I
n my nearly 40-year tenure in
the magazine business, I've
been fortunate to ride a wide
variety of motorcycles, but I've
never ridden an honest-to-good-
ness "works" motocross bike. In
the day, mainly throughout the
1970s, it wasn't all that unusual
for magazine editors to get the
chance to test a factory rider's
works bike. I've ridden the same
motorcycle as a famous pro a
few times but never a true works
bike. That's mainly because
works bikes were banned in
1986, just a few years after
I landed a job here at Cycle
News, so my window of oppor-
tunity to ride a works bike was
essentially slammed shut and
locked before I got the chance.
However, I did come close to rid-
ing one once while works bikes
were still legal.
In the early-to-mid 1980s,
there was already talk of a
"production rule" which would
ban high-dollar and high-tech
factory works bikes from com-
peting on the AMA circuit, both
indoors and out. The idea was
to make racing more competitive
by closing the technology gap
between the factory race bikes
and the production bikes that
the privateers—who made up the
heart and soul of the sport of
motocross—had to ride. Plus, it
would reduce costs for the fac-
tories. With the production rule
in place, the factory boys would
have to start out with the same
motorcycle that Johnny Racer
could buy right off the showroom
floor. Whether or not the pro-
duction rule was a good or bad
CN
III ARCHIVES
P122
RACER TESTED:
RIDING RJ'S YAMAHA
BY KIT PALMER
Yamaha wanted to prove just how
production its "works" YZ250L
was, so, just days after the bike
had won the 1984 AMA National
Motocross title with Ricky
Johnson, Yamaha let us ride it.
