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US
Ummmm . . . Brad?
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Honda should have let Bimbo say in Europe and race the 250 MXGPs when they hired him for 77.
Pioneers of motocross right there!
It's pretty bloody strange that Matthes did not include Lackey - I thought, "what's the OP going on about with Brad front and Center in the picture", then I went through Steve's listings.
I don't know, maybe Matthes was going for those who were contracted to American Honda, and Brad wasn't? He may have been a Honda Japan / Europe signed rider?
I guess I'm trying to 'logic' an 'out' for Matthes on this seeming snub to Brad Lackey.
But, there he is, Right in Front of an American Honda Team picture that the OP put up.
Some of those guys are in pretty weird spots. How does Micky Dymond rank below Kiedrowski and Lechien when he has 2 125 titles to their 1 each?
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Brad has been overlooked and disrespected by American media or some of it for a while it seems.
Right about here is where Joe Newman would post a picture of that works 78ish RC500 he had and I wish he were here to do it.
Brad never raced a Honda in the US. That seems to be the criteria.
He raced Trans Ama's, and USGPs - winning a moto the same year Pomeroy did. {Edit: wrong on that, he was leading the other moto when he and DeCoster crashed - Rodger's "I am damned here" Carlsbad moment I think).
Marty gets credited for his GP stuff.
He's in the bloody Team Honda photo.
I’ve got an awesome picture of that bike from the ‘78 British GP I took on my Kodak Instamatic when I was 10 at my parents house :-) .
Brad winning a race in the US on a factory Honda.
Little story . . . my buddy (expert) and I (novice) hit an early January 1977 race at Hollister, a virgin grass track where the GP later took place. Heavy hitters from NorCal are there, including Brad getting some work in on his factory Honda just after leaving Husqvarna. 500 experts raced right after my 250 novice moto. Brad is waiting 5 feet behind me for the "gate" (runner band start) I had. So, when I blasted off the line, I can truthfully say I have roosted a World Champion. 😂
Brad Lackey was my American hero.
Im with you, but I think the criteria for Mathis is nationals or supercross. I don’t think he rode either on a Honda.
I was there at that race. Farliegh Castle, Trowbridge. I've even talked to Roger about it. He lost most of his front spokes and kept on riding. That cliff drop was just stupid.
It does seem kind of odd that Lackey would be in that picture, doesn’t it? Maybe they had planned on him riding some of the Nationals when he wasn’t racing GPs? Or maybe he was supported by the American Honda team for the Trans-AMA races so that’s why he’s included in the picture?
It definitely looks like it’s “Team American Honda” other than Lackey, but Whitelock might have been a GP guy at the time also.
Joe and Brad with said bike, Diamond Don’s 04/16
^^^^that is the all time sexiest bike in mx history.
It doesn't really seem kind of odd to me. He's an American on Team Honda, geared the same as the other American Team Honda riders, in a Team Honda press package photo. The photo speaks for itself.
No doubt 77-78 GPs were his primary assignment, but he raced stateside for the Trans AMA. If one wants to exclude Trans AMA rounds in the US - which had been a bigger deal than the nationals - fine. But it seems to be missing the forest for the trees to split that hair and make no mention of Brad whatsoever, nothing, when there's an official Team Honda publicity photo including him as part of Team Honda with the rest of the US riders.
An interesting bit of history might be when HRC separated out European GP for teams. Pretty sure Lackey and Noyce were the first Honda factory riders to do GPs exclusively in 1977, the year after Smitty ran both the 125 nationals and GPs in 76 (Karsmakers may have won a Canadian GP overall before 77, but he was a US based rider) The Honda two stroke MX program really evolved out of US racing before they took on the GPs full bore.
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