Bench Racing Ammo: 2007 National Numbers (Old-School Style)

October 17, 2006, 2:15pm

As we anxiously await the release of the 2007 national numbers by the AMA, we decided to do some calculations of our own. The current national numbering system has been in place for several years now, which allows riders who finish in the top 10 overall to choose a permanent national number (though single-digit numbers are limited to past national champs who are still active).

But what if we were to use the old system, which ranks the riders based on overall points accumulated? Back in the day, they would total the points from the premier class of AMA Supercross—the 250cc class—and then also from both the 250 and 125 National MX classes (and before that the 500 class as well).

What’s the holdup on the 2007 numbers? Apparently, newly-crowned AMA “Lites” MX Champ Ryan Villopoto may or may not be taking over the #2, as Jeremy McGrath may or may not be coming back again to race as he has the last two years.

But as that gets sorted out, for today’s Bench Racing Ammo, we thought we would show you what the top 20 numbers would look like in 2007 under the old numbering format:

1 450 Supercross    Ricky Carmichael
1 450 Motocross      Ricky Carmichael
1 250F Motocross    Ryan Villopoto

2 Ricky Carmichael (877)

Using the old rules, Stewart would be running #3 in 2007

3 James Stewart (717)
4 Chad Reed (669)
5 Nick Wey (552)
6 Travis Preston (541)
7 Kevin Windham (491)
8 Ryan Villopoto (483)
9 Mike Alessi (448)
10 Davi Millsaps (400)
11 Tim Ferry (373)
12 Josh Grant (372)
13 Michael Byrne * (371)
14 David Vuillemin (370)
15 Andrew Short (359)
16 Brett Metcalfe (335)
17 Broc Hepler (293)
18 Andrew McFarlane (281)
19 Ivan Tedesco (280)
20 Ryan Clark (265)

(* The case used to be that the person who landed #13 would be given a chance to accept the number or move back one and take #14, which would leave the number vacant and cause everyone from #14 down to drop down one number.)