Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

[Johnson's m e ch ani c]. who was whis pe ri ng to him , ' Yo u n e e d t o b e a t th ese gu ys , so pu t a little distance between' them .,,, By man y ac counts , the open ing ro und of th e 1986 AMA Supe rc ross Ser ies in Anahe im , Ca liforn ia , is consi dere d to be th e be st ma n on man d u el in th e s p ort' s 28 -ye ar h istory . On a c h illy J anu a ry 18 e ve n in g in O ran ge Cou nty , Baile y a nd J ohn son , n o w fast be c om in g h e a t e d a dv er saries, suite d up , wa lked towa rds the s t a rting ga te a nd p re pared to go head -to -hea d for the '86 S upercross Cha mp ionship . Bailey reflects back on the historic race that had 7 1,000 fans up on thei r feet a nd s crea ming th e ir lungs out: "Righ t befor e th e m a in , I said to him, 'It' s betwee n us - now that yo u're my teammat e, I'm g oing to rac e y o u s t rai g h t up , and I won 't t a k e yo u down . ' He a g re e d, and we shook h ands . Then it was Anaheim ' 8 6. While we were raci ng , I was th inking I wa s better than Ric k and in b etter shape and m o re in contro l. I kn ew I couldn' t get h im m ad, s o wh en ev er I p a s s ed h im , I wo uld g o wa y wid e. Howeve r, when he we nt to pa ss m e, h e 'd al wa ys b u mp in t o m e! It go t do wn to just a few la ps to go , an d for the first tim e, I jumped th ro ug h the sa nd pit. When I ju m ped it we got rea l close, a nd it got real he ated betwee n us . I cou ld fee l t h e p ress ure , b ut I finall y m a d e the pass a nd started to put s ome dista nc e o n him , a nd t hat was it - I put him away ." And while Baile y won the "War of Disn ey land ," Rick John s on , through s ix stadium win s , wo uld ult ima tel y win the Super c ros s war. "It was a great sta rt to the season," states Ba ile y . "Then I go t a little bit ove rconfident , a nd then R.J . ca ught fire . We went to S an Dieg o , where he wo n, a nd ba ng , he was gone, and he ke pt right o n winn ing . He surprised a lo t of people , me incl uded . It irrita te d me , and I got to a point of th inking , 'If I do n't win the 500cc title, I'm g oing to th row a rod l'" T h e 1986 AMA 500cc National C ham pion s hip ope ned up at Red Bud , Michigan, on J uly 6 . And wh ile Johnson would win it , Ba iley h e ld true to his object ive of s na tc hing his second open-bike title. "Johnson won the ope ne r at Red Bud, after O'Mara a nd I ran into each other in th ird gear, but then I came ba ck and won m y own race at my own tr a ck - Axto n , Virg in ia. That wa s t he coo le s t d a y e ver. The rac e was a big success, we made money , I wo n both m oto s a nd took over the poi nts lead. Fro m th a t poi nt, I he ld on to th e po ints le a d and e nded up winning the title ." By the tim e the ' 8 6 season reache d the month of Septe m be r, a ll wa s not well at Te a m Hon da . Ba ile y's longt im e friend O 'Ma ra was hav ing a rough go of th ing s , c ons ta ntly find ing himself finis hing beh ind his two te a m mate s. Mor e ove r, Johns on a nd Bail ey had be come so co m petitive with one another th a t they we re , in essence , no longe r s peak ing to each ot her. It all re a c h e d a cl imax at t h e 19 8 6 Motocross des Na tions in Mag giora, Italy . Realizing that a little inter-tea m r ival ry bet we en the t hre e Ho n da tea m mates c o u ld b e good fo r t he American effort, Roger DeCos te r, the te a m manager, picked his th ree guys to represent Team USA in Italy. What resulted was the most staggering display of team domina tio n in modern motocross history . Joh nny O' Ma ra , rid ing th e 125, p ut in a le g e n da ry performance tha t is still talked about in almost re ligio us tones. Moreover, Ba ile y and J ohnson took t h e ir own "s trug g le" o ut onto the h igh speed h ills of Maggiora . "Johnny t o ld me that he h a d signed with Suzuki the nigh t before, a nd that really upset me ," says Bai le y . "We just sat there and d idn 't say a n ythi ng. The n J ohnn y broke th e s ile nce and sai d , 'I' m go ing to rid e out of my min d tomorrow .' An d he s ure d id. We dom inate d the ra c e to the point th a t the th ird moto d id n't mea n s hit, but there was a fee ling betwe en Rick and I of, 'L e t' s sett le th is .' Rig ht be fo re t he race , J ohnny came up a nd said , 'Whate ve r yo u do , bea t Rick - I don 't want him bei ng th e eye' e s ta r ov e r he re .' I started in the second ro w a nd got p ast h im. I ju s t k illed him, a nd Ma gg io ra wa s n ' t really a 500 c c trac k. At t he thr e e- q u art er m a rk I had a one- mi nu te le ad , a nd I tho ught, 'I'll slow it down , a nd R.J . and I ca n cross t he line tog eth e r. I rem ember t hi nk ing, 'This will be a great ph oto .' We crossed the line a nd we re swa rmed by the c rowd . I went ho me fro m t here thi nki ng , ' E ve ry thing is ba c k on track .' I went stra ight to Vermont and go t married to Gina . I cou ldn 't be any luckier. " Ba iley was married , o n top of the motocross world a nd m a k ing more m o n e y t ha n h e could s pen d . Th en came La ke Huron. S HA O O W L A N OS During the ea rly 1980 s , the CMCprom ote d Golden Sta te Series - a lso known as the Ca lifornia Winter Series was the prime test bed for the fa ctories (all of wh ich wer e ba s ed in Southern Ca liforni a) to develop th e ir ma chinery for th e new ra ce sea son. The Big Four b ik e ma kers wo ul d send out t h e ir bike s a nd riders in an ef fo rt to blow out th e co bwebs, get the bugs out, and ma ke s ure e ve rything was hum ming a long. Also contested by hun dr eds of up -and -co mers , wa nna bes a nd h a s beens, the Golden State ra ces were a hardco re fa n' s d e light and a fac to ry ride r's pain in the ass. Typica lly held n e vv so • MAY 17,200 0 19

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