MX champions return to the track

Jammin' Jimmy Weinert, Ron "The Dogger" Lechien, Rick "Bad Boy" Johnson, John "The Flyin' Hawaiian" DeSoto, Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen and several more motocross legends from nearly every era of competition returned to the vintage motocross track today at VMD.

The Motocross Race of Champions honoring Tony DiStefano put all these MX heroes on the track together in an all-out race on classic vintage machines.

Riding bikes with, at most, seven inches of travel up front and four in the rear, some of these past champions were on period machines from their pro racing days. For others, the classic bikes were considered vintage even when they were in their prime.

At the end of the one-moto event, it was one of the younger riders in the crowd, seven-time AMA national champion Rick Johnson, who came out on top with a last-lap pass on early leader Billy Liles.

"Billy relaxed a little bit, didn't know I was there, and I stuck a wheel on him and kind of surprised him," Johnson said after the race. "It was just an honor to be out there with all these champions. They're all heroes in my mind. It was great to ride with The Dogger again, with Weinert, with Billy. It was a blast."

Johnson said there was no holding back on the track.

"We were going really, really fast," he said. "It was to the point where I was giving it everything I had to try and catch the guy."

Lechien, who got third, said that while vintage racing is a blast, that doesn’t make it easy.

"It’s just old school, grit-your-teeth kind of riding," Lechien says. "You have to pick your lines a little better, and watch out for the brakes. A couple times I got going so fast that I couldn’t get the bike slowed down."