Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

and I wouldn't even have to live over there. There's like tw o races in a row, and then a month break , and then anothe r one... I could go do those and still do the AMA rounds because AMA doesn't start until September. I cou ld do both series , and whichever one I am do ing bet te r in, I could go for that championship. "But I have n't really talked about it with Troy, and I don't know if he would have any inte rest in being a part of it," Ward adds. "Maybe the re would be a team over there that would take us on and sponsor us w ith Troy Lee Designs also being involved. I think that maybe next year I'd like to do a one-off [roun d] ove r the re, and then if I win the championship he re or I am a fro ntrunne r again, then maybe the hype to get me over there might be rea lly big and the sponsorship wo uld big enough to be worth it. But I can't wait too much longer. Hell, I'm going to be 4S." The hype is already building, as Ward has already sawed off top World talent such as Seel, Chambon and jurgen Kunzel. He readily admits that he would like to get a clean shot at racing two-time World Champion Thie rry van de n Bosch, wh ether in the United Stat es or in Euro pe. The only time that the tw o have bee n on the track together was at the 2004 X Games, and neither man had his best day. Crashes hampered both , putt ing them out of the running, while Bostrom , Seel and McGrat h put on a great show for the fans and the ESPN television cameras. Even so , Ward is confident that he could run w ith the somewhat mysterious and obviously fast Frenchman. ';A.t the X Games , I had the fast est qualifying times on the first day, but the transpo nders we nt dow n and they lost the times," Ward says. "Then, on the second day van de n Bosch qualified o n pole , about eight-tenths of a second quicke r, but he had specia l tires . They brou ght in spec ial tires from Europe, and they're softer. He came in four times for tires . My fastest lap time was on lap 20, and I was on the same set of tires . It's the same thing with Kunzel over here. It's deceiving. Kunzel was always quicker than us [Ward and He nry] in Superpole, but in the heat races, we are half a seco nd quicker than him because he can't run that tire for more than three laps. Th ose [Euro pean] guys are fast, but I think that in a race pace we can beat them ." Y get the impressio n that a rivalry is brewing ou betwee n Ward and van de n Bosch even though the two have never met . "I do n't think that I ran across him at the X Games to even see what he looks like," Ward says. For the time being, Ward is conten t with the rights and responsibilities of being t he AMA Supermoto Cha mpion. While even he is surpr ised to see that his popularity has spanned generations, making him a hit among the kids of the kids he grew up with and who watched him race, the ro le model aspect of being a champion is something that he willingly accepts - pare nts, your kids could not do much better and co uld do a whole lot worse. "O nce you are a champion, you have responsibilitiesto help your series and be a good role model , doing the right things to prom ote your sport," Ward says. "Every rider who comes up has that responsibility to build on what the last generation of riders brought it to . It's not about the money. I'm sure not doing this for mo ney because it isn't paying much right now. [laughs] When I got into motocross professionally back in 1977, I don't even think there were salaries. Now [in motocross] it's all money. People see the millions you can make if you are a top rider. From the time kids are 4 to 6 years old, the vision is to be the next Ricky Carm ichael. I just wanted to win races, and then it was a living, and then it was a job: '

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