On Saturday, 43-year-old Jeff Ward claimed the eighth AMA Championship of his long career, taking the 2004 AMA Supermoto Series title with a win at the AMA Red Bull Supermoto A-Go-Go in Las Vegas. This result is even more impressive when you consider the fact that many of his competitors had yet to be born back when Ward first turned pro in 1977. In fact, a couple of the racers in the AMA Supermoto series were probably still in diapers when Ward claimed his first AMA Championship, winning the 125cc National Motocross title in 1984.
Ward was one of the nation’s top motocross racers in the 1980s, winning one 125cc National Motocross title (1984), two 250cc National Motocross titles (1985, 1988), two 250cc Supercross titles (1985, 1987), and two 500cc National Motocross titles (1989, 1990). When Ward retired from professional motocross in 1990, he had 20 career supercross wins, 54 national wins, and had served on the winning U.S. team at the Motocross des Nations seven times.
Ward left the world of motocross for almost 10 years to pursue open-wheel automobile racing, earning podium finishes in some of the most competitive series in the country. But motorcycles were in Jeff Ward’s blood, and he came out of retirement to race the AMA Supermoto series with the Troy Lee Designs team last year.
