Last weekend we saw a couple of veterans hang up the boots in terms of racing the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross nationals. Both Dean Wilson of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team and Alex Martin of the Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha squad completed long careers outdoors. Martin is hanging the boots up for good while Wilson is expected to transition into a supercross-only role with the Firepower Honda team.
Wilson won the AMA 250 National Motocross Title back in 2011, Martin spent a few weeks of his career leading the 250MX points and finished second in the series a few times. They had good, solid careers outdoors. Wilson got a tenth in his final round while Martin tried to suit up despite a shoulder injury but hurt his back in practice and was unable to race the motos. That’s it for them in terms of outdoor motocross in the nationals, although Wilson will moto one last time as part of Team United Kingdom at Motocross of Nations.
In honor of Troll and Dean-O, we’ve decided to look back at some notable riders last ever nationals along with some quotes and/or notes from the last race.
Note: We’ll do this in two parts, look for more stories from more riders later this week.
Dean Wilson
2022 | Pala 2 | 13-9 | 450MX
Wilson: “Everyone is like, isn’t it emotional? I’m sure later down the road, I’ll be a little bit more emotional. I’ve had a lot of good memories here at Pala. Went 1-1 in my rookie year. Next year went 1-1. I’ve been very dominant here in my 250 days, and unfortunately not so much. It was just so gnarly out there and hot, I just wanted to survive today.
That’s the outdoors done for me. I’m happy with my decision. Today put a stamp on it. When I rode off, I said, “I’m making the right decision.” I can’t just ride at my full potential anymore the way my knee is. My knee is just so mangled. It just hurts me in daily life. So, anyway, I had a good one. I had lots of ups and downs. Here we are. We’re healthy. Made it through the day.”
Alex Martin
2022 | Pala 2 | DNS | 450MX
Martin: “I’m not gonna lie I was pretty disappointed I wasn’t able to race the last two nationals of my career. I’ve had some pretty big crashes this year on the 450 and when I hurt my shoulder before Ironman it was basically just a tip over. That’s the hard part with this sport though is we are racing every seven days. So, if you have an injury mid-week it’s really hard to heal up in time for the weekend.
“Overall, though looking back at my last season I’m pretty content. Yes, I would’ve like to get more top 10s in supercross and motocross but for it being my first year on the 450 I can’t complain. I learned a ton and I’m ultimately happy to walk away from this sport healthy and on my own terms.”
Chad Reed
2018 | Ironman | 5-8 | 450MX
Reed’s last national as a full-time competitor was 2015 when he had his own TwoTwo Motorsports team on Kawasaki’s but three years after that, he raced on a JGR Suzuki in the mud at Ironman and had himself an eventful day with two good starts from the inside gate and seemed to have fun.
Nick Wey
2017 | Red Bud | 22-20 | 450MX
Wey went out scoring a point in his final MX moto.
Wey: “My last race, I was so far past my prime. I would race occasionally as an add on to sponsorship for supercross. Doing what I had to do. I raced Red Bud in 2017 as my last race since I wasn’t going to be number 27 anymore after that year. 2011 was my last full year. I was very emotional. I am emotional, though. I wanted to have achieved more in my career. I tried.”
Andrew Short
2016 | Ironman | 13-DNF | 450MX
Short: “I knew I was done before the start of the outdoors; I was just doing it for fun. I could go out on my own terms. I was running the air shock and it went flat down in staging. KTM was trying to fix it, I never did the parade lap, and I pulled the holeshot! The shock was flat, and it was like I had a rear start device. I was done after that. Honestly, I was happy to be finished.”
James Stewart
2016 | Washougal | 9-DNF | 450MX
Stewart wasn’t really himself this whole 2016 season, his first after an FIM suspension that cost him the entire 2015 season. This was just his third outdoor in 2016 and he went DNF-DNF at Hangtown, 10-DNF at Millville and then this performance at Washougal. James himself has mentioned that when he was dicing with a certain class of riders out there, he knew it was time to quit.
Kevin Windham
2011 | Millville | 11-10 | 450MX
KW dipped in and out of the nationals during his last few years of racing for the GEICO Honda squad. Heck, he even raced at Unadilla in the 125/250F class some TWELVE YEARS after he last raced the class! In 2010 he even pulled off a 450 overall win at Steel City filling in for factory Honda. In 2011 he was back filling in for injured Honda riders Josh Grant and Trey Canard, but he told me after this race that, “The dog days of summer are beating me up.” Later that week, Honda dropped a PR announcing that Windham was done for the year. He would continue on a SX-only deal for the next few years.
