June 22
1975
How big of a motocross star was Roger DeCoster? He did not win the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix of Motocross at Carlsbad—his Suzuki teammate Gerrit Wolsink did, for the second year in a row. The Dutch dentist went 3-1 while his teammate DeCoster finished 2-9, but it was "The Man" who ended up on the cover of Cycle News! Andy Hayt shot this iconic photo.
Here's some footage of the event:
On that same day at the 250cc British Grand Prix, Belgian rider Harry Everts, father of Stefan Everts, guided his Puch to the overall victory, topping Germany's Hans Maisch and Sweden's Hakan Andersson.
1991
Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle put an emphatic exclamation point on his 1991 AMA/Camel Supercross Championship run with a win at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Bayle, the factory Honda and two-time FIM Motocross World Champion who Roger DeCoster brought over from Europe, would win eight rounds of the 18-stop series and clinch it at the 15th round at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. His teammate Jeff Stanton, a two-time SX champion at that point, would finish second, with Kawasaki riders Jeff Matiasevich third and Mike Kiedrowski fourth.
The 125 class went to Yamaha's Jeff Emig, with PEAK/Pro Circuit Honda rider Steve Lamson second and Kawasaki rider "Factory" Phil Lawrence third.
1980
In one of the most shocking upsets in motocross history, LOP Yamaha privateer Marty Moates became the first American to ever win the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix. Moates did it with a 1-1 sweep. It was the one and only win of his journeyman career. Marty, who was born and raised in the area, simply ran off and hid with both motos. Fellow U.S. rider Danny LaPorte finished second overall with 3-3 scores. In the 250 Support class, Suzuki rider Brian Myerscough won.
And here's a trailer for the documentary Todd Huffman made about the race called The Carlsbad USGP: 1980.
2013
In Budds Creek, Maryland, Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey went 2-1 to top the 1-2 of Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto. Finishing third was Honda's Trey Canard with 6-4 finishes.
Here's our Remastered coverage:
In the 250 Class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Blake Baggett got the win with 1-2 moto scores to GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac's 5-1 finishes. Third and fourth went to Red Bull KTM riders Marvin Musquin (2-7) and Ken Roczen (3-6), respectively.
1997
In his first visit to Southwick MX-338, Ricky Carmichael won the first of what would be a record ten wins at the same rough circuit. He was the pudgy #70 on the Pro Circuit Kawasaki going after his first title. RC visited The Wick 338 11 times over the course of his career, winning aboard a KX125 Kawasaki, a KX 250, Honda CR250, Honda CRF450, and, finally, a Suzuki RM-Z450.
The 250 Class winner with 1-1 scores was New England legend John Dowd. Finishing second with 6-2 scores was Kawasaki's Jeff Emig.
