Bench Racing Ammo: RV's Win Total
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | 3:30 PM
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The James Stewart/Chad Reed rivalry was at a fever pitch, but there was another rider who didn’t care. Ryan Villopoto came into the Seattle Supercross in 2009 with a whole new program. After a long layoff to cure an illness, he resumed his rookie Supercross Class season with a new trainer—Jeff Spencer replacing Randy Lawrence—and a new mechanic—Mike Williamson replacing John Mitcheff—and set out to get that elusive first win on a 450. By the end of the night, he had done just that.
Two weeks later, the Reed/Stewart rivalry was even hotter as they faced off at the Las Vegas finale. Again, Villopoto couldn’t have cared less about that, as he raged through traffic, seized the lead and took off with the Vegas win, his second in three races. As they say, once you figure out how to win one, the rest come a lot easier.
Villopoto took home his 18th career SX class win in San Diego, which ties Jeff Stanton on the all-time list.
Photo: Garth Milan
Since RV’s Seattle 2009 triumph, when he’s racing, he’s been as good as it gets in the 450 division. RV won a season’s best seven races in 2010 (even though he missed the final three rounds with a broken leg) and six races in 2011, again the highest total of the season. This year? He’s won three of six, again making him the winningest rider so far this year.
Villopoto has already compiled 18 career supercross wins, which ties him with legendary three-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeff Stanton on the all-time list. And since that Seattle 2009 first win, he’s taken 18 wins in 40 starts, an impressive 45 percent against some of the most talent fields we’ve seen in the sport.
Now the question is, how much further can he go?
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kind of crazy to think he has already tied Stanton, who won the title 3 times....RV is in the same position Stewart was a few years back.... Stewarts injuries in 2008 and 2010 definitely threw a wrench in his overall SX titles and race wins... I think 2008 and 2010 were definitley his seasons to win, but obvioulsy crashes lead to injury.....If RV stays healthy, I think he will climb up that win list pretty quick and will surely be up there with Reed, Stewart and RC in a couple years...he could possibly go higher on the list if he stays in the game and pass those 3 and be 2nd to MC....maybe 1st....
There's a huge gap between 4th and 5th. RJ is at 28 and then it's Reed at 41 Stewart at 43.
They haven't said much about JS or CR approaching RC's total of 48. I guess neither are on pace to go past this year.
He can go a whole lot further, he is still pretty young. As long as he stays injury free and can handle the year round training of Aldon Baker, he can become one of the best ever. I think he has a chance of catching Reed by the end of his career maybe. A real good chance of catching Ricky Johnson..
MXBob, good point on RC's total of 48, and he won 5 titles winning those. That should put it into perspective of how dominate Mcgrath was with 72 wins.
Rc's could have been higher, but a very fast DV12 took some of those away, and thern Reed, who took 6 straight wins against RC one season,
To say JS7 and CR22 arent on pace is ridiculous. James Stewart will go past RC in the record books for SX wins. Dungey will stay at 4 or whatever measley amount he has.
If someone makes it to 48, they're really doing something. But then they have 24 more to get to McGrath. That's almost as crazy as RC's untouchable outdoor records.
Its Racing , and anything can happen ....
@thetoothperry116 you really think Dungey will never win again, get off the crack pipe.
RV will have to ride 8-10 more years of SX to match MC,
Reed will have more SX wins than Stewart when they are finished. I really think that is the reason that Reed is hanging around, he wants to retire with more then Stewart. I won't be suprised to see Stewart, Reed and when he finally hangs it up RV past RC.
@not4show youre right. he will probably get lucky again. But for now he will stick to 3rd and 4th place.
@thetoothperry116 ...I think Dungey has 8 wins in 450SX...
You wouldnt even have 8 wins at your local track in the 'C' class
@not4show and stewart passed Reed. Reed can cry all he wants but he wont get more than js7.
@sh1mx youre prolly another one of those blowhard bandwagon fans that thinks Dungey is cute. Get off the tip. and yeah C class? haha....
I thought he had 19 wins, tied with K-Dub Hmmmmm
Windham has 18, so they are tied.
In 2009 Reed crashed in the first corned and started 18th. Stewart started out with a run-in and stall. They were both way at the back of the pack to start. I wasn't sure that win meant much, but he followed it up by passing stewart the next week. I thought that wasn't that impressive because stewart was just riding around the track for a title.
RV didn't win more races in 2010 because of a horrific accident. It caused him to miss an outdoor title and a mxdn title. I would say it's hard not to ignore the past, when looking for indications for the future.
two quick points
1.....if Stewart keeps racing the way he is he'll retire from SX and go car racing.....he can make JGR way more money in a car......maybe have the Florida Highway Patrol for a sponsor
2.....I really don't think RV is too concerned about records.....watched a video
interview of him a little while ago where he stated he'd probably only race a
few more years.
@thetoothperry--Its obvious your feelings about Dungey and Reed, and you are in love with Stewie and thats fine. But as bad as you think Reed and Dungey are, they are both ahead of Stewie in the standings now, and finished ahead of Stewie last year also..
@Not4show, they all may pass RC for wins in supercross, but the REAL important number is titles, and Reed and Stewie will NOT get to 5 of those..That is what RC has, and that is what counts..
Shoulda, coulda, woulda but if he did not crash at St Louis in 2010, RV would have won the SX title that year. He had the momentum going big time in the series and he was only 7 back of RD before his crash. These stats are pretty interesting, 18 of 40 is pretty darn impressive especially given the top-bottom talent of the field in 2009-2012.
@ripdown...
Beat your dead horse much? Pick on his crashes, or lack of speed or something more creative. It's in the past. move on already.
Well. U'r obviously too myopic or just plain stupid. Stewart will not keep racing if he can't be 'the guy'. Also, Joe Gibbs is a business man who stands to make more money and also attract an entirely new demographic to his team and NASCAR by having Stewart in a car! Sorry if that's too deep for you AS29.......
I don't deny I truly believe Bubba would be safer with a roll cage !
Just saying i dont have much respect for people that settle for third. And its annoying that the people that used to bag on Reed are right there cheering for him again. Motocross is one of the worst Bandwagon sports ever. Villopoto is the man though not even gonna deny that. Hate on Stewart cuz he crashes. Windham did what this weekend...?
Everything I've read says Stanton has 17 wins and Windham has 18. Bradshaw has 19 and Jeff Ward has 20. Then it's a bit up to Hannah. I still can't see anyone catching MC or really even coming close. He threw that 72 up there over a 9 year period where he rode that Suzuki in 97 and then had to deal with the new RC in 2001. He didn't get many of those wins in those 2 years. So for all intents and purposes he pretty much got most of the 72 wins in 7 years. This is already RV's 4th year, Stewart's.....8th year (though he missed many) and Reed's........10th year...wow.
Jason, if your going to show his win percentage, include all of the 2009 races he started. Why try to make the picture brighter than it is? RV missed A3, then had just a 3 race lay-off before Seattle.
and "raged through traffic"? RV was in 2nd after lap one in Vegas, 2009.
MC got almost 30 of those wins in just 2 seasons,93 and 96.
Toothboy - Windham crashed, yeah. So did JS and JS has crashed at all but one out of six. He will retire and go car racing in 2 or so years. I'd just stop while your behind.
imho three first sx class tiltes and 30/35 wins will already be great for Villo after all the injuries/health issue he has suffered, but he probably reach 40 wins ... or more
here is the top-20 (if i'm correct)
1. Jeremy McGrath (72)
2. Ricky Carmichael (48)
3. James Stewart (43)
4. Chad Reed (41)
5. Rick Johnson (28)
6. Bob Hannah (27)
7. Jeff Ward (20)
8. Damon Bradshaw (19)
9. Kevin Windham (18)
9. Ryan Villopoto (18)
11. Mark Barnett (17)
11. Jeff Stanton (17)
13. Jean-Michel Bayle (16)
14. Ezra Lusk (12)
14. David Bailey (12)
16. Mike Bell (11)
17. Broc Glover (10)
18. Jimmy Ellis (8)
18. Ron Lechien (8)
18. Ryan Dungey (8)
20. Johnny O'Mara (7)
20. Jeff Emig (7)
20. David Vuillemin (7)
That's the same list I saw. I thought it was interesting that Emig and O'Mara had 7 wins. They both won a championship and were competing for wins for quite a while. In Emig's case, he was in the MC era for most of his SX career. O'Show was in time when lots of different riders won, but I still thought he had more than 7.
I think the main records RV cares about is the total number of championships. Five major titles (I count 125/250f outdoor as major) already puts him in fairly elite company. Stewart is at 5 and Reed 3. If he were to win both championships again this year, a big if this early in the year, he wouldn't have too many guys in front of him in that category.
MxBob.... Reed has 4 east lites.
I wasn't counting the regional titles. That would add to the count of RV and JS also.
without injuries Villopto will already be five time first class champion, in 450 MX in 2009/2010/2011 and in 450 SX in 2010/2011, and 6 time MXoN winner between 2006 and 2011! everybody was relieved when RV make the grand slam in 2011 (sx, mx, mxon, mec), since the 2007 mxon the fans waited his "consecration"
i was a little shocked when i saw that my childhood hero Johnny O has "only" 7 win in sx (and not many more in outdoor too) but the 80's guys say that when O'Mara was on fire he was unbeatable, and i think without direspect that one win in the eigties is porbably equal at two today, and you had not 17 sx rounds by season in the 80's
still for the eighties i think that if Mark Barnett was on Honda between 1982 and 1985 he will probably have 4 or 5 more sx/mx titles, but it's just an opinion