During his nine-year career as a pro motocross racer, Mike
Kiedrowski won championships as easily as he did fans. Between 1988
and 1997, he was a four-time AMA National Motocross Champion. In
addition to his titles, Kiedrowski’s career included nine top-five
season finishes in motocross and six top-five season finishes in AMA
Supercross. He was one of only two riders in AMA Motocross history
to win the "hat trick" of 125cc, 250cc and 500cc AMA Motocross
National Championships. Kiedrowski was also a member of four U.S.
Motocross des Nations teams. Three of those were victorious. After
motocross, Kiedrowski moved to racing off-road events for Suzuki. He
was a member of the 2003 U.S. ISDE team that went to Brazil, where
he earned a Gold Medal.
Kiedrowski was born on January 13, 1969, and was raised in Canyon
Country, California. His father was a desert racer and a young Mike
grew up riding off road at an early age. He first entered motocross
races when he was just 7 years old and became a member of Kawasaki’s
amateur racing program called Team Green. The dedication of
Kiedrowski’s parents, Dan and Jean Kiedrowski, paid off and Mike was
ready to launch his pro career. In 1987 and ’88, Kiedrowski raced a
few AMA Motocross Nationals and AMA 125cc Supercross races with Team
Green and showed great promise. In AMA 125 West Supercross, he even
managed to score podium results in 1988 and finished the year ranked
runner-up in that regional championship, making Kiedrowski one of
the top prospects in the country.
Kiedrowski’s mechanic, Shane Nalley, came up with the "MX Kied"
nickname that would stick with Mike for the rest of his career.
Honda hired Kiedrowski in 1989 and the combination was an immediate
success. He won three 125cc nationals en route to earning the AMA
125 Motocross Championship in his first full season in the series.
Interestingly, his bike wore the distinctly amateur-looking number
of 762 in 1989. He would wear the No. 1 the following season. Also
in 1989 he finished a close second in the AMA 125 East Supercross
Series, just a single point behind rival Damon Bradshaw.
Kiedrowski explained his rapid rise from up-and-comer to national
champion in a single season. "I think riding with Honda and training
with teammates like Rick Johnson and Jeff Stanton helped my speed
and endurance," Kiedrowski said.
His first national victory came at the Gatorback National in
Gainesville, Florida, in March of 1989.
"It was a great feeling to win my first national," Kiedrowski
remembers. "I couldn’t believe I’d done it. Mitch Payton and Bones
[Jim Bacon] from Pro Circuit were there celebrating and were really
excited for me. I’ll never forget it."
Kiedrowski and Bradshaw had an epic battle for the 125cc title in
‘89 and Kiedrowski came out on top by three points over his Yamaha
rival to earn his first national title.
In 1990, Kiedrowski had an equally exciting championship battle in
the 125s against Suzuki’s Guy Cooper. This time it was Kiedrowski
who came up just one point short of defending his title, despite
making a dramatic late-season charge, winning three of the last four
races. In the 1990 AMA Supercross Series, Kiedrowski made the move
to the premier 250 class and finished the season ranked fourth.
Kiedrowski moved back to Kawasaki in 1991. There, he got revenge on
Cooper by beating him for the 1991 AMA 125 Motocross Championship.
It marked Kiedrowski’s second title in the class and brought the
championship back to Kawasaki for the first time in seven years.
In 1992, the "MX Kied" moved up to the 500cc Motocross class and won
that title, in another close contest, by three points over Jeff
Stanton. In the 250 class he finished runner-up to Stanton.
The 1993 season proved to be an historic one for Kiedrowski. He won
six of the eight 250cc nationals that year on his way to earning his
fourth AMA national title. That gave Kiedrowski a rare feat – a
championship in each of the major motocross categories of the day:
125, 250, and 500cc. He became only the second rider in AMA racing
history to accomplish that. Jeff Ward was the other.
"The year before I’d won some 250 nationals so I knew I was capable
of winning that championship," Kiedrowski said. "In 1993, Kawasaki
had a great motorcycle and Mike LaRocco and I were sort of checking
out at every national. I wrapped up the championship with one race
to go. It was a big thing to win all three championships. Back in
the day Jeff Ward had been such a dominant rider and to come along
be the only other rider to match his record was pretty cool."
Kiedrowski also had his most successful Supercross season in 1993,
by finishing runner-up in the championship to Jeremy McGrath. While
Kiedrowski never won an AMA Supercross title, he was always a
contender and scored five Supercross victories. His biggest claim to
fame in Supercross was winning the Daytona Supercross three years in
a row – 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Kiedrowski most vividly remembers his first win in the prestigious
race.
"Jeff Stanton had won four in a row and we came to the line in 1993
and something was wrong with his bike’s rear suspension linkage,"
Kiedrowski recalls. "As his team was trying to repair his bike Jeff
came over to me and said 'If I don’t start this race you’d better
win.' It just put chills down my back. I went around the second turn
and all of a sudden Jeff came around and passed me. A lap later he
pulled off with the suspension problems and I went on to win Daytona
for the first time. I came back and was able to win it two more
times. It was great to win there."
Daytona International Speedway later installed Kiedrowski in its
Legends of Daytona Walk of Fame.
Kiedrowski credits his long-time mechanic Shane Nalley for
consistently giving him a strong and reliable motorcycle that held
up year after year at the grueling Daytona event and beyond.
In 1994, Kiedrowski was battling LaRocco atop the 250 Motocross
standings when during practice at Unadilla a rock flew up and broke
Kiedrowski’s hand. It ended his hopes of defending his title.
In 1995, Kiedrowski continued to be very competitive, winning 250
nationals at Hangtown and Millville, but he called that season one
of his worst. "My results looked decent on paper," he said, "but
after all the great years I had, finishing third in the championship
was disappointing."
So let down was Kiedrowski that he went into temporary retirement
from racing. In 1996, he was a consultant for Kawasaki’s racing
team. In 1997, he decided to make another go of racing and returned
with Honda of Troy. A series of hard-luck injuries kept Kiedrowski
off the track more often than not. He retired from professional
motocross for good after the ’97 season.
He was out of racing for a few years before Suzuki asked him to
return to its off-road racing squad in 2000. Kiedrowski raced for
Team Suzuki in AMA Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) and was a
consistent top finisher for the next few seasons, earning a
career-best ranking of third in that series. In 2001, Kiedrowski
moved to the West Coast WORCS off-road series and twice won that
title.
Internationally, Kiedrowski earned fame for being a part of Team USA
four times in the Motocross des Nations. He was named to the team in
1989, his first full season as a pro, and he was the top scoring
125cc rider in the international competition. Kiedrowski, along with
Jeff Ward and Jeff Stanton, won the des Nations that year.
Kiedrowski went on to be part of winning Motocross des Nations teams
in 1991 and 1993. The ’93 competition was especially memorable,
since Kiedrowski said late in the race he was given the signal that
he had to pass two more riders for the U.S. team to win. He pulled
out the stops and gave the team the points it needed to earn a
record 13th consecutive victory – a record that will likely never be
broken.
In 2003, Kiedrowski was named to represent the United States in the
International Six Day Enduro in Brazil, where he earned a Gold
Medal. Few riders have represented the United States in both the
Motocross des Nations and ISDE.
In all Kiedrowski won a total of 30 combined AMA Motocross and
Supercross nationals, ranking him in the top 10 on the all-time
combined wins list when he retired.
When inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, Kiedrowski continued
racing off-road events on the West Coast and was raising a family
with his wife, Kim. He will always be remembered as one of the great
riders in American motocross and his friendly personality made
Kiedrowski one of the favorites of the fans and his fellow riders.
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