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/128366
The Boy Scout e prepared, that's Jeff Ward's motto. After winning four AMA Supercross Series rounds in 1984 and finishing fourth, Jeff Ward won only one round of the AMA Supercross Series in 1985, but he ended up with the number-one plate on his motorcycle. How's that for numerology? Win four, finish fourth. Win one, finish first. The beauty of Ward's '85 title - his first of two in AMA Supercross - was that it came in the most competitive season the sport has yet seen, in an era when there were so many top-tier factory stars capable of winning that a multi-victory run of the kind that modern-day warriors Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed have enjoyed was simply unfathomable. "Yeah, either we were all very bad, or we were all very good," Ward, now 43, says with a laugh. "There were eight different winners, and it was all about getting the start. If you got a 10th-place start, or even a fifth-place start, you were screwed. You needed to be first, second or third off the start, because you weren't going to get by guys every corner and every lap to catch up to the leaders. If you did get up to second, the leader was usually gone." And you had to get good starts twice each night, because 1985 was the year that the AMA, in its infinite wisdom, elected to utilize a two-moto format for AMA Supercross. Rather than one 20-lap main event, there were two 10-lappers, the rider with the best two moto scores being declared the winner of the event. Ward recalls that he placed extra-heavy emphasis on his training regimen that year in anticipation of a war with a number of equally prepared rivals. "There were a few of them, like Johnny O'Mara, David 8ailey, Ricky Johnson and Broc Glover," Ward says. "We didn't really throw Ron Lechien in there as someone who was tough, because he didn't train, but his riding ability sure made up for it. You couldn't [discount) him, because of how talented he was." No surprises then, when all five of those riders scored wins during the I I-round series, as did the seemingly ageless Bob Hannah and Mark Barnett. In all, eight riders - half of them former AMA Supercross Champions would win rounds, setting a record for different winners in a single season that still stands today. Ward, who won round seven of the series, in Houston, Texas, recalls that the race format and the depth of the competition made the title battle an all-out war. "We brought it up to another level, that's for sure," Ward says. Damn straight. In fact, the title battle was so intense that Team Kawasaki's Ward found himself tied for points with Team Yamaha's Glover - the two vying for their first AMA Supercross crown, 21 1-21 I, after the penultimate round at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Team Honda's Lechien had somehow put together a consistent enough series to sit third, just four points adrift of Ward and Glover. No one could be sure of what was in B 82 FEBRUARY 23,2005 • CYCLE NEWS store at the final round, which would take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. "But I was prepared," Ward says. "I did my training, did everything I possibly could do to be ready for each weekend. No matter whether it was muddy, or cold or whatever, I was prepared. If I had an injury, I was prepared to deal with that, but I do remember that I stayed pretty injury-free that year." Well, almost. There was an ungodly three-month hiatus between the Coliseum and Rose Bowl rounds. In the meantime, the trio of AMA National Championship MX series would be in full swing, with the 250cc U.S. GP at Unadilla, New York, taking place little more than a month before the Rose Bowl finale. Of course, Ward contested the U.S. GP and wouldn't you know it bailed off, suffering a separated shoulder. "I remember the photo of me going over the bars was in a couple of the magazines," Ward says. "I didn't finish the Team K Au. owosoki' J H moto and pulled ~'UO SO.....rero seWard c,'re , ,.~ Ss crow' , a 983 11 out of the race. n 'n tile tooghe t • I WO Years late ,., s , c osest litl ba r, ~ord W I Then I had to do therapy on the e tt/e the 00 d Win his fi SPOrt ho rst shoulder for the two weeks before the race." seifer seen. But Ward caught a break when main rival Glover to second-place start, behind got a break: The "Golden Boy" fractured his wrist in a O'Mara, who would go on to win the race and claim the practice-track incident less than two weeks before the event win. Meanwhile, Glover got off the line third. showdown at the Rose Bowl. That left two battered Glover fell back, but then he upped the pace late in the and bruised veterans up against one pink-cheeked bul- race, and he began to reel in Ward until only one bikelet, Lechien, in a supreme battle for the crown on length separated them. A slight bobble by Glover while August 17, 1985. dogging Ward to the checkered flag spelled the differLechien was the first to falter at the Rose Bowl. Bailey ence. Ward finished second, Glover third, and Ward grabbed the holeshot in the first main, while Lechien, claimed the AMA Supercross Series Championship by who was running second, crashed over the first set of one point, 218-217. double jumps and wound up ninth. Bailey went on to win He may have won only one race all year, but Ward the race, while Ward's teammate Goat Breker finished earned the title by being prepared and by practicing second and defending series champion O'Mara finished what he preaches to this day, nearly 20 years later. third. Behind fourth-placed JoJo Keller, Glover managed "Consistency is what wins championships," Ward says. to ace Ward in a battle of gimps to finish fifth and get a "Look at what Ricky Carmichael said this year: 'There's leg up on the title. fast guys out there, but you have to be consistent,..' All eyes were on Glover and Ward in the second main When Jeff Ward raced, there were a lot of them, event. The championship was on the line. Ward got off and he was. CN