hen Ron Lechien was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in December, it was primarily a result of his 26 AMA Supercross/Pro Motocross race wins, his two FIM Motocross des Nations triumphs, his 1985 AMA 125 National Motocross Championship, and his record as the youngest rider ever to win an FIM 250cc Grand Prix. But for Lechien, who hailed from El Cajon, California, the one win that might most epitomize his mercurial career came in a race that you won’t find in the record books.
The 1983 San Diego Supercross took place on November 5 at the old Jack Murphy Stadium. The race was not a part of the ’83 AMA/Wrangler Supercross Championship, which had ended in August at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. Instead, the San Diego race was the final round of an offshoot tour, somewhat clunkily called the CMC/Miller High Life Supercross Trans-Cal Series, which combined several Golden State motocross races with a couple of CMC-sanctioned stadium rounds.
Despite it not being an AMA-sanctioned event, the San Diego finale still brought out Team Honda’s David Bailey, Johnny O’Mara, and Goat Breker, Kawasaki’s Jeff Ward, Suzuki’s Scott Burnworth, and Yamaha factory riders Broc Glover and Rick Johnson.
The 16-year-old Lechien, who had just completed his first season as a professional, was supposed to be with his Yamaha factory teammates, but the week before the race, he signed a new contract with Team Honda, voiding the last two years of his Yamaha deal after the company announced it would be using production bikes in 1984 rather than works bikes. His move infuriated the brand that had been grooming him for years. Yamaha was so unhappy with Lechien’s unexpected departure that they recalled his race bikes and basically told him his services were not needed for the San Diego race.
El Cajon is a suburb of San Diego, and Lechien was determined to race in Jack Murphy Stadium for the first time, so he and his father, Dick, went out and bought a stock 1984 Yamaha YZ250L off the showroom floor from the local Lucky Yamaha. They then reached out to Pro Circuit for some modified parts. The Lechiens also asked then-Scott USA goggle rep Bevo Forti, a former Yamaha factory mechanic, to help spin wrenches for the Dogger.
After winning his heat race, Lechien lined up for the final in front of an estimated 36,000 fans. He nailed the start and took off with the holeshot on the store-bought bike ahead of Ward, Johnson, Bailey, and the rest of the factory riders. He would never be passed on what most described as a fairly easy racetrack.
“Luckily, I grabbed the holeshot, and that was [all] I needed,” Lechien told Cycle News’ Kit Palmer after his convincing win over former Yamaha teammate Johnson and soon-to-be Honda teammate Bailey. “I knew the start would be critical. I got a good one, so I tried to ride conservative and not crash the rest of the race.”
Lechien’s unlikely win put Yamaha in a difficult spot. He’d proved how good their standard offerings were, but his imminent departure and the circumstances of his using the mostly stock bike were sore spots for the brand. So the company tried to thread the needle with a Cycle News win ad where the headline asked, “Still wondering if the 1984 YZs are fast enough for you?” They ran photos of Broc Glover and Rick Johnson at San Diego and listed the brand as a winner, but left Lechien’s name and likeness off the ad altogether.
As if the farewell win on a store-bought bike wasn’t enough of a last laugh, Lechien also appeared on the cover of that week’s Cycle News. Actually, that was a win for both the rider and the brand. 