Racer X - Motocross & Supercross NewsRacer X
  • All Series
  • Subscribe Now
  • One Click Sign-In

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    OR

    Sign in with your username and password

    • Sign In
    Unfortunately your Personalization privacy settings prevent us from showing you this Login. Please update your consent to see this content.
  • Supercross
    • News
    • Schedule
    • TV Schedule
    • Results
    • Standings
    • Teams
    • Riders
    • Tracks
    • The Vault
  • Motocross
    • News
    • Schedule
    • TV Schedule
    • Results
    • Standings
    • Riders
    • Teams
    • Tracks
    • The Vault
  • SuperMotocross
    • News
    • Schedule
    • TV Schedule
    • Results
    • Standings
    • Teams
    • Riders
    • Tracks
  • MXGP
    • News
    • Schedule
    • TV Schedule
    • Results
    • Standings
    • Teams
    • Riders
    • Tracks
  • GNCC
    • News
    • Schedule
    • TV Schedule
    • Results
    • Standings
    • Riders
    • Tracks
  • Loretta Lynn’s
    • News
    • The Vault
  • More Series
    • Supercross
    • Motocross
    • SuperMotocross
    • MXGP
    • GNCC
    • Loretta Lynn’s
    • MXoN
    • WSX
    • Australian SX
    • Australian MX
    • Canadian MX
    • EnduroCross
    • Straight Rhythm
  • Features
    • 10 Things
    • 30 Greatest AMA Motocrossers
    • 3 on 3
    • 250 Words
    • 450 Words
    • Arenacross Report
    • Between the Motos
    • Breakdown
    • Deals of the Week
    • GNCC Report
    • Great Battles
    • How to Watch
    • Injury Report
    • Insight
    • In the Mag, On the Web
    • Lockdown Diaries
    • Longform
    • MXGP Race Reports
    • My Favorite Loretta Lynn's Moto
    • Next
    • Next Level
    • Observations
    • On This Day in Moto
    • Open Mic
    • Privateer Profile
    • Race Day Feed
    • Racerhead
    • Racer X Awards
    • Racer X Redux
    • Rapid Reaxtion
    • RX Exhaust
    • Saturday Night Live
    • Staging Area
    • The Conversation
    • The List
    • The Lives They Lived
    • The Moment
    • Things We Learned at the Ranch
    • UnPhiltered
    • Wake-Up Call
    • Where Are They Now
    • 50 Years of Pro Motocross
  • Shop
    • New Releases
    • Men's
    • Women's
    • Youth
    • Accessories
    • Sales Rack
    • Stickers
  • About Us
  • The Mag
    • Digital Magazine Bookstand
    • Customer Care
    • Current Issue
    • Newsletter
    • Store Locator
    • Subscribe
    • Sell Racer X
  • One Click Sign-In

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    OR

    Sign in with your username and password

    • Sign In
    Unfortunately your Personalization privacy settings prevent us from showing you this Login. Please update your consent to see this content.
  • Supercross
  • News
  • Schedule
  • TV Schedule
  • Results
  • Standings
  • Teams
  • Riders
  • Tracks
  • The Vault
  • Subscribe Now
  • Table of Contents
Results Archive
GNCC
Powerline Park
News
Overall Race Results
  1. Steward Baylor
  2. Jordan Ashburn
  3. Angus Riordan
Full Results
XC2 Pro Race Results
  1. Angus Riordan
  2. Cody J Barnes
  3. Grant Davis
Full Results
Supercross
Denver
News
450SX Main Event Results
  1. Chase Sexton
  2. Cooper Webb
  3. Justin Cooper
Full Results
250SX West Main Event Results
  1. Haiden Deegan
  2. Julien Beaumer
  3. Garrett Marchbanks
Full Results
MXGP of
Portugal
News
MXGP Results
  1. Lucas Coenen
  2. Romain Febvre
  3. Ruben Fernandez
Full Results
MX2 Results
  1. Andrea Adamo
  2. Simon Längenfelder
  3. Kay de Wolf
Full Results
Supercross
Salt Lake City
News
450SX Main Event Results
  1. Chase Sexton
  2. Malcolm Stewart
  3. Justin Cooper
Full Results
250SX Showdown Main Event Results
  1. Haiden Deegan
  2. Julien Beaumer
  3. Tom Vialle
Full Results
MXGP of
Spain
News
MXGP Results
  1. Romain Febvre
  2. Lucas Coenen
  3. Ruben Fernandez
Full Results
MX2 Results
  1. Kay de Wolf
  2. Andrea Adamo
  3. Sacha Coenen
Full Results
Live Now
GNCC
Hoosier
News
Upcoming
Motocross
Fox Raceway
Sat May 24
News
Upcoming
MXGP of
France
Sun May 25
News
Upcoming
GNCC
Mason-Dixon
Fri May 30
News
Upcoming
MXGP of
Germany
Sun Jun 1
News
Full Schedule
The List: Debut Motocross Winners

The List: Debut Motocross Winners

June 4, 2021, 4:00pm
Davey Coombs Davey Coombs
Advertisement | Advertise with Us
  • Home
  • The List
  • Riders to Win Their First Ever 450 Class Pro Motocross Race

No garage is complete without a full complement of Maxima aerosol products, each of which has been thoughtfully designed with a very specific purpose. Knocking out corrosion? Grab a can of our Multi-Purpose Penetrant Lube. Guarding your engine against dirt? Go to town with our Fab-1 Spray-On Air Filter Oil. Need to restore and protect your plastics? Reach for Maxima’s famous SC1 high-gloss coating, which has been appropriately referred to as “New Bike in a Can™” due to its almost-magical ability to recondition your machine. Across the board, Maxima is proud to offer the top aerosol products in every category—and trust us, your bike will thank you.

Advertisement | Advertise with Us
Pala, CA Fox Raceway 1AMA Pro Motocross Championship
  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

When Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha's Dylan Ferrandis scored the overall win in his first-ever 450 Pro Motocross race, he joined a fairly small list of riders who won in the 250/450 class the very first time they entered an outdoor national in the class. Ferrandis, last year's 250 class Pro Motocross Champion, also became one of four French riders to pull this off!

Let's start with day one of AMA Pro Motocross, which goes back to April 16, 1972. The first winner ever was New York's Sonny DeFeo, who was riding a Ghost CZ at Road Atlanta in the 250 class. There was also a 500 class that day, and the winner there was his teammate Barry Higgins, also of New York.

Later that same series, Washington native Jim "Bimbo" Pomeroy entered his first-ever Pro Motocross race in the 250 class at Saddleback Park. The future "First American" took the win, and one year later would become the only riders in motocross history to win both his first outdoor national as well as his first Grand Prix when he won the '73 250cc opener in Spain.

Jim Pomeroy in 1973.
Jim Pomeroy in 1973. Racer X Archives

Gary Bailey was a veteran of motocross when that first AMA National Motocross Championship popped up in 1972, and by that point "The Professor" was as much into teaching and promoting and building tracks as he was into racing. He started the series on a 500 and came close to winning a couple of time, but then in June he switched to the 250 class for the race in Snyder Park, Indiana, and won in his debut aboard the smaller Bultaco.

(One other first-time winner that year, though not in the 250 class, was "Bad" Brad Lackey, who showed up at the third round Cal-Expo race in Sacramento and won the 500 class, marking his first AMA win as well as the first for the Kawasaki brand, which he was debuting in an AMA race.)

There's also a special place in motocross history for Pierre Karsmakers, and more specifically Yamaha. The Dutchman was imported by Yamaha in 1973 to help them shake down their new motocross models and also help guide younger riders. Karsmakers ended up winning both the first 500 National he ever entered (Daytona) as well as the first 250 National he entered later on at Manning Cycle Park in Utah.

From that point in 1973 it would be nearly a decade before a rider to win a 250 National in his first attempt. Yamaha's 17-year-old Rick Johnson was man to do it next in 1982, riding a mostly stock YZ250 to the win in the Hangtown opener.

Rick Johnson in 1982.
Rick Johnson in 1982. Racer X Archives

In 1983 the opening round of the series moved east to Gatorback in Florida, and in his very first 250 National, Kawasaki's Jeff Ward took the win. What's interesting about this is the fact that Ward was already an established superstar, having claimed the previous year's AMA 125 National Championship. He had also led Team USA to Motocross of Nations wins in both 1983 and '84, riding both 250s and 500s. He was also already a 250 SX winner!

Nineteen eighty-nine would mark the beginning of a very long and important chapter of American motocross that continues to this day. French sensation Jean-Michel Bayle showed up at the Gatorback opener in a mini-van, with help from Pro Circuit and American Honda, and won the 250 National opener. He would be followed by a way of Frenchmen that stretches all the way to Dylan Ferrandis last weekend. In between two other French riders won their first 250 National opener, Suzukis Mickael Pichon in 1998 at Glen Helen, and then Honda's Sebastien Tortelli the very next year, also at Glen Helen.

The Glen Helen opener's streak of producing first-time 250 National winners in their class debut extended to 2000, but not with a French rider, but rather a Floridian. Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael, by this point a three-time 125 National Champion, won in his 250 class debut outdoors. And get this: In 2001 and 2002, two more first-time national entries would also win, but in the 125 class, as KTM's Grant Langston won in his debut in 2001 and Kawasaki's James Stewart won in his first-ever Pro Motocross race in 2002.

Ricky Carmichael in 2000.
Ricky Carmichael in 2000. Simon Cudby
Advertisement | Advertise with Us

It would be almost another decade before we would see another first-time rider win in the big-bike class, though by this point the 250 two-strokes had been replaced by 450 four-strokes. And three-time "Lites" class champion Ryan Villopoto was the one to do it, winning at Glen Helen in 2009.

Ryan Villopoto after winning the 2009 Glen Helen National.
Ryan Villopoto after winning the 2009 Glen Helen National. Simon Cudby
Dylan Ferrandis finished 1-3 to win the overall in his very first 450 Class Pro Motocross event.
Dylan Ferrandis finished 1-3 to win the overall in his very first 450 Class Pro Motocross event. Align Media

The last rider on this list, before Ferrandis, of course, is another international superstar. In 2017 Dutch KTM rider and multi-time FIM Motocross World Champion Jeffrey Herlings decided to use a break in the MXGP schedule to come to America early for the USGP in Florida and enter the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season finale, the Ironman National in Indiana. Herlings put on a superb performance to win the first 450 moto and then come from nearly last to overtake Marvin Musquin in the late going of the second to take the overall win in his one and only AMA Pro Motocross race.

BONUS: When discussing previous first-time entries to win their very first 250/450 Nationals, we mentioned the old 500 class a few times. It ran from 1972 through 1993 and had a rich history of its own, with legendary champions like Brad Lackey, Broc Glover, David Bailey, Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, Jean-Michel Bayle, and more. But it sometimes gets left out of bench-racing and trivia because most consider the old 250 two-stroke class as the one that evolved into the 450 class a decade ago. So, it's unfortunate that the 500 class gets left out at times. We asked one of our favorite SX/MX statisticians, "Producer" Pete Richards, to give us a list of first-time entries to win their first 500 Nationals. I mentioned a couple—Lackey and Higgins—above, but here's all of them, in a neat graph produced by Producer Pete.

Producer Pete.

Don’t Miss a Moto!

 

Sign up for our newsletter to get headlines, info, and scoops as soon as they break. As a bonus, you’ll be entered into our weekly giveaways too!

TGI Freeday - Newsletter Giveaway
By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy. Must be 18 years of age or older to win.
  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Previous Next
UnPhiltered Fri Jun 4 UnPhiltered How to Watch: Thunder Valley & Mason-Dixon GNCC Fri Jun 4 How to Watch: Thunder Valley & Mason-Dixon GNCC
Presented by:
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Website
Advertisement | Advertise with Us
Read Now
June 2025 Issue Now Available
Get Racer X on your iPhone
Check out all the exclusive content this month on any device!
Read Now
The June 2025 Digital Issue Availalbe Now

Motocross & Supercross News - Racer X

122 Vista Del Rio Drive, Morgantown, WV 26508 | 304-284-0084 | Contact Us
©1999 - 2025 Filter Publications LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Preferences | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
Forms on this page are protected by reCAPTCHA, its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
designed at: Impulse Studios