When the legends Ryan Dungey and Antonio Cairoli roll out on the track as Red Bull KTM teammates for the first time at Fox Raceway at Pala, they will be joining a long history of riders coming back-to-back to race after retiring. We’re not talking about getting back on a bike and doing a vet national or some vintage race, but rather coming back at the absolute highest level. For Cairoli, the nine-time FIM World Champion, the opening round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross will be his first motocross race since last year’s Motocross of Nations, where he led his Italian team to victory; for eight-time AMA Supercross/Pro Motocross Champion Dungey, he will be racing for the first time since he clinched the ’17 Monster Energy AMA Supercross title at the Las Vegas finale on May 6, 2017. How either rider will fare at Fox Raceway against the likes of defending champion Dylan Ferrandis, multi-time champion Eli Tomac, and a host of other top current riders remains to be seen. But we can look back in history to tell you how a few other comebacks went, for better and worse. (And if we missed anyone, please feel free to let us know in the comments below.)
Back in 2015, New Zealander Ben Townley decided to race in the FIM Motocross of Nations for his country after retiring two years earlier after a long spat of injuries. Townley actually finished second in the final moto at the MXON, and then decided to sign a contract to return to MXGP full time in 2016. Unfortunately, a knee injury, a virus and a big crash later that summer forced #101 back into retirement again after a single podium finish.
Damon Bradshaw infamously went on a hiatus in 1993 after a rough season, then returned in the summer of 1995. He raced full-time through the ’97 season, winning the High Point National along the way, but he never got back to his old supercross-winning heights. He retired again at the end of ’97. He then was invited to try a Honda CR125 at the Daytona SX by his former sponsor Factory Connection. Bradshaw rode practice on it but then decided against racing it, but the whole experience did rekindle that competitive flame. So, he decided to try a comeback in the National Arenacross Championships with his own team, on Yamahas. That went well until it went really bad—Bradshaw broke his leg and called it quits for a third time.
In 1994, at the San Diego SX, a familiar face surprised everyone when he showed up on the starting gate. Ron Lechien, a product of the nearby “El Cajon Zone,” was on a professional starting gate for the first time in several years. Riding a privateer Kawasaki KX250, the Dogger qualified for the main event and finished a respectable 13th, then went back to working in the family business, Maxima Oils.
Like Lechien, Mark Barnett was a former 125cc AMA Pro Motocross Champion (three times, actually) as well as the 1981 AMA Supercross Champion. He retired from professional racing at the end of the ’85 season, then decided to give it a go again in 1989 on a TUF Racing Suzuki, first in the Florida Winter-AMA Series, and then at the opening round of the 250 Nationals at Gatorback Cycle Park. The Bomber finished 13th (again like Lechien) but then a shoulder injury put him back on the sidelines for good.
Barnett’s old Suzuki teammate Kent Howerton, another multi-time champ, quit racing full-time following the ’83 season, then returned a few times throughout the 1980s to ride the occasional 500 National. Then in 1993, at the age of 40, the Houston Astrodome, Howerton came back and tried to qualify in the 250 class. Alas, the Rhinestone Cowboy failed to qualify.
Another old-timer from the very early days of American motocross, “Rocket” Rex Staten, raced his last outdoor national in 1981, finishing fifth at Carlsbad Raceway aboard a Suzuki. A decade later Staten came out of retirement and raced a Honda CR500 in the last two 500 Nationals of the 1990 season, scoring a single point in each round, which was all he needed to do to get what he was after, which was Honda contingency money!
1982 FIM 250cc World Champion (and ’79 AMA 500 National Champion) Danny Laporte retired halfway through the ’84 500cc Grand Prix season, and then was asked by Husqvarna to compete in the ’85 500cc AMA Nationals, which he did. LaPorte ended up finishing fifth at High Point and fourth at Six Flags near Atlanta, Georgia, then retired again—this time for good.
Remember Jimmy Ellis? He was the 1975 AMA Supercross Champion on a Can-Am, then moved to Australia in the early 1980s and retired. In 1984 and ’85 he came back to the states to race a Yamaha YZ490 in assorted 500 Nationals. His best finish was a sixth in the ’85 Hangtown Classic. Then he went back down under, only to return again when he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame just a couple of years ago, by which point he actually spoke with a heavy Australian accent!
Jeremy McGrath retired rather unceremoniously following a brief stint on KTMs in late 2002, making it official at the Anaheim opener in 2003. But nearly two years later the King of Supercross returned to race the Steel City National aboard a Honda CRF450. He would have finished fifth in the second moto had his pipe not fallen off. McGrath had fun and decided to try his hand at a few AMA Supercross races in each of the next couple of seasons. The ever-competitive Jeremy was still solid as a talent and ended up finishing fourth in his last-ever AMA Supercross at San Diego, the only time he ever raced an AMA Supercross on a four-stroke. The only riders to beat him that night were the three best riders in the sport at the time—James Stewart, Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed—the three guys who combined to win every AMA Supercross title for the full decade after McGrath’s last title in 2000.
Jeff “Chicken” Matiasevich and Ron Tichenor were a pair of former 125 AMA Supercross Champions who ended up racing in Japan after their best AMA days were over. Both also tried AMA comebacks after returning for Japan, Matiasevich on a Kawasaki KX125 with help from Pro Circuit, Tichenor on a Suzuki RM125 from TUF Racing. Chicken’s best finish was a seventh at the ’98 Houston Astrodome race while Tichenor’s was seventh at the ’97 Kenworthy’s 125 National.
Chuck Sun is the 1980 AMA 500cc National Champion. In 1995, a dozen years after his last pro national, Sun lined up at the Washougal National aboard a four-stroke Husaberg and qualified for the motos, though he did not score any points.
Finally, Donny Schmit was a two-time FIM World Motocross Champion who retired at the end of the ’93 season, in which he finished third in the final 250cc Grand Prix rankings. Schmit then decided to enter a single national in each of the next two years, placing eleventh at Washougal in 1994 aboard a Yamaha YZ250 and then a solid fourth in the ’95 Spring Creek 250 National aboard a Honda CR250 he borrowed from a local shop. Tragically, Schmit died in January ’96 due to aplastic anemia, a blood disease, just two days after his 29th birthday.
