Welcome to MotoSport Outlet's Bench Racing Ammo. Okay, it’s late, I can’t sleep, and I’m bored, so here’s some Bench Racing Ammo on number stuff. First off, here are the top 10 in points this year (added together to come up with the top 10 overall). By rule, these are the men who are allowed to pick a “permanent” number from those which are available.

Andrew Short 673
James Stewart 647
Timmy Ferry 632
Ryan Villopoto 540
Davi Millsaps 481
Ryan Dungey 468
Josh Hill 462
Nick Wey 423
Brett Metcalfe 382
Michael Byrne 377

Of those, Ryan Dungey, Josh Hill and Brett Metcalfe are the only three riders who don’t have permanent numbers already, although Metcalfe’s 123 might as well be. Still, he was on the Vital boards asking the people there if he should keep 123 or take 24, as he rode with 24 as an amateur. First pick will go to Dungey, who, as Matthes pointed out, will likely choose 10. Then comes Hill. The next available number should be Brock Sellards’ #18, who failed to score any National points this year. However, there is a provision that makes it two years of not scoring points, but that’s only supposed to be if the rider was injured and couldn’t compete. That’s not the case with Sellards. Still, the AMA may enforce it. After 18, 19 is available (from Doug Henry), then 20 (Josh Grant ran it this year, but it is not a permanent number for him, it was just the lowest available to a non-permanent number holder), then 21 (was photographer Stephane Roncada’s), 24 (Josh Summey’s this year, but also not permanent), 28 (Dungey’s this year), 30 (Jake Weimer’s this year) and so on.

Until those three riders claim their numbers, the rest can’t be assigned. For example, if Metcalfe keeps 123, and if Hill takes 18 (which we’re not even 100 percent sure is available), then 19 will be assigned to Jake Weimer. If 18 is deemed unavailable, and Hill takes 19, Weimer will be 20. And it doesn’t matter if Metcalfe chooses 123 or 24, which seem to be his two choices, because the numbers available are lower than 24. Also, Nico Izzi comes in right behind Weimer, and he may keep 341. But since that’s not a permanent number, he will still be assigned a two-digit number and if he chooses to run 341, his assigned number will just go unused. So, what we’ll do is assume that Metcalfe takes 24 (although he may not) and that 18 isn’t available and Hill takes 19 (which looks darned good on a Yamaha, anyway). Hill could throw the whole list off by taking 40 as a permanent number, moving everyone from 40 up on the list up one number, to 39 (for Matt Lemoine) and on down. Also keep in mind when you read this list that when riders tied on points, the first tiebreaker goes to the rider with the best single-moto (or main-event) score, and the second tiebreaker goes to the rider that had the best score last (just like a second moto is a tiebreaker in determining an overall). So, when you’re looking at this list, know that the tied numbers could switch depending on who won the tiebreakers. Here’s the whole list:

1.
2. Ryan Villopoto (540)
3. Mike Brown (46)
4. Ricky Carmichael (0)
5.
6.
7. James Stewart (647)
8. Grant Langston (38)
9. Ivan Tedesco (208)
10. Ryan Dungey (468)
11. Travis Preston (109)
12. David Vuillemin (180)
13. Heath Voss (130)
14. Kevin Windham (352)
15. Timmy Ferry (632)
16. John Dowd (30)
17. Robbie Reynard (18)
18. Brock Sellards (0)
19. Josh Hill (462)
20. Jake Weimer (321)
21. Nico Izzi (292)
22. Chad Reed (365)
23. Kyle Lewis (4)
24. Brett Metcalfe (382)
25. Nathan Ramsey (173)
26. Michael Byrne (377)
27. Nick Wey (423)
28. Cody Cooper (266)
29. Andrew Short (673)
30. Josh Summey (248)
31. Ryan Sipes (228)
32. Sean Hamblin (225)
33. Josh Grant (201)
34. Paul Carpenter (200)
35. Kyle Cunningham (198)
36. Antonio Balbi (195)
37. Kyle Chisholm (189)
38. Trey Canard (173)
39. Dan Reardon (170)
40. Matt Lemoine (169)
41. Jake Moss (167)
42. Broc Tickle (160)
43. Andrew McFarlane (160)
44. Jason Thomas (159)
45. Austin Stroupe (152)
46. Jimmy Albertson (152)
47. Matt Goerke (145)
48. Justin Brayton (139)
49. Tommy Hahn (139)
50. Wil Hahn (133)
51. Martin Davalos (127)
52. Bobby Kiniry (125)
53. Jason Lawrence (120)
54. Matt Boni (101)
55. Ryan Clark (95)
56. Eric Sorby (84)
57. Jake Marsack (82)
58. Phil Nicolletti (76)
59. Troy Adams (74)
60. Broc Hepler (77)
61. Blake Wharton (73)
62. Sean Collier (69)
63. Chris Blose (57)
64. Matt Goerke (55)
65. Shaun Skinner (53)
66. Jeff Gibson (52)
67. Steve Boniface (49)
68. Josh Hansen (49)
69. Michael Blose (46)
70. Tucker Hibbert (44)
71. Michael Willard (44)
72. Ben Townley (42)
73. Justin Sipes (41)
74. Bryan Johnson (40)
75. Gavin Gracyk (37)
76. Branden Jesseman (36)
77. Manuel Rivas (33)
78. Kevin Rookstool (33)
79. Cole Siebler (31)
80. Billy Laninovich (31)
81. Steven Clarke (31)
82. Tyler Bright (28)
83. Kyle Summers (27)
84. Dusty Klatt (24)
85. Jack Carpenter (24)
86. Jared Browne (22)
87. Sean Borkenhagen (22)
88. Bobby Bonds (21)
89. Travis Sewell (21)
90. PJ Larsen (21)
91. Marc De Reuver (20)
92. Kelly Smith (18)
93. Kevin Johnson (17)
94. Chris Charbonneau (17)
95. Ryan Morais (17)
96. Ben Lamay (16)
97. Jacob Morrison (16)
98. Tyler Wharton (12)
99. Juss Laansoo (12)
100. Jase Lewis (12)
101. Kyle Tobin (12)