Tell Us a Story, Ron Lechien

This is Ronnie’s second time around for this but really, can you ever get tired of Ron Lechien stories? I can’t.

“This was from Daytona 1989 and it’s a race that I should’ve won. It was a heartbreaker, I got a killer start man, I was just like Burner (Scott Burnworth) where I got out front fast. I think Stanton was right behind me. About five or six laps into it, Stanton started closing in on me and I relaxed and pulled back out into the lead. Everything was going good for me, I liked the track that day and my bike was working great. I remember after the finish line this year there was a little step-up thing that I could get all the way over that the other guys couldn’t. I hit it the first lap and gapped the guys a bit and then just rode away. I don’t remember much from the heat race or anything but I must’ve been on it, that track suited me well.

I think it was the next to last lap, I was going over a step-up and the bike just died. It was all of a sudden as I was going for the step-up and I was like ‘Aw shit’- it was weird, I had never felt anything like that before. The power valve gear had melted and it stuck shut. I just had no power anymore and that was it. I had to just ride around with no power and nurse the bike around the track. It was running but could barely make it around. If the bike had some sort of power, I probably could’ve nursed it around for at least a podium as me and Stanton were pretty far out front. But there was nothing there and Ronnie Tichenor ended up getting me and I got fourth. I was always pretty good at Daytona because it made you kind of improvise a bit out there and because I was taller and could really work the bike, I was feeling it there. There are always rolling whoops and deep ruts that helped me out.

I got a third at Daytona in 1985, that was the best I ever did and I was never able to win one. It wasn’t that big of a deal at the time because you always think, they’ll be another one next year but now, years later, I really regret losing that race. The tradition of Daytona and all that is cool and just to be in the record books as a past winner would’ve been great. Every year that race comes around I think about 1989. I just feel it in my heart, like ‘Oh god, that one got away’. I had their number that year for sure. Not sure why these things happen but they do. My bike actually broke a couple of times this year and cost me the win.

This whole week everybody usually stayed back and tested because the opening national was Gainesville the week before or after so I hadn’t really gone out much because I was on the road. I just stayed away from everybody and everything and I was cleaned out somewhat before the race. Check out that mullet! I was flying it strong and I used to like having that thing out the back, it was kinda cool to have that piece of hair flying out the back! I used to love the JT kidney belts also, you can see there is nothing to them, just a small piece of mesh. I loved this gear I’m wearing, I dig this photo and my whole look was pretty good. That’s a Troy Lee helmet that I still have to this day. That “Kawasaki” on the legs was cool, they kind of stopped doing that in the mid-80’s and we had to get it on special. All the OEM’s threatened to sue or something like for using the name on the pants. Check out the Maxima sticker on the back fender, that’s a nice placement! I never did the decals on the bike but when I was Honda I would do it. I used to like to sticker up my bikes, I still do it to this day.

Look at the conventional forks on there, we ran upside-down forks in supercross earlier this year so I’m not sure why I have the conventional on in this picture. I remember we ran upside down forks at Seattle supercross earlier this year and they were flexing so bad, the brake disc was hitting the caliper. It was locking up and we couldn’t figure out why it was doing that. I suppose if I went testing a little more, we might’ve figured that out sooner! That was scary but maybe because these forks were on the bike because Daytona is more outdoor-ish. I liked this bike and got along with it pretty good. I wish I could’ve rode the next years bike as it was killer and I really liked the 500 these years also. It was a good bike.

This was my last factory year, kind of the demise of me really. I broke my leg later on at Steel City. I should’ve won Charlotte and Oklahoma this year as well as another 500 national where I was leading in the second moto and my bike broke. I did win Troy 250 national and Pontiac SX so it wasn’t a total write-off. Also I won the 500 USGP. I was in there but the ending kind of sucked, it was all coming to a head and I wish I could say I got my shit together and came back strong but it wasn’t to be. There were a bunch of younger kids coming up like Bradshaw, Keidrowski and Larocco that were really good. Kawi had a five man team that next year and there was no room for me although they did offer me a ride for the 500 nationals in 1990 but I hadn’t really ridden very much and my leg was still hurting me. Plus I was still partying a lot and wasn’t in any kind of racing shape. I didn’t have my shit together but in 1991 I came back with TUF for the 500 nationals.”