FEATURE
INSIDE THE 31
ST
DUBYA WORLD VET MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS
P82
GORDON WARD
A
nother well-known star in the Southern
California off-road scene is Gordon
Ward. Like Dubach, the former Su-
percrosser never really slowed down after
retiring from his pro career. Ward can still be
found mixing it up with the vets and young
racers alike at events like the AMA District 37
Big 6 GP series. Although he has been ham-
pered by a lower back injury for most of the
year, Ward still lined up against his cohorts in
the 40+ Pro class where he ended the day on
the podium.
"At the beginning of the year I fractured my
vertebrae down in the L section and I was out
for six months," Ward explained. "It happened
at Chaney Ranch. I was just practicing and
I brain-faded over a corner and slammed
into the face of a big berm. I went over the
handlebars, landed in a bunch of cactus.
[laughs] I was a mess! Lucikly it wasn't worse
than that. I'm just getting back into the swing
of things."
As for his day-to-day life between race
weekends, Ward enjoys a career in landscap-
ing.
"I do commercial maintenance and land-
scaping. I've done it my whole life. That's
been my business right out of high school."
Well into his
40s, Gordon
Ward is still a
local hero in
the Southern
California
racing scene.
