After just two starts in the premier class of AMA Supercross, Justin Barcia has a win. Where does that efficiency rank in supercross history compared to how soon other well-known riders won their first main? Have a look:
-- Davi Millsaps won the sixteenth supercross race of his career in the premier class.
-- Jean-Michel Bayle won the thirteenth 250 Supercross he ever raced.
-- Trey Canard needed twelve races before he won for the first time on his 450, at Houston in 2011.
-- Josh Hill needed eleven races before he won in 2008 on his YZ450.
It took Trey Canard twelve races before his first 450SX win in Houston in 2011.
Simon Cudby photo
-- Larry Ward won his eleventh race in the class, after running a few off-coast 250 rounds in 1989 and then the Seattle Supercross in his rookie year, 1990.
-- Ryan Villopoto also needed just eleven races before notching his first 450 Supercross win, which came in Seattle in 2009.
-- Ron Lechien took ten mains before he won the '83 Orlando SX, which was a few less than Ricky Carmichael needed in 1999-'00 before winning at Daytona '00.
-- Kevin Windham needed nine races to do the trick for the first time, in 1997 at Charlotte. K-Dub was still a full-time 125 SX rider who would moonlight in the 250 class on the East, which made him the first rider we can think of that ever won a 250 SX while racing the 125 class full on the opposite coast.
-- Mark Barnett needed nine races before he broke through at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1979. Nine is the same amount Jeremy McGrath needed, as he rode six events in '92 before winning the third race in '93, his first full rookie season.
-- The Cobra, David Vuillemin, won his eighth-ever start in AMA Supercross, the 2000 San Diego SX.
-- Ryan Dungey needed five mains on his RM-Z450 before he won in Phoenix in 2010, which he won again in 2012 on a KTM.
Ryan Villopoto needed eleven races before his first win in Seattle.
Simon Cudby photo
-- Chad Reed did four races in the premier class early in 2002, but focused on 125 East and took that title on a YZ250F. He then started the next year by winning the Anaheim '03 opener, his first start as a full-time big-bike rider and fifth race ever in the AMA Supercross class.
-- James Stewart needed three main events before he won the '05 Dallas SX, four if you count him crashing in practice at the second round of the series in Phoenix and breaking his arm.
-- Sebastien Tortelli won his second AMA Supercross ever, the '98 Los Angeles SX opener, but he was already a world champion on the GP circuit, and had a full year of 250GP experience under his belt.
-- In 1989 Damon Bradshaw rode one race in the premier division -- San Diego -- and finished third, then stayed on the East Coast and won that 125 class title. However, Damon was planning on racing a few more 250 races in '89, but he jacked his back in a heat race crash at Anaheim and had to drop from the race -- so he was racing, he just didn't make the main. At the start of the next season, the Anaheim opener, Bradshaw won his second 250 SX main event start ever.
Josh Grant won his first race in only his second career 450SX start.
Simon Cudby photo
--Many would think Josh Grant is first all-time on this list, since he won Anaheim 1 at the start of his first 450 season in 2009. But JG actually rode one 450 race in 2008 as a member of the GEICO Honda team -- where he finished a quiet sixth in Seattle. That one 450SX start might have given JG a tiny bit of experience, but had he skipped that one, he'd be the only rider to ever win the very first premier-class SX ever. That's a record that would be impossible to break!
-- Justin Barcia did the same this weekend when he stormed to the win in only his second-ever 450 main event, held seven days after his first race in the class, which on the calendar, is the shortest time ever!