Throughout the month of December, Racer X Online editors and contributors will be handing out one award each day for an outstanding performance or effort or product related to the global motocross industry in 2018. Each winner will receive this award, which we’re calling a Roger, just like the Academy Awards have their Oscars. It’s in honor of Roger DeCoster, a great ambassador for the sport of motocross for more than 50 years. Today’s topic is Racer X Cover of the Year.
For each issue of Racer X Illustrated our staff goes over a number of options for which rider should grace the front of our magazine that month. After that’s decided it’s time to setup a photo shoot or source an image that will work with our masthead logo, cover blurbs, and issue contents. We have a ton of photography to go through, and narrowing down the perfect photo is far from an exact science.
When it was determined that we were going to feature Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings on our December 2018 cover to go along with a feature we dubbed MXGP Life, the hunt was on. The moment I saw the image I knew it’d be a bitchen cover and really breaks away from the mold of some of our more recent shots.

That being said we didn’t know what the readers would think. It’s not like our standard covers, there’s a lot more space around the rider and for goodness sake there’s a giant mountain in the background! Once we had all 12 of our ’18 covers designed we put out a public poll on Racer X Online displaying all the covers, and then voting options. The December cover was the most popular, garnering 27.3 percent of the votes with our March cover featuring James Stewart on a Honda coming in second with 21.2 percent.
The cover shooter, Roddy MacLeod, also had a lot riding on this as he’s now released a coffee table book detailing his journey on the road following the MXGP series this past year. The book is called Will To Victory which can be purchased at www.willtovictory.com.

More 2018 Racer X Awards
Recommended Reading
Racer X Awards: Motocross Race of the Year December 31, 2018
Racer X Awards: Rider of the Year December 30, 2018
Racer X Awards: Best Intentions of the Year December 29, 2018
Racer X Awards: Non-Racer Instagram of the Year December 28, 2018
Racer X Awards: Rider Media of the Year December 27, 2018
Racer X Awards: Podcast of the Year December 26, 2018
Racer X Awards: Gift of the Year December 25, 2018
Racer X Awards: MXGP Race of the Year December 24, 2018
Racer X Awards: Commercial of the Year December 23, 2018
Racer X Awards: SX/MX Ambassador of the Year December 22, 2018
Racer X Awards: Non-National Event of the Year December 21, 2018
Racer X Awards: Press Conference of the Year December 20, 2018
Racer X Awards: Replacement Rider of the Year December 19, 2018
Racer X Awards: Crossover Rider of the Year December 18, 2018
Racer X Awards: Fans of the Year December 17, 2018
Racer X Awards: Vet Rider of the Year December 16, 2018
Racer X Awards: Pass(es) of the Year December 15, 2018
Racer X Awards: Women’s Rider of the Year December 14, 2018
Racer X Awards: Holeshot of the Year December 13, 2018
Racer X Awards: Mechanic of the Year December 12, 2018
Racer X Awards: Off-Roader of the Year December 11, 2018
Racer X Awards: Party of the Year December 10, 2018
Racer X Awards: Comeback Rider of the Year December 9, 2018
Racer X Awards: Minicylist of the Year December 8, 2018
Racer X Awards: Trophy of the Year December 7, 2018
Racer X Awards: Video of the Year December 5, 2018
Racer X Awards: New Rule of the Year December 4, 2018
Racer X Awards: Supercross Race of the Year December 3, 2018
Racer X Awards: Broadcast of the Year December 2, 2018
Racer X Awards: Team of the Year December 1, 2018