by Davey Coombs
The List: Ten One-Time Lites SX Winners
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | 11:30 AM
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PrintIf you think winning a Lites main event is easy, considering this list of men who never managed to win one: Steve Lamson, Robbie Reynard, Brett Metcalfe, Ryan Morais, Josh Hill, Michael Byrne.... The riders on the list below did manage to win one, but only one. With a new region starting up this weekend in Dallas, here's a look back at some one-time winners in the class that started in 1985.
10.) TODD CAMPBELL: There's a place in SX history for the Anaheim native: He won the first-ever 125 Supercross main event, way back on January 25, 1985, when the series opened in San Diego. But the Team Green rider was never able to add on to his wins total.
9.) BRIAN DEEGAN: Maybe the most notorious single win of all time, the Metal Mulisha founder announced the coming of FMX when he ghosted his Moto-XXX Suzuki off the finish line jump at the Los Angeles Coliseum, shocking the factory teams with a resounding win. It was the only major win of his moto career, though he has more medals from the X Games than he can probably count.
Deegan celebrating his only win in classic Mulisha fashion.
Photo: Metal Mulisha
8.) MICHAEL BRANDES: On a night in Indianapolis in 2000 when everyone expected to see Travis Pastrana usher in a new era by winning his AMA Supercross debut, it was the FMF Honda-backed Brandes who actually took the nod. He had a few other very good rides but could never match his victory at the old RCA Dome.
7.) PEDRO GONZALEZ: An absolute class act, Pedro Gonzalez rose up from Mexico to become the only rider from our neighbors to the south to ever win a main event, taking the San Jose SX in 1994.
6.) MATT WALKER: One of the funniest riders you will ever meet, Walker made it happen one night at the Astrdome in Houston while riding for Mitch Payton's Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. Walker is still involved in racing, training a whole squadron of future contenders down there in Georgia.
Brandes celebrating his only Lites win in Indy.
Photo: Jim Talkington
5.) CASEY LYTLE: He may be a one-race winner as a rider -- Phoenix 2000 -- but he's had a hand in a bunch more since while working with the KTM factory team. Casey has developed a post-racing career that, like those of Larry Brooks, Mike Fisher and Erik Kehoe, has been even more successful than what he did as a racer.
4.) JUSTIN BUCKELEW: A great kid from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Buckelew was destined for big things in racing, but a long and unfortunate string of injuries robbed him of vast potential. But one night in 2001 while riding for Yamaha of Troy, it all came right for Justin.
3.) BILLY LANINOVICH: Arguably the racer with the best whip out there, Lano won the '05 San Francisco SX while riding for Factory Connection Honda, but he never got around to adding a second win. He even went off the radar for awhile, but now he's back and going quite fast as a full-blown privateer. And if you missed his pre-season whip session with Matty Fran, check it out:
Walker en route to his win in Houston.
Photo: Simon Cudby
2.) BOBBY MOORE: Back in 1985, Bob Moore was on the rise with Team Suzuki, and he took not only the Dallas SX, but the West Region title. Then he did something totally unexpected: He moved to Europe to try his hand in Grand Prix motocross. Over the next decade he won a dozen GPs and finally the 1994 125cc World MX Championship. Since then Moore has co-founded the Road 2 Recovery to benefit others in the sport, and he's also now living in Italy and working for WMG as their manager of MotoGP racers.
1.) KEN ROCZEN: We put the incoming world champion at the top of this list because he's the one we feel is most likely to get off of this list the soonest. He was supposed to have started the West Region for Red Bull KTM last month but a broken arm ruined that plan. Now the super-fast German is primed for the East as he begins the next chapter of his still-young career here in the USA.
We doubt this will be Roczen's only win in the Lites class.
Photo: Simon Cudby
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Go Roczen!
Ken Roczen will get off the list and be a contender this season.
Heck ya I can't wait to see Roczen in STL next month!
Roczen will most likely be off this list by the end of the 2012 SX season.
It would be interesting, and surprising, if Laninovich were to win one of the remaining west coast rounds this year, but it could happen. He's been riding better and better each week. As we saw this past week with Tomac, you just never know what can happen in a SX Lites main.
About Deegan, since he didn't cross the line "on" his bike, did he really win the race? I guess the AMA gives him credit for one win, but I wonder if there is a "Deegan rule" now about being on the bike while crossing the finish line.
@ CR500AF, I have thought the same thing a time or two, about some kind of Deegan Rule. At the time he "ghosted to his only win" I was not totally onboard with the FMX movement and Deegans showboating got the hairs on my neck standing up. I guess now a days nothing really surprises me much with the evolution of 'extreme'. I even worry about these kids anymore, my own son included. But my mom worried about me and my Brothers too. Wonder how far it will go?
the complete list (if I’m correct)
Todd Campbell (Team Green Kawasaki) San Diego 1985
Bader Manneh (Kawasaki) Seattle 1985
Bobby Moore (Suzuki) 1985/West Champion
Tyson Vohland (Kawasaki) Anaheim 1986/3rd West
Phil Lawrence (Suzuki) Seattle 1993/2nd West
Jimmy Gaddis (Pro Circuit Kawasaki) Las Vegas 1993/West Champion
Chad Pederson (Yamaha) Tampa 1993/2nd East
Pedro Gonzales (Kawasaki) San Jose 1994/2nd West
Jeff Willoh (Honda) San Diego 1996
Brian Deegan (Moto-XXX Suzuki) Los Angeles 1997
Casey Lytle (Honda) Phoenix 2000
Michael Brandes (FMF Honda) Indianapolis 2000
Justin Buckelew (Yamaha of Troy) San Diego 2001/3rd West
Matt Walker (Pro Circuit Kawasaki) Houston 2002
Broc Hepler (Suzuki) Phoenix 2005
Billy Laninovich (Factory Connection Honda) San Francisco 2005
Blake Wharton (Geiko Honda) St. Louis 2009
Ken Roczen (RedBull KTM) Las Vegas 2011
Mike Craig win one 125 SX at Anaheim in 1990 (Kawasaki), and one 250 SX at Tampa in 1994 (Yamaha)
MXR1, The "Stat man", good deal Bud.
1985 was the best. It would be a great idea to do a story about the year that the lites or 125 series started. Healey, moore, Brooks, Warren, Campbell, Badder Manneh, Billy Frank etc. East vs West more than 1 time a year. Most of these guys were 16-17 years old and winning in front of 60,000 people! Most of them were just off 80's. We need to bring back the 16-17 year olds for a series. The Ultra lites????
@misoheye - I hear you completely. Being effective has very little to do with your personality. I wish voters understood this concept from a political perspective...
Besides the 2 trophy girls, who are the other 2 riders on the podium next to Brandes?