1983 supercross ron lechien yamaha yz250 1980

For the 1983 season, Team Yamaha hired a 16-year-old kid from El Cajon, California, named Ron Lechien to contest the AMA 125cc National MX Championship Series.

Lechien had turned 16 in December of 1982, less than a month before the season-opening Anaheim Supercross.

1983 supercross ron lechien yamaha yz250 1980

Back then there was no AMA 125cc East/West Regional —it would arrive in 1985—so Yamaha decided to keep their young rider on the sidelines until he got some supercross practice in.

“Atlanta was my very first supercross,” says Lechien, who today works with his father, Dick Lechien, at Maxima in El Cajon.

“We were concentrating on the 125cc Nationals that year and Yamaha kept me out of the first three races. I don’t think they wanted to throw me to the wolves too early!

“Atlanta was just the full-on mudder,” says Lechien, who was affectionately referred to as “Dogger” not for only his laid-back attitude, but also because Lechien means “the dog” in French.

“I rode the last-chance qualifi