In 1986 David Bailey’s battle with Rick Johnson at the Anaheim Supercross will go down in history as one of the all-time races in history. It was the first year of the production rule where the factories were forced to run showroom based machinery. Honda had hired Ricky Johnson away from Yamaha and internally, Honda was ‘electric’ with the in-team rivalry and their new equipment that was not in the same hemisphere as the radically advanced works machines they piloted in ’85. Still, they knew that the bike was sound, their team strong and David, by all reason was the team leader with a supercross title in ’83, and 500cc titles in ’84 and ’86. His new nemesis gave David the race of the century at Anaheim, with Bailey taking the win. This photo is from the San Diego round where David had a tough night, finishing 5th, where his teammate RJ won. Johnson took the Supercross title that year with four wins.
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