Main image courtesy of Moto Verte.
The Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations is returning to the U.S. on September 24-25 and once again it will be held at RedBud in Buchanan, Michigan. Team USA’s Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton and Justin Cooper will be spearheading the effort to get the Peter Chamberlain back into America’s hands for the first time since 2011. In anticipation of the big race we’re counting down some of our favorite Team USA moments over the years, and today we’re looking at 1988 and the remarkable performance by future AMA Hall of Famer Ron “Dogger” Lechien.
By ’88 Team USA was well into its 13-year winning streak, and veteran members like Team Honda’s Rick Johnson and Kawasaki’s Jeff Ward had multiple winning performances in this event. They were called on to ride the 250 (RJ) and 125 (Wardy) for the three-class event. The 500 gig, on the other hand, was not so simple a choice. First of all, Suzuki and Yamaha had pretty much given up on developing new models for the Open class, and KTM/Husqvarna/GasGas were not even in the game as far as the AMA circuit goes. So it was going to have to be between someone on a Kawasaki or a Honda (and that would be the case for the next dozen or so years). But in this particular season RJ’s Honda teammates were either 125cc specialists like George Holland and Guy Cooper, or not American—Jeff Leisk hailed from Australia. Ward’s teammate was Ron Lechien, incredibly fast but also very undisciplined, at least in the eyes of Team USA manager Roger De Coster. He had worked with Lechien before at Honda, as well as with Team USA. In ’85 the Dogger was tasked with riding the 125 class in Switzerland, and he did an amazing job in winning his class. But then he got arrested in Japan for marijuana possession and fired from Team Honda on the spot. And that was the kind of thing that worried De Coster when he chose Lechien again in 1988 to ride the KX500 in France.
Turns out The Man had nothing to worry about. In two absolutely dominant performances on the Villars-Sous-Ecot circuit, Lechien won the first 125/500 moto straight-up. He was the only rider in the field to top the sensational young Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle, who was riding a Honda CR125 and getting massive support from the partisan crowd. Third place went to Leisk, who was riding for Australia (just as the Lawrence brothers of Team Honda U.S. will this year).
In the second, which was for 125/250 riders, Johnson beat everyone on his 250, while Ward ended up top 125 in eighth place after a mistake by JMB prevented him a chance to repeat his first-moto performance.
Finally came the last moto for 250/500 riders, and Team USA had already clinched the overall as only the four best of six scores counted. It was also widely expected that Johnson would win again on his 250, but where Lechien ended up was anyone’s guess. Wrong again. The Dogger went out and put on one of the rides of his life and straight-up won again, beating Johnson and everyone else in what De Coster would call “the best race I’ve ever seen from Lechien.”
Team USA’s final score would be a total of four: two 500 wins by Lechien, one 250 win by Johnson, and one 125 win by Ward. It was truly a team effort, but it was Ron Lechien was the star of the day.
Here are some race highlights:
Here’s Gary Bailey’s longer video from that day in 1988 in France:
