Bench Racing Ammo: Opening Round Curse?
Everyone always talks about the Racer X cover curse, but Ben Townley just dashed that one (knock-on-wood) by going out and winning the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship-opening Hangtown National.
So what about the opening round win curse in the Lites class? Well, not to rain on Ben Townley’s parade, but we are seeing a pattern in the Lites class….
|
Year First round winner Series champion
1986 George Holland - Micky Dymond
1987 George Holland - Micky Dymond
1988 Erik Kehoe - George Holland
1989 Mike Kiedrowski - Mike Kiedrowski
1990 Mike Kiedrowski - Guy Cooper
1991 Guy Cooper - Mike Kiedrowski
1992 Mike LaRocco - Jeff Emig
1993 Jeremy McGrath - Doug Henry
1994 Jeff Emig - Doug Henry
1995 Robbie Reynard - Steve Lamson
1996 Steve Lamson - Steve Lamson
1997 Ricky Carmichael - Ricky Carmichael
1998 Ricky Carmichael - Ricky Carmichael
1999 Ricky Carmichael - Ricky Carmichael
2000 Stephane Roncada - Travis Pastrana
2001 Grant Langston - Mike Brown
2002 James Stewart - James Stewart
2003 Mike Brown - Grant Langston
2004 James Stewart - James Stewart
2005 Grant Langston - Ivan Tedesco
2006 Mike Alessi - Ryan Villopoto
2007 Ben Townley – ?
|
And speaking of BT, we can now add New Zealand to the short list of countries in which their riders have won an AMA National:
Australia (Chad Reed, Craig Anderson)
England (James Dobb)
France (Jean-Michel Bayle, Mickael Pichon, Sebastien Tortelli, David Vuillemin, Stephane Roncada)
Holland (Pierre Karsmakers)
New Zealand (Ben Townley)
South Africa (Greg Albertyn, Grant Langston)
Sweden (Gunnar Lindstrom)