Vintage Iron Project - Jeff Ward Interview (1984 Championship Works Kawasaki) 

Wardy's amazing.......incredible champ

Kawasaki is forever indebted to Jeff Ward.

The 1984 125 National series was epic! Ward and O'Mara banged bars the entire year. I saw them at the Colorado round and those two couldn't have been further apart than 2 bike lengths the entire race, and swapped the lead back and forth. Some of the best racing I've ever seen!

I bought the 84 production bike brand new $1795.00 no Kips just a raw jug and piston... No quick change clutch cover you had to remove the whole side casing off of the motor to service the clutch That was grossly under engineered, Rear drum break no disk ..rear disk finally came in 86.. Overall great handling machine lots of fond memories...

One of the cleanest looking bikes ever, love the style. Wards white Sinisalo gear from that year matched the bike perfectly too. The unpainted pipe, the simple Kawasaki on the green tank. Love it, thanks guys.

Jeff is one of the greatest to ever do it and a true ambassador for the sport. He is a incredible human being and fierce competitor.

All time favorite rider!!!

Interesting hearing Ward talk about the details you simply never heard about by reading the popular magazines of the time. They'd make you think the factory teams always had every minute detail figured out to a T. I remember seeing that 1984 SR125 in those magazines and thought it looked good, styling-wise. Still looks good. Watched Jeff race at Southwick from 1987-onward. Good times back then.

Wardy was freakin' great on a 125. I saw him win Lake Whitney in '83. Incredible style and speed.

Finally!!...Jeff Ward, Glasgow Scotland!! Awesome 💯💯💯💯

Iconic Bike and rider.

Jeff Ward was my favorite rider for so many years until he retired from racing. I didn't have cable but I did have a subscription to Cycle News. It was always exciting to get a new issue every week and read of the 84 nationals

This is exactly what I need to start my Saturday morning here in Sydney Australia 🇦🇺. Drinking coffee ☕️ and watching these awesome videos

Great stories from one of the greatest. Was so loyal to Kawasaki & stuck with them through his pro career.

Jeff Ward, I started following you in mini bikes way back in the early 70s. You may be the reason I started to ride.

I started racing as a kid in 1985 and not going to lie, I was a Kawasaki guy mostly because of this guy and having magazine cutouts on my bedroom wall. The way he man handled the KX500 was incredible for his size. Got to meet him a few times at the Silverdome and he was always so nice to a star struck kid. 👍👍

1984 kx 125cc was my first 125cc bike. The aluminum front fender brace stood out on that bike. I believe that was the only year that had the brace.

The thing that really sticks out is that Wardy is so responsible for Kawasaki's success today. Such a great ambassador for the brand and sport. I don't think I've ever heard an interview where someone has bad things to say about Wardy.

A million thumbs up!

Wow!! Thanks ping!! This is AWSOME

Ping you bring out some of the coolest stories …

Friggin great stories by Wardy! Awesome days.

Saw him at Southwick in 88 and his mechanic was changing his back tire, I asked him if I could have it and he rolled it my way, I said thank you very much and jeff said no problem, I wound up putting it on my 86 DMC KX 125 one of the best days ever.

Wardy is a TRUE TRUE legend..........

I remember that dual of death series when it stopped off at Red Bud. They went at it!!

Ward is my guy !!!🤗

The Kawasaki was the best looking bike and still is.

It would be interesting to hear O'Mara's take on all this.

I just watched your other video with Rick Johnson. This is just my opinion sir, I take my hats off to this guys of their batch, Bailey, O Mara, Hannah, Ward! Bell and of course guys like Marty Smith, "God Bless his soul", you know their batch from the 70s' and down. Why? Because in their day it was just man and machine, no software in between to aide them to have an easy bike to ride. Unlike today where in bikes are computer aided in between rider and machine. Yes, it has more power but this four strokes can never replace the legacy that two strokes have brought to the sport and of course the this guys of the two stroke era. Thanks for this video, throws back memories of yesterday.

Wardy is the man!

Awesome awesome awesome! So cool to hear an interview with Jeff Ward, one of the best and probably not as highly regarded as he should be.

Fun guy. Remember when he raced and dominated mini's at Irwindale Friday Nights!

AwEsOmE 'tales from Wardy 💥...THX, Ping 🏁

Epic interview, everything he said was new to me. No internet back then, it so interesting hearing his story.

Let The Good Times Roll! Thank you gentlemen, really special interview! p.s., Ping, The Whiskey Throttle T-Shirts are excellent, just received my order of two shirts.

That was really great!!! Thank you so much.

Amazing season and Wary is Legend ✊👍 I swear Wardy could b Pings Older Brother from a looks perspective 😆🤣.. Appreciate this fellas ✌️😉

Great job Ping and Wardy

love the air on race day air even comes through magazine most months

First time I saw Jeff race he was on a XR 75 in west Virginia . What a career he had. Now we're in our 60s. Wow does life fly by.

Racing a kx125 in 76 I know what it felt like to be the only green bike!

You all do a great job, thank you!

This is so cool! Thx

As Ward and Lechien were sitting at a card table signing Team Kawasaki posters at the 1988 Seattle Supercross, I was about to be escorted out of the pits when one of them said "it's fine!" or "he's fine!" so the guy backed off and they both signed a poster for me. I always figured it was Lechien since he was such a maniac, but I really don't know. What I do know is I've always appreciated it (and I still have the poster).

I was at the 1987 Hangtown outdoor national and remember seeing Ward ride up on Johnson from behind after practice...Ward took him by surprise and gave an aggressive "I'm No. 1!" hand signal. Johnson did not flinch.

Exelent rider, I saw Jeff many times

Has Johnny O'Mara been on this show yet? If not, you should ask him to come on. I bet that guy has a ton of good stories.

Awesome interview, Jeff's the man

I like the way it has a fender number plate thing that was so cool I wish they still had that.

Back in the day Wardy was why I raced with a KX250, same year, '84. It was a rocket, the power band unmatched by the competitors.

Excellent ,this stuff is pure

Great interview!

Saw him at the Oakland supercross when he was 16-17.

I'll Never forget the last 500 Nationals where he's sailed to the win at Steel City like floating on air smooth

Wardy was a legendary racer

He was my hero back in the day.....in 1980 i had their first ever KX125 A6 with uni-track suspension, was amazing but.the motor sucked, the following year they brought out the A7 and that thing was the dogz bollox...

I remember back around 85? on a supermarket magazine shelf Wardy on a front cover supercross night shot, one finger on the clutch, bottom of the bike like brand new. looked bigger than life. can never find that photo on the web.

On any Sunday.Wheelie king.

Jeff is one of my favorite motocross racers/World Champions...I was a pretty accomplished rider as a kid too, mini bikes, enduros, trials competitions, a little flat track and a pretty heavy dose of motocross riding a sponsored YZ125 (Island Yamaha, Merritt Island Fl.) in the expert class around Florida for my Jr./Sr. year in H.S. But my chief claim to fame is the only time I raced Jeff (100cc class at The Orlando Sports Stadium track) I beat him. I had excellent start skills and was always 1st or 2nd to the first turn. I beat Jeff to the first turn and finished 2nd. I am not sure where Jeff finished but he wasn't on the podium. After the race his dad came down and looked at our bike and I heard him tell my Dad that i was the first person to beat Jeff to the 1st turn in a long time. i was a skinny kid, probably 128 lbs and was riding the new Yamaha YZ 100. Jeff was riding what we all took to be some sort of factory Honda. They arrived in a big RV with factory Honda racing signs all over it. they definitely looked like a factory team. We just hung the YZ on a motorcycle carrier on the back of my Dad's Mercedes. My Dad was my wrench and a damn good one as he was a Rocket Engineer out Cape Canaveral. Of course, Jeff went on to be a great multi World Champion and i went to Engineering College (a retired Aerospace Engineer with Lockheed Martin).

G ! O ! A ! T ! GOAT !!!!

Ping, now you gotta get Myerscough 🤘🤘🤘🤘

Watching him battle Ricky Johnson through the under pass of the finish line. At the Silverdome in 1986 ❤💪🙏🇺🇲

Ward was a great competitor 👍

Integrated power valve...yeah baby!!!

I watched him go one one in Gainesville. surprised he said the production bike was junk in 84, that 84 KX 125 was a ripper, maybe he was referring to the 83.

Hearing how initially the Kawasaki was underdeveloped, overweight, and the effort required to get the bike sorted out with Japan. How many more championships could Ward have won if he was riding for Honda through the years.

Ward looked great testing the 89 kx125 production snail at palm Ave. Kawasaki never delivered a good enough bike.

Loved you at unadilla and broome tioga

Like the small shows bring the DG Riders out from the 70s

Class guy..

Just think what Jeff would of done on a CR

A real bike.

The Flyin Freckle

👍👍 🔥

One of the great's!????

S A N O

Paydirt

what happened to his scottish accent?

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The Golden State nationals were awesome. He is right everyone showed up . The 84 kx 125 had some low end power but fell flat after that, the frames broke all the time too. Wards bike is sick though. The Hondas were way better in 84 85 85 87 .

2pac amd biggie phrase.. zero context with this whole convo and category.. you ruined it.

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