Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Johnny O'Mara . Part Two By Eric Johnson rom the carnage - and take-out moves - of the 1984 season., Jeff . Ward and Johnny O'Mara had developed a bitter ctislike for one another. In fact, to this day, many insiders still peak of the animosity that surrounded the two 125cc icons. However, today, aiter the boots have been hung up and with the war now nothing but a vivid memory, O'Mara has a deep respect for his old rival. "Back then, I ha ted him," he admits. "I c.an say that now. It all came from how bad I wanted to win. We had no relationship. I guess that happens when two people want something that bad. It was so competitive that even our two mechanics would go at it! It seemed like Ward and I were going 1-2 in every single moto, and there were times when I took him out. At the last National of the year at Washougal, he waved me by on purpose and I got so mad at him that I went over the berm and took his front· wheel out on purpose. I can talk about F 18 that now. Now we're the best of friends and real close. I guess we're both a lot alike. When I think back about it, 1 had a lot of sleepless nights because of that guy - but I love him." Ironically, the two riders would join David Bailey and Rick Johnson on the I984 Motocross and Trophee des ations team that was sent out to compete in Scandinavia. "The 1984 Motocross and Trophee des Nations in Finland and Sweden were close, as both races went down to the wire," says O'Mara. "The first race in particular, at Vantaa, Finland, came down to the last few laps, and we barely won that thing. But like every other year, we were always in the hunt and we got it done. Even today, I find it amazing at how well we did over there." In 1985, O'Mara was bumped up to the 250cc class, where, despite winning the Binghamton and Washougal Nationals, he again placed second to Jeff Ward. However, the year wasn't a complete disappointment - by his standards, any- way - as he won the Unadilla 250cc U.S. GP. "I loved winning Unadilla," beams O'Mara. "I reaI!y loved the European stuff, and [ think that came from being a part of the first winning Motocross des ations team. I had a lot of close friends from Europe, and I enjoyed racing against them." The year 1986 would prove to be a cataclysmic one in the career of Johnny O'Mara. That winter, Rick Johnson, aiter a few troubled years as a 'yamaha factory rider, was invited to become a member of the now powerful Team Honda. What resulted from his signing was a paradigm shift within the team, as almost inunediately an etltirely different atmosphere settled over the Honda camp. And while it was never said aloud by anyone involved with the team, the action was seemingly done by insidious design. "The team changed," says Dave Arnold. "When JoJumy and David won titles, Roger (DeCoster) and I still felt insecure. Their relationship was too close, and we had Rick Johnson coming up. At that time, Roger and 1 felt that those two just weren't gritty enough. Their philosophy was that a rider needed to be consistent to win titles and that he couldn't dominate. But once we started to win as a team, Roger and I wanted to dominate. We both saw R.J. as a hungry dog that wanted to get everyone that was in front of him. We had watched hirn struggle on the Yamaha and knew that if he was on a Honda, the party would be over. We both thought that the team needed that, and it was then tha t the innocence of the team was lost. All of a sudden we had conflict in the team, and R.J came in and challenged the existence of Bailey and O'Mara. Look at that first race at Anaheim in 1986, where Bailey and Johnson went at it. The style of the whole team had changed." Initially, David Bailey saw the addition of the El Cajon, California, native as a good thing for him and his ouI brother O'Mara. However, they would soon find out that the Team Honda bunker wasn't big enough for the three of them. "When Rick first signed, I was like, 'Okay, cool,'" says Bailey. "At that time, I didn't like him on the track, because he would run over your feet and you could never get rid of him. But I was happy he ,was on the team and I remember thinking, 'Now we'll have a monopoly.' When he first came to the team, he came up and hung out with us and we went out and shopped and trained. He was hangin' off the back when we trained, though, and we would always have to slow down for him. But then, the week before Anaheim in 1986, Brian Lunniss (Johnson's mechanic) and Rick completely divorced themselves from us. Rick was one way one day, and another the next. It then became every man for himself in the team. Whatever happened, it worked. It was kind of a bummer to see the team 10 e the comfort and trust, but the tension made us all faster." The year 1986 started off on a bad note for O'Mara. After hurting his knee at a Golden State Series race, he never found the speed required to get him into the winner's circle. He placed third to Johnson and Bailey in both the AMA 250cc National Championship and Supercross Series, and fifth overall in the 500cc National Championship. While these were wonderful scores by the standards of virtually every other rider in the world a t the time, they weren't exactly what O'Mara was looking for. "In 1986, I had a number of body problems," says O'Mara. "I hurt my knee at a California Winter Series race at Gorman, where I tore some ligaments. That injury would mnder the rest of my career, because I had to change my riding style to compl!JlSate for it. The knee

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