Our sport is one with very few winners. Victories don't come easy for many in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and long and distinguished careers can end without so much as a single W in the record books. After all, they only run seventeen of these races a year, and when you're a Lites rider, that means you get just eight chances to add your name to the rolls. As a result, the list of “non-winners” going back to the very beginning of this class in 1985 is downright mind-boggling—impressive in pure talent but frustrating in knowing these guys never actually took home a first-place trophy in Lites SX.
On Saturday night Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Darryn Durham finally scratched his name off the list of great riders who just couldn't put it all together for fifteen laps to stand atop the podium as a main-event winner. Durham rode a solid, if not perfect, race—he landed on the Tuff Blox at one point, cutting a jump/turn so close that he almost threw the whole thing away. Behind him, GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia was doing what he needed to clinch a second straight title in the East Region, which left the drama down to whether or not DD could hold off BB (Blake Baggett). He did, and now he's a winner.
Durham joined an elite club in New Orleans.
Carl Stone photo
Not that everyone else was a loser—no way that noun fits a champion like Barcia, Ken Roczen, Baggett, etc. But the list of non-winners remains almost surreal: Steve Lamson. Robbie Reynard. Nick Wey. Tyla Rattray. Brett Metcalfe. Chris Gosselaar. James Dobb. Danny Smith. Michael Byrne. Ryan Morais. Mike Jones. Nico Izzi. Jason Thomas. Darcy Lange. Darryn Durham....
Oh wait, we can scratch that last name off now!
