Today’s Lunchtime moto-break is one of the most famous races of all time – the 1986 Anaheim Supercross.
Jeff Ward was the defending SX champ on his Kawasaki. He had a new team mate in Ron Lechien who had been sacked by Honda the previous season after being busted with marijuana in Japan. Rick Johnson was making his debut on Honda after they pinched him from Yamaha, and the AMA’s production rule had just come into effect so theoretically the bikes were more evenly matched than ever.
Although there are a heap of legends in this race, the focus is well and truly on Rick Johnson who was new to the Honda team, and his team mate David Bailey. Those two guys went at it on the technical track on a level nobody else was near on the night.
In the end the race was decided by fitness and while we’re not going to give the results away here (that’s what the video is for), the second place rider has admitted this several times since but he would go on to win the title by year’s end.
