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VOL. 54 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 P113 were added, and the country with the lowest point total was de- clared the winner. The first moto was the 125/500cc combined and it was not good for the home team. Wardy was riding sans goggles. "One or two guys beat me to the first turn," Ward told Cycle News reporter Kit Palmer at the time, "and my goggles got caked with mud. They also got knocked down below my nose and I couldn't get them up, so I had to take them off right there." Hannah nailed a good start, but things went sour fast. By the end of the first lap Hannah was at the back. "I got barely bumped going up Screw-U (a steep downhill/ uphill section)," said Hannah. "I had to shut off just for a second near the top, and that's all it took. I just stopped. I kept it running and tried to jump off the bike and push it over the top, but it was like stepping in glue. I couldn't even move in the mud. So I just turned around and went back down." But Hannah's problems weren't over. "As I headed back up at the bottom," said Hannah, "a guy on a 500 kind off shot off me in the berm, and I didn't even get halfway up before I had to turn around and come back up again. It took a full start to get back up that hill. It wasn't a lot of fun." Even without eye protection, Ward pushed to the front before crashing and dropping back to fourth overall. Belgian Georges Jobé took the moto-one victory after a tough battle with Dutchman Kees van der Ven. Third went to an ever-persistent Ward. Hannah, meanwhile, was wide open after his Screw-U incident and charged all the way back to fourth in the 125 division, ninth overall. After the first moto, the U.S. team was in third place, three points behind both the Dutch and Belgians, but Johnson sparked the USA team and the American crowd to life with the overall moto victory in race two. Hannah, meanwhile, became the crowd fa- vorite by topping the 125cc class with an incredible third overall. His second moto 125cc class win gave Hannah the 125cc overall, not bad for an old guy who was riding a 125 for the first time in half a decade! "I hadn't ridden a 125 in five years, and that put the pressure on everybody," Hannah said. "It was the most pressure I've ever had." Going into the final moto, the U.S. team was tied for the lead with Belgium. Everything was on the line for the start of the third and final moto. It was the 250/500cc heat, and to clinch the title for the U.S., either Johnson or Ward had to win their class. But when the gate dropped, it was Van der Ven jamming into the lead followed by Johnson, Erik Geboers, John Van Den Berk, Kurt Nicoll and Ward. Johnson and Ward nearly col- lided in the first turn. "We touched each other," said Johnson, "but Jeff let me go by down the straight. I looked over at him and he backed off and sucked in behind me. Then a 500cc rider, I think it was Jobe, passed Ward and almost took me out. I'm thankful Jeff let me by— that's good teamwork." Jobé ended Belgium's hopes for the title when he went off the course and got banners wrapped around his rear wheel. In the end Johnson had a big enough lead that he had time to pull off in the mechanics area for a new pair of goggles. Johnson, the absolute star of the '87 season, dominated, win- ning both his motos and along with great rides by Ward and Han- nah, Team USA beat the Nether- lands by two points (5-7). Belgium was third with nine points. "I had a bad feeling we weren't going to pull it off because the Eu- ropean teams, like the Belgians, are so tough and such good mud riders," Johnson said. "But our team pulled together really strong. "This win has to peak right up there with winning my first Nation- al at Carlsbad and winning my first National Championship in 1984. This is something I can tell stories about when I'm an old man." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives