Wait, what was that last part?
Well, Ricky Carmichael himself always believed that the Daytona Supercross marked the beginning of the series’ home stretch. He felt that if you were healthy and in the points lead after Daytona, odds were really in your favor to take home the most prestigious championship in dirt bike racing. As RC has said on many occasions throughout his career, “I don’t think the series really starts until Daytona.”
Will history repeat itself?
Photo: Simon Cudby
We decided to put Carmichael’s belief to the test and take a look back through the results to see how many times the points leader after Daytona has gone on to win the AMA Supercross Championship throughout the past two decades.
YEAR POINTS LEADER A.D. CHAMPION
2011 Ryan Villopoto ?????????
2010 Ryan Dungey Ryan Dungey
2009 Chad Reed James Stewart
2007 James Stewart James Stewart
2006 Ricky Carmichael Ricky Carmichael
2005 Ricky Carmichael Ricky Carmichael
2003 Ricky Carmichael Ricky Carmichael
2002 Ricky Carmichael Ricky Carmichael
2001 Ricky Carmichael Ricky Carmichael
2000 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1999 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1998 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1997 Jeff Emig Jeff Emig
1996 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1995 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1994 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1993 Jeremy McGrath Jeremy McGrath
1992 Damon Bradshaw Jeff Stanton
Apparently, Carmichael knows what he’s talking about. As you can see above, if you’re leading the points after Daytona, chances are pretty good you’re going to win the title. Only twice in the past nineteen seasons has the points leader not won the championship—1992 and 2009. All of which bodes well for a guy named Ryan Villopoto.