I love the 90s: Billy Liles part 2
In 1990, Billy Liles entered Belgian service. The Liège tobacco manufacturer and motor sports patron Jubilé saw potential in Liles. Kawasaki Belgium sports director Philippe Borguet also saw the American's potential. The American's Belgian bosses would prefer to see Liles compete for the Belgian title. Since the Belgian Championship was not an open championship until the beginning of 1990 (only BMB license holders scored BC points), lobbying had to be done to give Liles a Belgian license. With a BMB permit in his pocket, Liles was eligible to become Belgian champion, but he also took a place on the grading list for the 500cc GPs. Something that not all Belgian GP riders were happy with.
Liles the sand hare
Liles got an experienced Belgian mechanic in Johan Luyten. The American moved from Italy to the Kempen, near Turnhout. Liles learned the tricks of sand driving on the circuits of the border region. When he rode a GP for the first time in Johnson Kawasaki colors in early April 1990, Liles even won the Dutch GP in Valkenswaard. And that was quite unprecedented because rarely could a “foreigner” (meaning someone from outside the Benelux) win in the black sand of North Brabant. After Valkenswaard, Liles would lead the World Championship for a long time until he broke his thigh during training for the Italian GP. That immediately meant the end of Liles' 1990 World Cup campaign.
In the meantime, Liles' image, an action photo of him on the Kawasaki KX 500, was on the display of almost every Belgian newsagent. That was the result of a massive publicity campaign by Johnson. In addition to the World Cup, Liles mainly focused on Belgian competitions, with the Belgian Championship in the lead. That is why it is not surprising that the man from Georgia is on the honors lists of a few major Belgian competitions. In addition to motocross, Liles also competed on Supermoto, as he proved in 1991 when he beat specialists such as Stéphane Chambon in the Superbiker of Mettet.
Super year 1992
At the end of 1992, Liles said goodbye to his trusted green motorcycles and tried his hand at a Honda. Ultimately, it would be his best season. In the end, the American only had to tolerate Georges Jobé and Kurt Nicoll. Liles' good performance in the GPs was not missed by the AMA and Liles was selected for the Motocross of Nations in Manjimup, Australia. Liles would travel to Australia with the Belgian team (Jobé, Bervoets, Everts). Along the way, the Belgians thought they had already won. But once on site, team USA once again proved to be unbeatable, even though California had turned their noses up at the unprecedented Liles-Larocco-Emig combination. It would immediately become apparent that 1992 was the absolute highlight of Liles' career.
Past the peak
In 1993, Liles moved to Great Britain where he started working for the British RWJ-Kawasaki team together with Marnicq Bervoets. The 250cc was in full development and gradually became the most important class in the GPs. Liles thought a switch to the 250 cc was a good career move. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case. Liles never featured in the story and finished the World Cup on a drab 15e place. Liles would compete one more time in the 500 cc GPs: in 1994 he rode for Georges Jobé's Belgacom team.
Photos credit: Motocrossmag archive, Waterloo
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