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/1449012
O n a typical New England spring day in May of 1989 that featured intermittent light rain and sunshine, legendary moto- cross racer Bob Hannah raced his final AMA Motocross National. The track was Moto-X 338, better known to fans across the nation as simply Southwick. Today if you quickly look at the final results of that race, you would have seen Hannah finishing ninth overall and maybe figured the rider, who at the time was the all-time win- ningest in AMA Motocross and Supercross history, had gone out with a whimper. But the fact was 14 years after entering his first AMA MX National, the 32-year- old Hannah went out in his final national and was competitive as ever. Dig a little deeper and you'll find that Hannah was bat- tling up front in both motos on an underdog Suzuki, and had it not been for a mistake by Jeff Ward that took Hannah out in the second moto, at the very least Hannah would have finished on the podium and with a little luck he might have even scored the national win! That fact that Hannah was battling up front, a full two years after he retired from full-time racing, was astonishing enough in itself. But then consider that the Suzuki RM250 was not the most competitive bike to be on in '89. Honda won all the 250cc Nationals except for one, Troy, Ohio, where Lechien won on a factory Kawasaki. Consider that Ron Tichenor was the top Suzuki rider on the 250s in '89, and he didn't manage to score a podium all season. Southwick was fairly typical for Tichenor—he went 8-4 for fifth overall. Even though he hadn't been racing full-time for a couple of years, Hannah came to South- wick in decent shape because he'd been doing testing for Su- zuki for a couple of years. What he lacked in race-toughness, Hannah made up for by having hundreds of laps on the bike in testing and his body was fresh from not taking the pounding of a full race schedule. The only reason Hannah was even at Southwick that day, he now admits all these year later, was "because the promoter paid me to be there." Looking back at the race to- day, Hannah still speaks with his trademark confidence. "I should have won that day, hands down," he says flatly. "I was ready to win it and would have won it. On a rough track there was no one who should have been able to beat me. Maybe Lechien in the first moto, but not in two. "I screwed myself by mixing it up with Wardy and Lechien early on in the second moto. It was CN III ARCHIVES P104 the Suzuki RM250 was not the factory Kawasaki. Consider that all season. Southwick was fairly typical for Tichenor—he went 8-4 for fifth overall. years, Hannah came to South wick in decent shape because BY LARRY LAWRENCE HURRICANE HANNAH'S LAST NATIONAL Bob Hannah was running an underdog Suzuki, but he got the most out of the RM250 in his final national at Southwick in 1989 and was battling up front. PHOTO: PAUL BUCKLEY