brings us to our point. Just wha t was the grea test Motocro ss des Na tions team of all time? Was it one of the grea t English teams of the 1950s? Or o ne of th e Swedi sh tea m s o f th e 1970s? Was it one of the Belgian teams th at cu t a slash-an d - burn sw a t h through ou t the entire 1960s and 1970s? Or cou ld it hav e been one of the d aziling America n tearns of the 1980s? After a qu ick, ad hoc pole, we fou nd tha t most of ou r mot ocro ss com rades ag ree on two tearns: the 1986 American team of Johnny O' Mara, Rick Ioh nson and David Bailey; and the 1996 tea m of Steve Lamso n, Jerem y McGrat h and Jeff Emig. In an effort to illustrate the effect the se tw o "dea th sq ua ds" had on th e hist ory of the Mot ocro ss d es Na tions, we need to take a look at them individually. The 1986 Motocross des Na tions was slated for Maggior a, Italy. A tight, sinuous circuit repl ete with big, power-rob- bin g hills, Maggiora, situated jus t northwest of Milan , was pu rpose-built for the American s. The sta rting lin eup coming out of th e du gout in It al y w as an all Ho n da tea m mad e u p o f 1986 500c c Na tional Ch ampion David Bailey, 1986 .250cc Na tional and Supercross Champion Rick Joh nson and 125cc su perhe ro Johnny O' Mara. Little di d anyon e know a t th e tim e th a t O'M a ra wa s at od d s with his Hon d a bosses and was already secretly in possession of a factory Suz uki con tract for the 1987 season. Nev er th eless, betw ee n them , the 1986 tea m already had garne red eight AMA titles. Oo zin g con fidence, the three America n s , with tea m m a n ag er Ro ger DeCost er in tow , were poised to deliver a not her knockou t p u nch to European motocross pride. And, after drawing the n u m b er-one s ta r ti ng p o sition, that' s exactly w ha t they di d . ... Riders from 24 nations lined up for th e fi rst m o ta , a n d wh en t h e ga te drop ped it was Johnson w ho grabbed the h o lesh ot , w it h O 'Ma ra , on hi s shrieking 125, in third . It would tak e O 'Mara tw o 1391s to find his way int o second, and the two Hond a pilots began to pull clear for an as to nis hing ly easy wm . In m o ta tw o , Bail ey g ra b bed th e ho les ho t o n h is bi g , red Hon d a 500 w h ile 1986 500cc Wo r ld Ch a m p ion Da v id Th o rpe h eld seco n d, w it h Geo rges [obe third . Meanwhile,"a slowbuilding roa r bega n to ema na te from 'the 40,000 It ali ans co ve rin g th e h ill s as O'Mara wa s wringing the Honda 125 to w it hi n inche s of its life. In six laps he had passed 500cc riders Heinz Kinigard n er, H akan Ca r lqvi st, G e r t-ja n va n Doo rn and [obe. Upon landing in thir d, he im med iately se t his sit es on Wo rld Cha m p io n Tho rpe. Four la ps lat er, he p ulle d th e tr ig g e r a n d th e m a ssiv e crow d w e n t b ers erk. Th e "O ' Sh ow " made the pass stick , and in the process he becam e the most famo us 125cc rid er in motocross history. With the class wins bv Johnson and O 'M ara , th e A mer ican tea m had clinched the 1986 Mot ocross des ations tit le before the start of the third mot a . Mo ta three was nothing more than a formali ty, as Bailey and Johnson blitzed by now -humbled Tho rpe, and rode off into the Italian sunset with ano ther one-two finish. In fact, the two we re so far ou t in fro n t tha t they crossed th e finis h line wi th their hand s joined and raised in the air! The su bversive p er fo rm an ce of the th ree flash y Ame ricans was, up to that poin t in his torv, co nsidered to be th e most stag ger in g d isplay of do mina tion th e grea t Motocr oss d es Nations had ever seen. . Eigh t yea rs la ter, Ame rica was prov id e d w it h its fir st h a r s h d os e of Mot ocross des Na tions realit y whe n a team co m p r ised of Je ff Em ig, Mik e Kiedrowski a n d Mik e La Roc co wa s ' sou nd ly defea ted by a humble English sq ua d a t th e 1994 eve nt on th e high~ peed,. freewa y-like Roggenburg circui t in SWitzerland. Tas ting bl ood- for the first time in 13 yea rs, the Belgians came

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