With Kenny Roczen dominating the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, it appears his decision to leave some probable World Championships on the table and come to the United States was a smart one. Roczen, like so many other GP riders, dreamed of coming to the U.S. to race supercross and motocross and wasn’t going to let anything stop him.
And with Dylan Ferrandis already confirmed for 2017 and Honda’s Tim Gajser likely to join him (probably in 2018, although we’ll see him at the Monster Energy Cup), Weege and I thought we’d take a look at the past GP riders that came America and how they fared, whether coming over was a smart move and how we view their time here.
*Note: We did not include Chad Reed in this list as he did one season in the GPs as a way to get to America—he just had to make a stop in Europe for one season.
Jean-Michel Bayle
The gold standard of European riders coming to America, JMB won the 1988 125 World Championship, the ’89 250 World Championship and instead of going to 500 GPs and no doubt winning that title, he came to America. In his first full season here he nearly won the Camel Supercross Championship and was leading the 125 Nationals until he broke his arm late in the season. In 1991 he swept 250SX, 250MX and 500MX (which had never been done before) and followed that up in ’92 with third overall finishes in 250SX and 250MX and a fourth in 500MX. Then he dropped the mic and left to go road racing.
Was it Worth It?
Steve Matthes: Uh, yeah. The stories of JMB still circulate the pits over here and we should never, ever forget this guy and what he did. Amazing career and he 1000000 percent made the right decision to come here. Jean-Michel, we speak your name.
Jason Weigandt: It was the best decision for him—and also every other rider who we will list next in this story! Seriously, if JMB wasn’t both stubborn and talented, he wouldn’t have been determined to come here and he wouldn’t have succeeded, and without him paving the way a lot of other riders wouldn’t have gotten a chance. European riders were absolutely not considered for factory rides in the U.S. in the late 1980s, but luckily JMB was so good that Roger DeCoster, who was with Honda at the time, was convinced he needed a shot. After JMB came and saw and kicked ass, teams started going fishing for the next one.
Mickael Pichon
Following in his fellow countryman Bayle’s footsteps, Pichon won some GPs and finished fifth and sixth in the 125 World Championship before coming to America to ride for Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Like Bayle, a former French Supercross champion, indoors came easier to Pichon and he won two 125SX titles during his career. Signed by Suzuki for the 250s, he struggled with injuries for two years (he did win the 1998 250 class (now 450) opener at Glen Helen with 5-1 moto scores) then signed with Team Honda in 1999. It was there where things went sideways for Pichon as he was upset with some family issues, didn’t like his bike and was fired by Honda halfway through the Nationals for punching a track worker. Back in Europe and on a factory Suzuki, Pichon dominated at times, won two MX1 (now MXGP) titles and was a front runner for years.
Was it Worth It?
Matthes: Yeah man, two 125SX titles… Mitch Payton will take that. Plus, he was a factor in a lot of outdoor races—although strangely his only National win was that one at Glen Helen. He was unique. He wore JT when the rest of his team didn’t. He won a 125SX title despite stepping off his bike over a triple and crashing so hard that his goggles went flying off. Pichon did some good things here and still went back to Europe and collected titles and cash.
Weigandt: The two titles make this worth it, but he’s lucky that he made a quick and easy transition back to a good team in Europe and started winning as soon as he left here. It could have been a rough situation, but he landed in a comfy spot and became the best rider in the GPs for a spell. He really got the best of both worlds.
Greg Albertyn
Albee was really, really good in Europe. Beating Stefan Everts on the regular, the South African won a 125MX World Championship, moved up to 250MX and won two consecutive titles before Roger DeCoster called and he went to America with Suzuki. Things went sideways for Albee for many years over here because A.) he couldn’t ride supercross that well and crashed 700 times breaking 32 bones (all totals approximate) and B.) the Suzukis he was on for a number of years kind of sucked. But in 1999, forever known as the year BRC (Before Ricky Carmichael), Albee won the 250MX (now 450MX) title with three wins and seven podiums. Oh, and there was one glorious 250SX victory when he somehow pulled off the opening round win in the L.A. Coliseum in 1997.
Was it Worth It?
Matthes: Well, he broke a shit-ton of bones trying but due to that 250 title, I’d say yes. Greg was probably underrated and made more money over here than he would have chasing more World Championships. How he won a supercross, I’m not really sure. I know that twice his last lap crashes put my riders into a main event qualifying position in 250SX so I’d like to thank him for that. Bonus points to Greg for coming out three years after retiring and finishing top ten at Glen Helen in the 450 class.
Weigandt: First of all, I was a huge Albee fan so I’m glad he came here. But this is one of the tougher calls. I know Greg really wanted to conquer supercross and that never really happened, so even though he got that 1999 250 title, made a ton of money and was generally well-received by fans, I wonder how much of a king he could have been in Europe. Stefan Everts eventually became the winningest GP rider ever, but Albee had him solved. If he had stuck around, could we be talking about Greg Albertyn as the greatest Grand Prix motocrosser of all time? That would be a heck of a reputation to have. Greg wasn’t a European so maybe that made him a little happier to leave anyway, and I think he really enjoys living here, so I’ll say it was the right move. But again, greatest GP rider ever? It was possible!
David Vuillemin
Another Frenchman, Vuillemin came over after only a couple of years of seriously racing the GPs and a few race wins. His dream was to race supercross and he did pretty well—although, unlike Bayle, Albee and Pichon, he never won a title in the U.S. He battled a 43-year-old (approximately) John Dowd in 125SX one year but came up short. In the premier class he was in the era of McGrath and no one was able to win much in those seven years. Vuillemin was, however, MC’s greatest competition for a bit and straight-up beat MC, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Chad Reed—not many people can say that. DV finished second twice in 250SX (now 450SX), won a bunch of races and made millions of dollars.
Was it Worth It?
Matthes: Although I would bet money that Vuillemin would’ve won a World Championship or two had he stayed over there, his wins and podiums over here indicate just how good he really was. And he gave us some epic Reality of Speed TV show quotes, which we wouldn’t have gotten if he stayed in Europe.
Weigandt: I use supercross as the yardstick for most of these guys. If you figured it out and got the riches and success from it, then the move was worth it. DV definitely did that. Unlike Albee, I think the U.S. style of racing worked better for DV than Europe. You know another great way to measure if the move to the U.S. worked? Look at which dudes stayed here when their racing days were over. DV lives in California. I think it all worked out well.
Stephane Roncada
Ron Ron was, like Pichon and DV, a French Supercross champion that came over here and really excelled indoors. I don’t know how he ever did in the GPs, but I don’t think he did too many or too well at them. Over here though he won some races for Honda of Troy, won a 125SX title for Yamaha of Troy, showed some flashes of brilliance here and there for Factory Kawasaki and then who could forget that time he diced with James Stewart at Hangtown? Steph could ride a bike for sure but off the track video games and other stuff happened, and Roncada never reached the heights people thought he would. Still, he got a 125SX title, some National wins and diced with Bubba, so…
Was it Worth It?
Matthes: Heck yeah it was. Ron Ron was never a motocross warrior and I’m not sure how the GPs would’ve gone for him had he never come over (although he did come very close to winning the 2000 125 title, only for Travis Pastrana to snatch it away in the final round). He was a good supercross rider and America has lots and lots of supercross races. For Steph, coming to America was great.
Weigandt: Exactly. If you can get supercross down, it’s worth the move, so Ron-Ron got it right. By the way, when people say American fans automatically don’t like French riders, I hold up Ron-Ron as an example. He was cool and everyone loved him.
Sebastian Tortelli
Tortelli came over after two World Championships in a couple of epic battles with Stefan Everts and of course, his 1998 LA Coliseum SX win (in the mud). He was probably the hottest property in the sport and apparently Honda won out with a huge money offer for Seb’s services. But Tortelli couldn’t really get supercross down. He never won another supercross race outside of that night at the Coliseum but holy crap could he ever ride motocross! It seems like Ricky Carmichael always just dominated outdoors, but many times Tortelli gave Ricky a run and in fact, led the points halfway through the Nationals the first time they locked horns in 2000. Tortelli just couldn’t stay healthy though as crash after crash left his bike and body battered. Great guy, though. Hell of a cook and a dresser, also!
Was it Worth It?
Matthes: Definitely. After he made a ton of money here, he still signed a big money two-year deal with KTM to go back to the GPs (note: that didn’t work out either), which is exactly what you want to do. Seb’s 1999 Glen Helen race was mind blowing and in the top five rides I’ve ever seen in person. Ironic that Seb made his first splash here in supercross and yet could never really get supercross down. Still, we’re all better for having Seb here all those years.
Weigandt: I love me some Tortelli, and the dude was bad fast. I remember watching him as a young French rider and literally being scared. He was so fast and so good I thought he was set to completely dominate racing. Like, I’m talking move here and take McGrath and Emig’s lunch indoors and out, as well as lead France to ten-straight des Nations victories. So then he shows up as a guest at the 1998 L.A. Supercross and PASSES THE BEST SX RIDERS IN THE WORLD TO WIN THE RACE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
To this day I still can’t believe it never really worked out for him. He never won another supercross, only grabbed a few National wins (his ’99 Glen Helen win was mind blowing, though) and never won a title here. He tried really hard, went really fast and crashed a lot. I feel like this is one guy who showed his best stuff in Europe and never reached the expected heights here. Supercross injuries definitely didn’t help. Like Albee, I think from a pure results and accolades standpoint, he might have been better staying in Europe, because he might have broken some GP records. But he and his bank account would have missed out!
