By Chase Stallo and Jason Weigandt
RC Hard Charger Award
This award is presented to the rider who passes the most riders in a moto each weekend. The officials simply look at the first lap positions and the final lap positions and see who moved up the most, so the majority of these trophies go to riders who went down on the first lap.
There is an actual RC Hard Charger trophy that is handed out each weekend at the rider's meeting. They idea is to honor Ricky Carmichael's never-give-up spirit, and we get that. But honestly, RC somehow hardly ever went down in the first turn at a National. When you're good, you're good.
| Hangtown | Malcolm Stewart & Cole Seely |
| Thunder Valley | Jason Anderson |
| Tennessee | Justin Bogle |
| High Point | Broc Schmelyun |
| Budds Creek | Phil Nicoletti |
| Moto-X 338 | Ryan Villopoto |
| RedBud | Adam Cianciarulo |
| Washougal | Trey Canard |
| Spring Creek | Ryan Villopoto |
| Unadilla | Marvin Musquin |
| Utah | Dakota Tedder |
| Lake Elsinore | Adam Cianciarulo |
He's from Florida, he rides a Kawasaki, ruled Loretta's on a minicycle, trains with Aldon Baker ... and now Adam Cianciarulo has two RC Hard Charger Awards. The similarity is frightening!
Oakley Bomb Award
Handed out each week to the fastest qualifier in each class.
| Hangtown | 450 | Justin Barcia | 01:58.0 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 01:57.5 | |
| Thunder Valley | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02:03.4 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 02:03.7 | |
| Tennessee | 450 | Josh Grant | 02:03.4 |
| 250 | Ken Roczen | 02:02.0 | |
| High Point | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02:13.5 |
| 250 | Blake Baggett | 02:14.8 | |
| Budds Creek | 450 | James Stewart | 01:58.6 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 01:59.9 | |
| Moto-X 338 | 450 | James Stewart | 01:55.0 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 01:58.3 | |
| RedBud | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02:15.7 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 02:18.0 | |
| Washougal | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02:07.9 |
| 250 | Ken Roczen | 02:08.7 | |
| Spring Creek | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 01:53.3 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 01:53.4 | |
| Unadilla | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02.16.3 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 02.15.6 | |
| Utah | 450 | Ryan Villopoto | 02.02.1 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 02.00.9 | |
| Lake Elsinore | 450 | Josh Grant | 02:09.6 |
| 250 | Eli Tomac | 02:09.1 |
Eli Tomac won nine of these and Ryan Villopoto won seven. Yeah, consistency, podiums, blah blah, blah. Speed wins championships.
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Holeshot Award
The actual rules for the end of the year holeshot bonus is a little complicated. A moto 1 holeshot is worth 1 holeshot point, a moto 2 is worth 2, and getting both in one day gives you a bonus for a total of four.
That's all well and good as it leads to a $25,000 bounty in the 450 class and $15,000 in the 250s. But it kind of muddles up the stats on who is really the best starter. So let's just tell you who got the holeshot in each moto this year.
| Hangtown | 450M1 | James Stewart |
| 450M2 | James Stewart | |
| 250M1 | Blake Baggett | |
| 250M2 | Zach Bell | |
| Thunder Valley | 450M1 | Justin Barcia |
| 450M2 | Justin Barcia | |
| 250M1 | Zach Osborne | |
| 250M2 | Jeremy Martin | |
| Tennessee | 450M1 | Ryan Villopoto |
| 450M2 | Justin Barcia | |
| 250M1 | Justin Bogle | |
| 250M2 | Eli Tomac | |
| High Point | 450M1 | Justin Barcia |
| 450M2 | Josh Grant | |
| 250M1 | Zach Osborne | |
| 250M2 | Marvin Musquin | |
| Budds Creek | 450M1 | Mike Alessi |
| 450M2 | Mike Alessi | |
| 250M1 | Wil Hahn | |
| 250M2 | Wil Hahn | |
| Moto-X 338 | 450M1 | James Stewart |
| 450M2 | Ryan Dungey | |
| 250M1 | Wil Hahn | |
| 250M2 | Ken Roczen | |
| RedBud | 450M1 | Josh Grant |
| 450M2 | James Stewart | |
| 250M1 | Wil Hahn | |
| 250M2 | Zach Osborne | |
| Washougal |
450M1 | Ryan Dungey |
| 450M2 | Josh Grant | |
| 250M1 | Justin Bogle | |
| 250M2 | Wil Hahn | |
| Spring Creek | 450M1 | Justin Barcia |
| 450M2 | James Stewart | |
| 250M1 | Wil Hahn | |
| 250M2 | Wil Hahn | |
| Unadilla | 450M1 | Ryan Villopoto |
| 450M2 | Ryan Villopoto | |
| 250M1 | Wil Hahn | |
| 250M2 | Martin Davalos | |
| Utah | 450M1 | Ryan Villopoto |
| 450M2 | Ryan Sipes | |
| 250M1 | Martin Davalos | |
| 250M2 | Justin Bogle | |
| Lake Elsinore | 450M1 | Josh Grant |
| 450M2 | Justin Brayton | |
| 250M1 | Zach Osborne | |
| 250M2 | Zach Osborne |
| Number of Holeshots | |||
| Justin Barcia | 5 | Wil Hahn | 8 |
| James Stewart | 5 | Zach Osborne |
5 |
| Ryan Villopoto |
4 |
Justin Bogle |
3 |
| Josh Grant | 4 |
Jeremy Martin | 2 |
| Ryan Dungey |
2 |
Martin Davalos |
2 |
| Mike Alessi |
2 |
Marvin Musquin | 1 |
| Ryan Sipes |
1 |
Ken Roczen | 1 |
| Justin Brayton | 1 | Blake Baggett | 1 |
| Eli Tomac |
1 | ||
| Zach Bell | 1 |
The actual Motorcycle-Superstore.com bonus came down to these stats below. Hahn seemed to have the 250 award wrapped up the day he showed up for his first race of the year. Stewart had to sweat out Barcia and Villopoto, who each had a shot at the $25,000 in the final race of the year. Luckily for Stewart, JGR Yamaha men Grant and Brayton nailed the starts and locked Barcia and Villopoto out. Look at that, JGR is still helping Stewart make money!
| Holeshot Points | |||
| 450 Class | 250 Class | ||
| James Stewart |
9 |
Wil Hahn | 13 |
| Justin Barcia |
8 |
Zach Osborne | 8 |
| Ryan Villopoto |
6 |
Jeremy Martin | 4 |
| Josh Grant | 6 |
Justin Bogle | 4 |
| Mike Alessi |
4 |
Martin Davalos | 3 |
| Ryan Dungey |
3 |
Eli Tomac | 2 |
| Ryan Sipes |
2 |
Marvin Musquin | 2 |
| Justin Brayton | 2 | Ken Roczen | 2 |
| Zach Bell | 2 | ||
| Blake Baggett | 1 | ||
