From Motocross, to Indy cars and now Supermoto, 45 year old Jeff Ward is still winning big. It is crazy to think that a 45 year old guy can beat all the younger guys that are in their prime, but he just keeps on winning. the AMA racing site has a good article about the Supermoto championship and Ward that is worth reading. Maybe it will inspire you to get out and get going again! It inspired me for sure.
Having already locked up the 2006 AMA Supermoto Championship in the day’s opening moto at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Jeff Ward was free to push as hard as he liked in the year’s final race and show the field exactly what he was capable of.
The result was a flag-to-flag victory over season runner-up Doug Henry on the Graves Motorsports Yamaha, as the 45 year-old motorsports legend closed out an epic season in fine style — redemption for the crushing defeat he suffered in last year’s AMA Supermoto season finale.
Afterwards, a reflective Ward spoke extensively about the race, the season, his career, and the future.
After taking the last checkered flag of the year, Ward said, “I think I could have won the first one too. Burkhart was fast but I kind of had to play it conservative and then the lappers got in the way and he closed up and the lappers got in the way and he got by. This is the type of track you can’t pass on so I would have been able to control it. Even though he was the quickest guy most of the weekend, when the race comes I seem to be able to step it up a little bit and be a little more consistent with my lap times…
When asked if he ever dreamed he would experience a season like this (Motorsports Hall of Fame induction, X-Games Gold, second career AMA Supermoto title) at the age of 45, Ward laughed. “Not at this level — maybe at the local motocross in the 45 class. To race against the caliber of Doug and (Mike) Metzger and Fillmore and (Jurgen) Kunzel and (Mark) Burkhart — all the guys — to be able to run that speed at my age is…
“I don’t know why I can do it; I still feel good about it. Until that time comes where I’m a little nervous about pushing it, then I’ll end up running seconds and thirds until that’s no fun and then I’ll be done. But I like winning so much I don’t think I could have fun finishing third or fourth.
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