St. Louis will host the second SMX Playoff race of 2025, a new addition to the now three-year-old post-season schedule. It’s far from a new venue for the sport, though, and in fact The Dome at America’s center (aka the Transworld Dome and Edward Jones Dome) has held some wild and memorable supercross races. Oh, and that dirt! The riders love that St. Louis soil.
We’ll see how tomorrow’s race plays out. For now, here’s The List on famous races of St. Louis’ past.
2024: St. Louis hosted Monster Energy AMA Supercross schedule last year, and it was a big because Eli Tomac scored the victory in the Triple Crown format. That’s the legend’s first race win after tearing his Achillies tendon in 2023, and also his only win of ’24. There was some wild stuff, too. The AMA threw out a red cross flag with the checkers in race two, and Jett Lawrence and nearly half the field still jumped the finish line jump, leading to a slew of penalties. Then Lawrence got absolutely T-boned by Justin Barcia in the final race, luckily escaping without a major injury. Through it all Tomac hung on for a popular win.
2020: Ken Roczen’s long journey back to a supercross win is complete here, as he took the second round of the season, held in St. Louis. This was nearly three years after the crash and injury that nearly ended his career in 2017. As for the race itself, it was pretty simple as Roczen made a quick move on Zach Osborne for the lead and took off. Emotionally, though, this one was huge.
2010: A gruesome one, as Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto were duking it out for the points lead late in the season, and a win here was going to prove pivotal. So, they were pushing hard, with RV leading and RD applying pressure. Late in the race, Villopoto appeared to hit a some of the concrete that had begun to show under the soft St. Louis dirt. He got wheelspin on a jump and came up way short, breaking his leg in an ugly crash. That cost Villopoto the rest of the season, and Dungey had a paved path to the title.
2014: Did you know St. Louis hosted the final AMA Supercross win for both James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael? James’ 2014 win is often forgotten as his last one, because it didn’t seem like he was near the end at that time. He was very good that year, and while some bad luck kept him from putting points pressure on Ryan Villopoto, JS proved several times he could beat RV for race wins. This was one of them, with a block pass on the then three-time champ to take the lead and the win.
2007: Ricky Carmichael’s last AMA Supercross win, courtesy of Chad Reed and James Stewart taking each other out. James tried to pass Chad around the outside, but Chad aimed for the exit to protect, and then both went down. RC cruised past. James later tuned Chad up in the same corner to get some revenge. As James has said many times about those days: “I hated Chad.” Ricky jokes now that he was more than happy to take one last win.
2006: Perhaps the greatest key to Ricky Carmichael’s ascension to GOAT status was his ability to avoid all the normal weirdo racing. His bikes rarely broke. He rarely got caught in first-turn crashes. Few injuries. Random dudes never crashed and accidentally knocked him down. It rarely went badly for RC. That’s what makes the 2006 St. Louis event stand out. First, Ricky suffered a scary crash in the whoops in his heat race. It could have been so bad that we’re all better off just not thinking about it too much. Then, in the main, he went down in the first turn (which seemed to never happen) and when he got up his shock spring was broken, and his race was over. A DNF, straight up.
James Stewart was then expected to win the race and take advantage in the AMA Supercross standings but instead he crashed, and then his bike simply would not restart. So, hey, even on the one night when RC’s bike let him down, so did the bike of his rival!
Chad Reed won the race and flipped what had been up until then a disappointing season into the points lead.
2008: Every fan dreams of a championship fight that goes down to the final round with two rivals battling for the win. That’s what St. Louis delivered in the Supercross Lites (250F) class in 2008. Upstart rookie Trey Canard started his career on fire, winning his first three supercross races. Title favorite Ryan Villopoto began the year with a bum wrist but eventually started winning races to put pressure on the rookie. That took the fight down to the East finale in St. Louis. Whoever won the race won the title. Canard led early, Villopoto caught him and took the lead. The rookie fought back! Canard stayed close and when Villopoto cased a jump, he dove inside. They were side-by-side, not giving and inch, and Villopoto slammed into the finish line structure! Was it a take out by Canard? There was very little contact, but Villopoto did end up on the ground. Does it matter when a title is on the line?
1996: One of the most consequential races in the history of this sport, and it was St. Louis’ debut on the schedule, too. Jeff Emig held off Jeremy McGrath in a scintillating battle (Mike LaRocco also in a supporting role), thus ending McGrath’s bid for the first and only perfect season in AMA Supercross history. McGrath had won the previous 13 races to start the season. Emig is also a Missouri native, which further cements this as an all-timer.
