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No doubt Bob has nothing but good things to say about his riding style. Lots of natural talent like Ron Lechien. Bob trained hard during the week and had supreme confidence on the gate when they lined up on Sunday's. Marty 6'1" 200lbs primarily relied on his riding ability. Bob knew on those occasions when he didn't get a good start the pack would come back to him. I think
Marty owns a food truck or restaurant now. Great cook 😉
Before a saddleback national, Kent in an interview with Dick Miller of MXA claimed he went to 7-11 and bought a big bag of candy and ate most of it during race day. He also said he regretted doing it as he got quite sick.😝😝
im not sure of the year but he was riding a husky at the time. I’m sure the interview can be found somewhere…
This thread is now also a collection of videos of pros riding stock bikes!
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I wonder how retired guys go with riding a stocker. Guys like Reed who are notoriously picky with bike setup. Can they just jump on a stocker, ride slower and have fun. Or is guy like Reed just super frustrated with aspects of the bike every time he jumps on it.
I believe Ed Arnett (of MotoCross magazine) raced a bone stock 1985 YZ490 at the Las Vegas national and finished fairly well, but took a beating physically.
The photo is impossible to find, but didn't he holeshot that main by like 2 bike lengths on a bike he almost literally just bought at a local Yamaha dealership before the race? I remember seeing the photo in MXA way back, but the internet does not seem to know what I am talking about.
The tracks were tamer, not likely.
The factory suspension was far from stock settings back then.
I think the power was stronger over the stocker, even back then.
Hannah,s prime and Lechien are almost a decade apart, certainly a different era in mx.
It was a heroic effort that will go down in history.
Musquin claimed in a gypsy tales interview he can ride a stock new 450sxf without issue. How honest that is when you work for ktm is tbd.
I’ve seen someone win a national Moto and almost the overall on a bone stock bike. It was 44 years ago. As far as todays works edition bikes not being able to finish a race…….BS
Is it strange that I really want one of those?
79. Marty Tropes bike. Jon Roeder claimed it. How the fuck can I remember this ? I can't remember my wife's birthday.
🙂
My apologies, guess he learned his lesson. Lol
I will say this :Don’t ever lend your stock bike to a fast pro so he can get that second moto in( probably because his bike blew up)watching him win whilst completely bag driving my bike on the limiter was a bit er…back in the pits my ticking , steaming,clutch smelling bike. I was not too impressed. Knocked years off its life hahaha.
I remember the Hurricane doing it too not RL224
It’s round six of the seventeen race Monster Energy AMA Supercross series this weekend in San Diego. For This Week in Yamaha SX History, we’re going to hop into the time machine and go back to 1983 and in the very same stadium we’re visiting this weekend. Yamaha’s Ron Lechien was coming off of one of the hottest amateur careers ever and quickly proved he was ready to battle the best as a pro, winning the 250 supercross race at Orlando as well as some 125 nationals at just 16 years old. Lechien was already a star, and for the 1984 series, he signed with Honda to ride factory bikes, something that Yamaha had already announced they would not have for the ’84 year (Yamaha was going to race production-based equipment in an era that still allowed full-works bikes).
The last race of that 1983 season was held in San Diego, but it was not an official AMA Supercross. It was sanctioned by the CMC but nevertheless, all the heavy hitters were there. Broc Glover, David Bailey, Jeff Ward, Mark Barnett and many others all lined up on the starting line hoping to end their year with a win.
And Yamaha, upset that Lechien had already signed with Honda, did not allow Lechien his factory race machine for this race. It wasn’t an AMA race so they were not contractually obliged to Ronnie. With his new contract at Honda not officially started yet, Lechien, from nearby El Cajon, wasn’t going to just sit on the sidelines at his hometown supercross—he was determined to race.
And with that Lechien picked up a stock Yamaha YZ250 from a dealership, got Pro Circuit to do some motor work and went to San Diego to try his best against the best riders in the world on full works bikes.
And it was no contest! Lechien grabbed the holeshot in the main event and checked out. Ward chased after Lechien until his chain broke and that left Lechien’s ex-teammate Rick Johnson to try and reel Ron in, but it was fruitless.
The number 18 Yamaha was on another level on this night and in front of his family and friends, Lechien went unchallenged to win a race that might not have counted in the official AMA record books, but counted more than anyone could realize to the kid. On a bike that anyone could buy, Ronnie won the 1983 San Diego Supercross and then on that following Monday, went back to high school to resume classes.
What a night for Lechien and even though there was no help from the factory guys, it was quite a night for Yamaha as well as their production machine proved more than capable of winning at the highest level.
Would love to hear what they were all thinking right then!
Smith was always such a cool surfboard looking racer.
Pit Row
stock KTM or WP brand using Pankl Transmission and Connecting Rod and CP piston wouldnt be fair comparison to JAP bikes.....
reason being is the pros could ride the stock WP brand bikes using all of their potential.
on Jap bikes, They couldnt ride to FULL or MAX potential cause the: CLUTCH, Connecting Rod, Piston material would fade.... they would have to save the engine The ENTIRE Time everytime they rode.
*** CHECK PIT BITS FROM HIGH POINT NATIONAL (Jason Anderson #21's fork guards)****
Also they could not be confident going off the jump faces without a PANKL ROD, OR CARILLO ROD, CP, JE piston....
trust me i do it every weekend..... every jump face i hit im like "i hope it doesnt grenade right now" its sketchy AF...... Cant wait to be back on WP BIKE!!!!
Me as well! Look at the size of Marty compared to Bob 😲
Sounds like you should probably head to red bud next weekend.
The Short story, as-well as todays definition of “stock” drives me insane
his bike was “stock” in the sense that it didn’t have factory unobtanium, not “stock” that in the meaning of, no aftermarket parts, straight from the dealer.
I don't know... but my advice is to not mention Jon Roeder's name around her!
thought about it, idk maybe
This is coming from somebody that wants to build a CRF 150 because it's faster than the Australian bikes got to love vital🤪
Brent knows a thing or two about fielding a stock 250 (with only ECU, race fuel and some good suspension) against real factory bikes. (For all people down voting him)
In the 450 class its more a readability, Clément Desalle finished one heat in Washougal on the podium on a stock bike but coming back out the pack with a stock-bike after a not-so-great start like he had in the second heat is almost impossible. Christophe Pourcel won one or even a few GP's when he returned to Europe on an very stock Kawi bike. You've more chance to podium on a stock bike in supercross I guess, if you have good feeling with the suspension and the gearing is insync in with the ECU and race-fuel you can fight for podiums if you've the talent like Jett.
that time has passed.
David Bailey:
“I had big plans for the 1984 Carlsbad 500 GP. My bike was ludicris fast and I could put it wherever I wanted.
Broc Glover was riding a pile of crap air cooled YZ490 so I won just about every moto that year in the 500 nationals and wanted to crush the world at Carlsbad on ABC Wide World of Sports. I watched all the USGP’s as a kid since it was the only MX race on TV and couldn’t wait for the race. I went down to JT early and had an outfit made up custom. Since it was typically hot at Carlsbad, I had my pants made out of “lycra” instead of nylon and they were super light! Plus I had some USA stuff added and since the original trick Hang Ten bibs with the American flag had been replaced with some dorky bibs, I didn’t want to run one so JT put my number on the front of my chest protector. I was set.
My bike and gear were dialed and I was riding awesome and had been doing long motos in extreme heat to prepare. I qualified fastest by a couple seconds, holeshotted the first moto and had my chickens already counted. Then my rear wheel came apart while leading and it was over. In the second moto I decided to be more careful and waited until 10 minutes to go and grabbed the lead again, but a lap later I did a Sean Johnson tumbling run on the downhill. Luckily the bike didn’t hit me I would’ve been buried there. Some fans had gathered by the fence when I got up and feeling a little light headed I asked if anyone had anything to drink and a guy reached out to me with a beer in a plastic cup and said, “It’s not very cold though.” I drank it and everyone cheered. It was pretty funny.
As I took my final lap (slowly) that day I told myself the next time I came there I would respect the race, the track and Broc Glover, who ended up winning.
👍
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