By Davey Coombs and Jason Weigandt
GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac did not start the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, the way he wanted to, finishing in twentieth place and spotting race winner and points leader Ken Roczen 24 marks in the championship. But in Phoenix, Tomac responded swiftly, tracking down Roczen and passing him for the win. Of course Tomac is not the first man to start out in a hole and come back quickly, as we explain in The List.
In 2009, James Stewart crashed out of Anaheim in spectacular fashion, going down in the whoops with Chad Reed and then smashing his bike into Kevin Windham as he tried to push it off to the side of the track. He finished nineteenth on his San Manuel Yamaha. One week later, Stewart got right back in the hunt with a win in Phoenix. He would go on to win the title by four points over Reed.
In 2004, Kevin Windham finished ninth at Anaheim 1, and then went right to the front at the start of the Phoenix SX, taking Yamaha's David Vuillemin out in the process. Windham would be docked 10 points by the AMA, but later got the penalty erased on appeal.
In 2003, Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk started the season with an eighth-place finish at Anaheim, but then came on strong at Phoenix to record the win. That would turn out to be the last win of his long career. Lusk also started out terribly in 1998, finishing sixteenth in a muddy opening round on his Honda. He would come back one week later to win the Houston SX, which was the second round that season.
In 1997, Ricky Carmichael started the 125 East Region with broken handlebars at the Indianapolis opener, finishing in nineteenth place. One week later at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the Splitfire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX125 rider won his first pro race.
In 1986, defending AMA Supercross #1 Jeff Ward DNF’d his heat race and didn’t qualify for even the semi, which meant that he sat out the epic Anaheim 1986 duel between David Bailey and Rick Johnson—Wardy recalls hearing the roars of the crowd from the drive-thru line at Del Taco! One week later he roared back and won the Houston SX at the Astrodome.
In 2007, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ben Townley DNF’d the Atlanta Lites East Region opener when his engine blew up. He came back to win the next two weekends at St. Louis and Daytona en route to a come-from-behind run to the championship.
In both 2012 and 2014, FMF KTM factory off-roader Kailub Russell crashed at the season-opening round in Florida. In 2012, he DNF’d the race with a sore shoulder. In 2014, he bent himself and his bike up a bit and struggled to finish fourteenth overall. Both years, he came back to win the second round, known as the General GNCC in Georgia. Russell finished a close second in the 2012 championship, and won it in 2014.
The 1970 Trans-AMA marked the first-ever sanctioned motocross races by the AMA. It was an eight-race series that featured mostly British and Swedish riders. Reigning 250cc World Champion Joel Robert was also set to race, but he couldn’t do the first two rounds due to scheduling conflicts. When the Suzuki factory rider did show up, he dominated the last six rounds. BSA factory rider Dave Nicoll, future GP star Kurt Nicoll's father, ended up with the series title.
Bonus: Many of you are already asking, “What about Ricky Carmichael crashing out of Anaheim that one time?” True that, yo. RC did crash and DNF the 2002 opener, and came roaring back to win the AMA Supercross Championship that year. He didn’t get a win until round four, though, so it wasn’t the instant bounce back like Tomac. In 1999, Nathan Ramsey DNF’d the 125SX West opener on his Pro Circuit Kawasaki thanks to a derailed chain. He followed that eighteenth with a third and then back-to-back wins, and he went on to win the championship.
