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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE M otocross des Nations 1987—a seminal event in the long and storied history of the international competition. It marked the first time America hosted MX des Nations and the site, appropriately enough, was one motocross racing's iconic locales in New Berlin, New York's Unadilla Valley Sports Center, a track simply known as Unadilla. American fans had long waited for the opportunity to get to see in person the stars of America going up against the best of the rest. First some context about the '87 MX des Nations. It had been just 15 years since Team USA first entered the prestigious interna- tional competition. It was really only a few years before that 1972 squad of Brad Lackey, Jim Pome- roy, Jimmy Weinert and Gary Jones, that America had even been introduced to motocross in the first place. By 1981 the Ameri- cans finally broke through to win, starting a period of domination by the U.S. that would stretch on a dozen more years. Now the show was coming to the New World for the first time and it was a big deal. The announcement of the '87 Team USA squad was not without controversy. Jeff Ward and Rick Johnson were named to the team, which made all the sense in the world. Honda's Johnson was a double MX champ in '87, winning both the AMA 250 and 500cc crowns. Wardy was AMA Supercross Champ and runner up to Johnson in the 250 nation- als, plus he had ample 500cc ex- perience, so again, a no-brainer. The controversy came in the naming of the rider to repre- sent Team USA in the 125cc class. Micky Dymond was class champ, and by the estimation of many fans, should have been the third rider. Instead the AMA named Bob Hannah, who by 1987 was riding part-time for Suzuki, hadn't raced a 125 in five years and hadn't raced des Na- tions since '78. Unfortunately for Dymond, he ended up never being named to Team USA, in spite of being a two-time AMA 125cc National Motocross Champion. In retrospect, Hannah's selec- tion turned out to be genius. It might have been a sentimental pick by the AMA, one last appre- ciation for the aging icon, or per- haps it was a feeling of invincibility with the U.S. having won six-con- secutive times leading up to the '87 contest. Regardless, the Hur- ricane got the nod and shocked everyone with his performance, which included a 125cc win and an amazing come-from-behind charge to fourth in class after get- ting knocked down in Unadilla's infamous Screw-U twice. Because of the rains and muddy track conditions, the decision to run a different race format came after practice. The original plan to run the 125, 250 and 500cc classes together in three motos, counting the best six scores of each country, was discarded. Instead, a two-class, three-moto format was used. The first moto included the 125 and 500cc riders, the second moto the 125 and 250ccs, and the final moto the 250 and 500ccs. Thus, riders would only have to race twice and there would be less racers on the track at one time. After completing all motos, the top four (out of a pos- sible six) motos of each country P112 Majesty in the Mud PHOTOGRAPHY BY KINNEY JONES Bob Hannah was a controversial choice for the U.S. Team at the 1987 Unadilla Motocross des Nations, but the "old man" silenced the critics with the 125cc-class win.