Daytona man! It’s that time for the race down at The Speedway and hey, have you heard that the season starts at Daytona? I’m not going to revisit that from last week’s column, but I will mention the stat I saw stating 78 percent of the 450SX title winners held the points lead leaving Daytona. That sort of proves that everything you do before and at Daytona seems to be more key to winning the title, than what happens after this race, no?
Ok, I don’t wanna get the RC superfans all bothered more than they are already. Let’s move on.
Also, I didn’t go to Daytona. It’s not a great race to cover for a media guy. For one, you can’t see much, and your pass doesn’t get you anywhere except for a windowless concrete room where you can watch the race on TV. If you want to go out to the stands, it’s a 50/50 proposition that the guard will let you in. If you get in, your phone won’t really work for lap times and other things that help you watch and report on a race. It’s very expensive to fly to, and it’s a long drive from the airport. Heck, even the chicken tenders aren’t good (#TTT on IG).
RC himself designs the track, but it’s not even RC’s fault that the track isn’t anywhere near as good as it used to be. Lawyers, lack of space, rules about the grass, etc., conspire to hurt what he can do for a design. Heck, this year he just ran it back to last year’s design because, what else can you do?
I understand that if you’re A) from Florida, B) you love NASCAR, C) think it’s cool to watch from the tarmac, then maybe this is the race for you. Also, it’s got the history of Daytona and all that but for me, a guy who has been to the “golden years” of Daytona where it was SO different and so unique to the series, I’d rather just stay at home if I’m honest. [Editor’s Note: Where you can also yell at kids to stay off your lawn? -Hansel]
Okay, well Eli Tomac rode a great race to beat also-rode-a-great race Cooper Webb. Coop hit neutral while holding a slim lead on ET. That was the opening Tomac needed to get by, and although Coop stalked him for the rest of the main event, he wasn’t able to get back by.
In case you’re scoring at home, Webb’s last four Daytona finishes have been 2-3-2-2, which has to sting.
In case you’re also wondering, there was one pass made in the last nine laps amongst the riders in the top ten. Daytona—catch the fever!
So, with this win Tomac passes Carmichael for third all-time in 450SX wins with 49 and he’s now one behind James Stewart for second all-time. He’s got two titles already and apparently there’s a 78 percent chance he wins a third.
I bet you’re wondering what my own ranking is for these SX legends. Well, you’re in luck! I’m gonna give you that, having seen these guys in action for most of their primes.
Here are stats on some notables:
Jeremy McGrath | 7 titles | 72 wins | 42% win percentage
James Stewart | 2 titles | 50 wins | 41% win percentage
Eli Tomac | 2 titles | 49 wins | 32% win percentage
Ricky Carmichael | 5 titles | 48 wins | 42% win percentage
Chad Reed | 2 titles | 44 wins | 18% win percentage
Ryan Villopoto, | 4 titles | 41 wins | 45% win percentage
Ryan Dungey | 4 titles | 34 wins | 25% percent win percentage
Rick Johnson | 2 titles | 28 wins | 28% percent win percentage
Bob Hannah | 3 titles | 27 wins | 32% percent win percentage
Jean-Michel Bayle | 1 title | 16 wins | 28% percent win percentage
Okay well for me, there’s no doubting McGrath is the best supercross racer of all time. Even if you want to adjust for depth of competition and all that, his win percentage before he retired for a year and came back was OVER 50 percent. Do I think MC and his competitors where in as good of shape as Villopoto and RC? No, I do not. It was a looser era for the guys back then, but you race in the era you race in. That’s the way it was in the 90s. MC has the titles, the wins and all that. If anyone says McGrath isn’t the best SX’er ever, you need to slap them in their face.
The second slot for me would be Stewart. No he doesn’t have the titles, but he’s got the wins and I was there bro—I saw the things James did. He innovated, elevated, and amazed for most of his SX career. Leaving Kawasaki over an energy drink deal was not the best move for him and the backward-motor Yamaha he had to ride for a few years wasn’t great. Also, don’t forget, James and Carmichael raced every World SX race in 2006 and Stewart beat him for that title.
Third would be RC. Never a flashy SX guy, he got it done his usual way, with hard work and elite fitness. Carmichael got beat in 1999 and 2000 and then, yeah, never lost again. He’s also got the all-time SX podium percentage record as well.
Fourth for me would be Villopoto. He was a bit like RC in that he wasn’t massively flashy but look at those records! He hung it up early also when he had more wins in him, and maybe more titles. He’s got those titles and that win percentage going for him.
Fifth would be Tomac. He’s going to end up second all-time in SX wins and he’s looking good for this title right now. He left another couple titles on the table when he was the fastest guy week-to-week but he just had those weirdo rides that cost him points.
Sixth is Chad Reed, who had the unfortunate luck of going up against the number two and three all-time SX win list guys in Stew and RC. On his day though, he could beat either of them. He took advantage of RC’s injury and Stew’s injury to cruise to two titles and that’s not easy, either. His low win percent for me doesn’t come into play because he hung on for a long time, he kept racing and that drags the win numbers down. Plus, Chad’s trademark wasn’t wins so much as brutal consistency. In his prime years he literally could not finish off the podium no matter what happened during the weekend. You have to keep that in perspective when ranking him.
Seventh is Ryan Dungey, who’s got the titles up there but not all the wins he needs. The thing is, to me, he got beat by Villopoto four years in a row, and then he was definitely not the fastest guy in his last two title years but used his smarts and skills to get it down. [Editor’s note: Scoreboard – AH]
Rick Johnson is next, and I remember being at the race where he passed Hannah in all-time SX wins. It seemed like the sky was the limit for him but that was it, he lost the next week when he fell late while leading and then broke his wrist. He never won another SX again. Also, the ’87 title was probably his if he doesn’t knock himself out at round one and then break some fingers later on.
Bob Hannah was, by all accounts, the fastest rider in ’83, and maybe ’84, on factory Honda, but kept getting hurt. He was, of course, the guy in the late ‘70s and there was no end in sight for his winning until he broke his lower leg water-skiing.
Knocking on the door are Webb (two titles, 21 wins) Jeff Ward (two titles, 20 wins) and Jean-Michel Bayle. They’re all legends, for sure. JMB, especially, doesn’t get mentioned enough because he retired really early so the numbers aren’t impressive. Ask anyone who raced him how good he was, though. And yes, it’s amazing Damon Bradshaw NEVER won a 450SX title.
Okay, those are my rankings.
Back to Daytona. Justin Barcia never cheats you for effort, that’s for sure and it’s also for sure that he wasn’t happy with Chase Sexton accidently making contact with him twice while the #51 was going for the pass. The second time put Justin on the ground and cost him a podium. Sexton looked a bit rattled, making mistakes and losing some time to the top two guys. Barcia was coming but it was not to be for him. Still, nice effort!
RJ Hampshire winning his first ever 450SX heat while still being a 250SX rider was not something I had on my Bingo card. But he did it! Holeshot and checked out! Crazy for sure and that had to feel awesome for the native Floridian. He was on the PulpMX Show Monday talking about how he was riding the bike in second gear WAY too much and how he’s also taking it to Indy this weekend.
Hampshire mentioned he’s doing his deal with Husqvarna to stay next year but it’s not done yet. It’s at this point that I advised him to bump the dollar amount up after a 450-debut performance like this one.
You can watch the interview HERE.
Hunter Lawrence went wire-to-wire for the 250SX win and widened his points gap. He’s the best rider in the series and he helped himself when he went wide in a turn and knocked down maybe the second-fastest rider in the class in Nate Thrasher. Look, I’m a “SX is a contact sport” kind of guy (COUGH JT) so I’m all good with the Lawrence pass, but it was greasy, and Thrasher will probably try to pay him back at some point. I mean, why not? Nate’s probably out of this title now. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Max Anstie survived running over a Tuff Block (NOTHING WE CAN DO) out of the first turn and then went on again to another impressive race. I did not have Anstie and Haiden Deegan being second and third in the points after four rounds! Not Jordon Smith, not Nate Thrasher, not Michael Mosiman, not Jeremy Martin. No, it’s Anstie and Deegan closest to Lawrence. Weird world, man.
Haiden Deegan was also on the PulpMX Show on Monday night, and I’m struck by how mature he is considering his age. Yes, he said he would do a ghost ride if/when he wins his first 250SX and yes, I’m sure the AMA would not be stoked. Anyway, he was mentioning just how cool it is to be a pro and how he was left up in the air as to whether he was going to race east or not by his team after his A2 Futures race. Clearly, going pro was the right call.
In Daytona he mentioned that obviously there was no ill-intent there to knock Jeremy Martin down but hey, he had to get to the front, right? The kid is in shape obviously and he’s got a lot of energy in his riding. He reminds me a bit of Justin Barcia in his early years in the 250 class.
Some other news and notes:
Great work for Justin Cooper to get a sixth in his last 450SX for a while, maybe for the year. He’s been pretty impressive for jumping into the series late and I think he’s opened the eyes of some 450SX managers next year.
I see you, Grant Harlan, coming from basically last to grab ninth on the last lap to make the 450SX main, then finishing an impressive 14th in the main. Nice work! Beating his teammate Benji has to feel good.
Hardy Munoz loves Daytona. That is all.
The mind boggles at what kind of celebration Aaron Plessinger would pull off if he ever won Daytona. Would he run naked like Ricky Bobby? Would he just do a burnout with one hand on his bars until his tire AND rim melted while he wore a cowboy hat?
Michael Hicks is fast and he’s talented, but he does seem to have a problem in a “normal” SX of being fast for the entire 15-minute main event. Insert AX joke here. So, of course, what does he do in the roughest, toughest SX all year long? He scores his best finish, a 14th. Figures.
The aliens still have Michael Mosiman everyone. They’re still controlling his every move.
Chance Hymas is done with his rookie 250SX season, and I think this was his best one yet. He came from a long wayyyyys back to get sixth. Great work for Chunk!
I’ll be back at Indy this weekend everyone, see you at the Fly Racing LIVE Podcast show this Friday night and the SX on Saturday. Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat!