The other day I was flipping through an old magazine from the good old 2-stroke days of 1997. I came to an article about Jeremy McGrath. The article was all about how MC was the most dominant force motocross, or should I say supercross, has seen in along time. By that time he was the king of supercross, and was the all time leader in supercross wins. He also won an outdoor championship 2 years earlier. That got me thinking though, fast forward 10 years, and who is the most dominant rider of all time? Well, it actually got me thinking of who second was.
No doubt in my mind, Ricky Carmichael is the Greatest Of All Time. He has had 10 straight years of outdoor dominance, not to mention 5 supercross champs. He has absolutely dominated the sport like no other, and changed motocross forever. Any body that came in his path got nothing but a face full of roost. Some of the guys weren’t even close enough to get any of that.
I started asking some of my buddies who they thought the best, or second best was. A lot of names were thrown around like Stefan Everts, James Stewart, Joel Robert, and David Bailey. A few people threw Mc’s name in there too. So I decided to come up with an official top 5 motocross riders of all time.
1. RICKY CARMICHAEL- I don’t really need to explain it, but just in case some of you doubters disagree with my number one pick, I’ll just throw out a few stats that might change your mind. Never lost an outdoor championship. From his rookie season in 1997, to last summer in 2006, he has absolutely killed it every year. He had TWO, count em TWO, perfect seasons during his Honda days, and he is the all time winningest rider in AMA history. If the summer of 07 goes as planned, he’ll have over 150 overall wins and exactly 101 outdoor wins. OK, nuff said.
2. JOEL ROBERT- Some of you newcomers may not know who Joel is. But you really ought to. He was the first rider to ever dominate motocross. The Belgium rider won 6 champions ships aboard a CZ. His run started in the mid 60’s and lasted into the early 70’s. As far as talent goes, he may have the most of that. Back then he did things on a motorcycle that riders still cant do today. But the difference for him was, his bike weighed about 150lbs more and had only a few inches of suspension travel. Joel didn’t just win all those races, he survived them too.
3. JAMES “BUBBA” STEWART- Bubba is one of the most amazing, and most fun to watch riders, to ever throw a leg over a dirtibike. His infamous “bubba scrub” has changed motocross racing forever. He has the title hands-down for outright speed. His skill on a motorcycle makes most peoples jaws drop. The things that keep him from climbing up to number 2, are his inconsistencies. He has a bad habit of crashing, a lot. Even in this past AMP’D MOBILE AMA supercorss season, he fell more than a Supercross champ would want to. His incident in Candada made a lot of folks think twice about number 7. And we all remember Unadilla in 2005. But just in case you don’t, here’s this.
4. DAVID BAILEY- I think David Bailey is very deserving of the number 4 spot. He was one of the greatest riders of his time, and did something not a lot of guys could do: ride a 500. But no, he didn’t just ride a 500, he man handled it. Most riders today, cant say they’ve rode a 500cc 2-stroke before, but for those who can, the understand why David Bailey is such a talented rider. His number of championships, isn’t as amazing as some other guys on the list, but that’s not what makes Bailey so great. He was such a competitive rider, in one of the most competitive eras in motocross. He proved he could win indoors, outdoors, big bikes, small bikes, and even brought home a few Motocross Des Nations titles way back when America was a dominant force in the “Olympics of motocross”
5. STEFAN EVERTS- The last spot goes to Stefan Everts. He is regarded by some people (mostly ALL European) to be the real G.O.A.T. I have a few problems with that statement. One is not his wins, but how long it took him to get all those wins. He amounted his 101 outdoor victories in a span of 17 years! That’s quite a bit compared to Ricky’s 10. Imagine how many number one plates Ricky would have if he raced 17 years. Steve Whitelock (the AMA president) would just be handing Ricky his number one plates. One other reason Stefan lands in the last spot is his American performances. He has raced with Rick a few times and NEVER come close to the real G.O.A.T. He has come over a few times and put in some pretty good rides, but when him and Ricky go head-to-head, Stefan has never come out on top of that battle. This year’s Motocross Des Nations will be his last chance to prove himself to Ricky, before they both retire.
That’s my list, if you don’t like it, well that’s to bad, cause that’s the way I see it. But all other opinions are welcomed.
