Jeff Ward is Captain America

Motocross of Nations war stories with the winningest rider in Team USA history.

Jeff Ward had a plan. Until he got punched in the face. A Dutch punch, to be precise. Less than 10 seconds into the opening moto of the 1987 Motocross of Nations, Ward couldn’t see a thing.

A softball-sized glob of mud peeled off Kees Van der Ven’s rear tire and blasted Ward so hard in the head that his goggles–and the attached face guard–were knocked out of place. The lens dropped to his mouth and his eyes suffered another flurry of roost.

These were the goggles he painstakingly prepared the prior evening. They had a roll-off system and left and right tear offs overlaid, specifically placed to peel away the dirt collected in the first turn chaos.

Signature Series Art: Jeff Ward

His eye protection was completely obliterated.

Ward slowed, flung a fistful of mud off his face and attempted to straighten the goggles and mask. He desperately searched for the tear off tabs. Within one, maybe two seconds, he determined this was fruitless. He pulled the goggles down. They hung around his neck, completely useless.

The shrapnel kept coming.

His right eye, buried beneath the upstate New York muck, already stung. He squinted through his left eye while trying to control his KX500, navigate an almost unnavigable Unadilla MX course, and not lose any more positions to the other competitors, many of whom were much better mud riders than he was.

Ironically, Ward had told a television reporter before the race, “In the rain, goggles are really important. Make sure nothing happens to them; keep those on at all times.”

Ward saw his greatest fear coming true and he hadn’t reached the second corner; he was in jeopardy of being ‘that guy’, the member of Team USA that cost his entire country the win at the biggest race of the year. And for the first time in the race’s 40-year history, it was in the United States.

He would sacrifice his own eyesight before he disappointed the poncho-wearing American race fans who lined the fences in the relentless rain showers.

Why Jeff Ward is Captain America

Among all of Jeff Ward’s racing accolades, which earned him membership in both the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame (1999) and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2006), his nine appearances at the Trophee and Motocross of Nations as a member of Team USA rank high on the list of accomplishments for which he’s most proud.

Ward’s Trophee & MXoN Moto Finishes*

*Where he finished each moto, regardless of class.

When reviewing a rough draft of artwork in celebration of his Team USA tenure, he quickly pointed out missing event info at the bottom of the poster: the 1983 Trophee des Nations in Sverepec, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) and the 1984 Trophee race in Varberg, Sweden.

Ward’s motocross career includes a mostly forgotten era in international MX racing: before 1985, the Motocross of Nations was strictly a 500cc event. Each country sent four riders who competed all at once in a two moto format.

The Trophee happened in a different country, either one week before or after the MXoN. It had the same format, but riders competed on 250cc bikes.

Jeff Ward’s Finishes at the TdN*

*250cc event. All riders raced together.

They were scored separate yet, together, they were known as the “World Team Motocross Championships”. The original intent of the double weekend races was to celebrate the conclusion of the world motocross racing season.

Team USA first competed in the Trophee event in 1970 when three American Husqvarna riders just happened to be in Europe at the right time. They competed one rider short of a full roster and finished 13th, last place.

One year later Team USA competed in its first MXoN. For the rest of the 1970s, Team USA averaged fifth place but finished as high as second. In 1979 and 1980, America didn’t send a team at all.

Reasons aplenty.

In 1981, a trio of industry influencers reignited patriotic fervor over supporting Team USA and they whipped up interest and awareness, bake sale style. Motocross Action ran department blurbs literally asking its readers to send an $8 donation to the American Motorcyclist Association.

In early September, the all-Honda team of Donnie Hansen, Chuck Sun, Danny LaPorte and Johnny O’Mara won the Trophee des Nations in Belgium and then the Motocross of Nations a week later in West Germany.

Winning just one of the events was a breakthrough. Winning both was a shock to the international motocross world. And they did it again in 1982, also with an all Honda Team. Only the Belgians had ever won both races in the same year and never before had a country completed the double victory three years in a row.

This was a lengthy way of explaining that the Trophee des Nations, although gone for 40 years, was not a warm up race for the Motocross of Nations.

1981 Team USA Commemorative Artwork

For the riders on those teams, it was just as important of an event. In fact, during Ward’s first two Team USA years, the Trophee was the concluding event.

That’s why Ward gets the right to point out that his resume includes nine appearances at the World Team Championships. And he’s 9-0 as a member of Team USA. He has more appearances and wins than any rider in Team USA history.

Jeff Ward is Captain America.

Jeff Ward Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

With the mud-packed goggles swaying from his neck like a pendulum, Ward didn’t even consider stopping for fresh vision. Today he laughs and wonders out loud how long it really would have taken. Ten seconds? And it would have saved him a lot of pain.

But the Dutch and Belgian teams had, by far, the best mud riding talent in the world and the conditions suited them perfectly. It was as if they had imported the weather. It was barely mid-September yet the temperatures said mid-fall and it rained so much and for so long that the European advantage was impossible to ignore.

“It started off bad,” Ward said of his moto one start. About six riders darted by Ward while he made desperate attempts to improve his vision situation. Once he resigned himself to the fate of riding with one eye open, the other eye sealed shut, he went work. By the end of the third lap he was in 4th overall.

“Passing was tough,” he said. “I couldn’t just pull in behind and pass when I wanted. I had to try to blast by them to avoid the roost.” Ward admits mud wasn’t just a weakness for him. He didn’t like it at all. The tracks where he grew up riding closed when it rained.

He tapped into his youth trials experience. That was his dad’s chosen discipline and he knew if he relied on balance, stability and momentum, he’d be fine.

25% of Every Shirt Sold Goes to Team USA

Jeff Ward Has Been Here Before.

Unwearable goggles and impaired vision were hardly the biggest hardships Ward dealt with in nine races as a Team USA member.

While he never suffered a single DNF in these events, he raced motos he should have sat out, motos where he napped in the first turn, got gas or mud in his goggles, or soldiered through mechanical problems. He even once peed in a bag so his teammate had clean urine to submit for a drug test.

He raced amidst flying apples and hurled beer bottles and waves of spectators that coordinated group movement to block a faster line when Americans approached but then shuffled out of the way to open the racing line for a preferred rider.

He witnessed schoolyard tricks and straight sabotage. In 1985, Team USA drove 90 minutes to a practice track they had been invited to ride only to find a padlocked gate and a landlord who turned them away.

Another year, two KX500 motors seized during pre-race practice sessions because of what was later determined to be incorrect fuel from a trusted source. It put the team in a serious bind and they had to source a third motor from a factory in England.

Ward endured minor inconveniences, like riding bikes he had no experience on (1983 and 1988), traveling to Europe while still in the middle of his own championship battles (1989 and 1990) and decoding the yearly format changes that seemed to be aimed precisely at eliminating (or reducing) Team USA’s advantages.

Ward Combined Class Moto Fin. MXoN*

*This chart isolates Ward’s Motocross of Nations moto finishes with classes combined .

A Green Rider on a Green Machine

Ward’s resume as Captain America started in September 1983 when he went to Belgium for his first ever Motocross of Nations. It was his first time racing internationally and he had (almost) zero experience on a 500cc two stroke. In fact, he was stiltl trying to win a 125MX championship.

He figured out how to adapt and with 2-4 moto scores, proved himself a vital link to Team USA winning for a third year in a row. This trip included a voyage behind the Iron Curtain into Czechoslovakia where agents holding machine guns rifled through his gear bag.

A year later in Finland Ward crashed so hard in Saturday’s warm-up he wouldn’t have passed modern concussion protocols. He broke his helmet and didn’t even know where he was.

“I remember [track workers] asking if I was okay to ride back,” Ward recalled. “But then I couldn’t find my pit. So I was riding around and [the team] kind of found me and then brought me over.”

He spent the night in Rick Johnson’s hotel room as a precaution and continued to throw up and fight headaches all through race day.

“I wasn’t even with it,” Ward said. “Roger (De Coster) and the team were pretty concerned, but I’m like, f— it. I’m going to ride no matter what.” Miraculously, he led most of the first moto and finished second.

A first turn pileup in the second moto left he and David Bailey scrambling for every point. Ward’s fuel tank breather hose popped off in the crash and gasoline got into his goggles. He never got inside the top 20 and he wanted to pull in but he could see the urgency on the sidelines as the USA support team waved him on, encouraging him to keep charging.

When Andre Vromans’ forks collapsed, Team USA edged out the Belgians by simply staying on the track.

A week later in Sweden, at the last ever edition of the Trophee des Nations, Ward had what he called the greatest race of his life. He was so fast in practice that Team Manager, Roger De Coster asked him where he was cutting the track.

He went 1-1 in the two moto format despite his front tire falling apart at the end of the second race.

Motocross des ‘Abominations’

In 1985, the International Motorcycle Federation (FIM) completely overhauled the World Team Championships format, condensing three events into the one event, one weekend extravaganza we now call the Motocross of Nations. A 125cc event called Coupe des Nations, which first ran in 1980, was combined with the Motocross and Trophee races.

This was NOT well received by the media. The very bold headline in Motocross Action’s coverage called it “Motocross des Abominations”.

Ward CLASS Finishes at MXoN*

*Before 1985, all riders were on 500s, thus in the same class. This chart is where he finished in the class he raced.

Esteemed European journalist Jack Burnicle had warned of this format change a year earlier when he eviscerated the decision in a commentary: “It is another sad case of a simple, straight-forward challenge being deemed inadequate for the avaricious, techno-flash ‘80s. Once upon a time… these were prestigious, hotly contested events, which put a cap on the World Championship season. Nowadays, host countries are hard to find, organizers don’t want to get involved and riders find little motivation to compete. National fervor has faded from motocross.”

That paragraph was written in 1984.

Artwork: Jeff Ward @ MXoN

So in 1985, each participating country sent three riders (instead of four) to Gaildorf, West Germany, one for each motorcycle displacement, and they competed in three motos, all at the same time. With over 60 riders racing at once, it was a crowded start. None of the Americans won a moto but Ward was top 250 rider each time out.

As he handed out the bottles of champagne on the podium, the German announcer yelled, “Even a change in the format could not keep the Americans from winning.”

Captain America’s Final Stretch.

In 1988 Ward voluntarily threw himself into an unfamiliar situation by riding a KX125 in France. He still had regrets about turning down an offer to ride for the 1986 team on a 125. In front of an extremely partisan crowd of 40,000, Ward went up against the new 125cc World Champion, Jean-Michel Bayle and beat him, finishing 2-1 in the 125 class and 6-8 overall on a very fast course.

In 1989 Ward was back in Gaildorf, along with first-time Team USA members Jeff Stanton and Mike Kiedrowski. They still had four rounds remaining in the AMA Pro Motocross championship season. Ward and Stanton battled for the 500cc title when they lined up as teammates in Europe.

Ward won the first moto, the one and only time he ever won a moto on a 500 in the event. In the second moto, he fell twice, hitting his head in one of the crashes. He knew Team USA already had the win so he cruised to 15th. Team USA’s first four scores were so low, they didn’t even need to ride the third and final moto.

Ward’s final MXoN appearance came in 1990 in Vimmerby, Sweden. It was an every-point-needed situation because 125 rider Damon Bradshaw had crashed out. In the event’s final moto, Ward lost the oil in his shock on lap three. “It was just a pogo stick and I just hung on for dear life,” he said. Unfortunately, that was Ward’s last ever moto at the Motocross of Nations.

Only the top four scores counted so he stayed on the track and literally bounced around to a 17th place. Stanton’s aggressive late race passes earned Team USA the win by a single point.

“Every one of those races was stressful.”

In the 19 motos Ward raced in his nine Team USA appearances, he finished top 5 overall 13 times and top 10 in 16 of those starts. This despite riding each displacement at least once, in formats that changed seemingly every year, and on tracks he had never ridden.

“Every one of those races was stressful,” Ward said, after reliving them all while sitting at his kitchen table in Newport Beach, Calif. “We had to learn the track they had raced so many times. To beat those guys, it’s not easy. There were years I thought I was hauling ass in practice and I was like 14th fastest and every guy in front of me I had never heard of in my life. [It was] probably the most stressful event out of all the AMA nationals I raced. Because you didn’t want to be that guy.”

The guy that costs the team the Peter Chamberlain trophy, that is.

“I could fall down and get a fourth at an AMA national moto and get second overall and I’m fine with that. But if I fall down during the Motocross des Nations and we lose the championship?” he trails off, not wanting to even think about what the riders who came after him must have gone through. The ones that didn’t win, that is.

Ward’s time on Team USA fell in the middle of America’s now legendary unbeaten era. Between 1981 and 1993 Team USA won 17 straight Motocross and Trophee des Nations races. And in the middle of that was Unadilla and 1987, the first time the event visited America.

1987 is the One That Scared Him the Most.

When he pulled the cover off the artwork designed and printed in his honor, Ward launched into a story about riding KX500s.

“Way too much power,” he said as he signed his name in silver Sharpie. “The stock bike, you couldn’t even ride that bike. It was horrible.” This is Jeff Ward, who integrated Olympic weightlifting into his training program and could squat 450-lbs. Announcer Larry Huffman liked to say he was ‘built like a piano.’

So he is human after all. The childhood version of this writer is crushed.

Ward started riding the 500MX class in AMA competition in 1985 so he had three years of development and testing time with Kawasaki by the time he went to New York for the 1987 MXoN.

To make the bike’s power more manageable, they used a heavier crank and flywheel. Ward said that enabled him to roll on the throttle without the bike pulling his arms out of his shoulder sockets. “It would slowly ramp up and I could run third gear a lot more.”

This intimate knowledge of how to handle a half-liter two stroke motorcycle was useful on Sept. 13, 1987 because, in addition to the deep mud and even deeper level of competition, he was blind in one eye and found it painful to even blink with the other eye. “I got hit with so much mud in the right eye I couldn’t open it,” Ward said. “It was hard to blink (my left eye) because when I blinked it moved the right eye.”

Ward’s eye wasn’t just covered. Grains of dirt and small pebbles had worked their way underneath his eyelids. That’s why all the photos taken during this first moto show him grimacing.

A few laps into the moto, Ward battled 500 World Motocross Champ, Georges Jobe for third. Because he had no eye protection, he had to keep away from the wake of mud thrown from Jobe’s CR500. The search for creative passing lines led Ward into a berm that nearly swallowed his front end. “The front wheel just disappeared,” he told Cycle News’ Kit Palmer. “The suction in the mud was so bad.”

Jobe, a Belgian, went on to win the moto. Dutchman Kees Van der Ven was second on his KTM 500. After getting his bike pulled out of the mud, Ward resolved to just get to the finish. He crossed the line in third. Bob Hannah, riding a Suzuki RM125, finished 9th overall, fourth in the 125 class.

Scarily, Team USA was three points down on the Dutch and Belgians, who were tied for first overall after moto one.

Ward headed for the ambulance to get his eyes flushed. “That was the painful part, trying to clean it all out,” he said. “They had these squirter things that go in your eyes. It was just so raw.”

When Jeff Ward lined up for his final moto, he swapped his full length facemask with a stubby one that covered only his nose.

In the first corner, he yielded to his teammate, Ricky Johnson, avoided getting slammed in the head again with mud and spent the next 30 minutes-plus making sure the math worked out in America’s favor.

And it did. Because it always did when Jeff Ward put the stars and stripes on his helmet.