The List: The Best Off-Season Moves Ever
Thursday, October 6, 2011 | 3:50 PM
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PrintThe October 1 contract expirations flooded this week’s news with team and rider switches. We now (officially) know Ryan Dungey is riding KTMs, and so is Malcolm Stewart. Andrew Short is back on Honda’s for a team we’re going to call McBrooks Racing until we hear something better. Kawasaki has let Team Manager Mike Fisher go. Things are getting crazy, and they’re not done yet.
In that light, for the next two weeks, we’re going to focus The List on past off-season moves. This week, we highlight the best silly season moves of all time—ones that worked out best for rider and team.
Next week? The bad news—deals that didn’t work. But for now, let’s keep it positive, with The Best Off-Season Moves Ever!
10. Ricky Carmichael to Honda, 2002: Jeremy McGrath left Honda after 1996, and the brand’s decade-long run of domination came to an abrupt hault. They tried to come back with Ezra Lusk, Kevin Windham, Mike LaRocco, Sebastian Tortelli and others, but titles never came. Then they signed Kawasaki’s Ricky Carmichael to a massive deal, and shot back up the charts. Since Carmichael left, they haven’t had the same success.
9. Doug Henry to Yamaha, 1996: Henry won two 125 MX crowns with Honda before a massive crash and injury knocked him out of his first season on 250s—while he was about to take over the series’ points lead. He went to Yamaha for 1996, but the injury had slowed him. For 1997, Yamaha put him on an experimental YZF400M four-stroke, which spawned a production version for 1998. Henry took that bike to the 1998 250 National Motocross Championship. The combined force of Henry and Yamaha made the four-stroke what it is today.
Johnson made the move to Honda in 1986.
8. Roger DeCoster to Honda for 1980: The Man made his name on Suzukis, with five World GP Championships. In his last year of racing, in 1980, Honda signed him in a racing and development role. He won the last GP of his career, but his bigger impact came when he and his GP mechanic Dave Arnold headed to the U.S. to rebuild Honda’s efforts here. Within three years, they built the most dominant premier-class team in the history of AMA racing. The likes of McGrath, Johnson, Stanton, Bailey, O’Mara, Hansen, Dymond and even Hannah in his latter years may not have found success without The Man’s influence on the red bikes.
7. Pro Circuit to Kawasaki for 1993: Mitch Payton started his race team as Honda’s official 125 effort in 1991. But for 1993, Honda brought their factory effort back into the 125s, and Payton was left without support. To be fair to Honda, Payton’s team had dominated supercross, but Kawasaki and Yamaha had claimed the ’91 and ’92 125 outdoor titles, and as soon as factory Honda got back into the game, they won the 1993 125 MX crown with Henry. As for Payton, Kawasaki came to the rescue, and they’ve been linked every since—as the most dominant team in that classes’ history.
6. McGrath to Yamaha: This one was perfect for the brand and rider. After a rough 1997 attempt on Suzukis, Jeremy McGrath needed something new to get him back on top in supercross. Yamaha, also, had been jilted by Damon Bradshaw, who was supposed to be the star of the 90s, but left them at the championship altar. MC needed Yamaha and Yamaha needed MC. They hooked up and reeled off three-straight AMA SX Titles.
No one saw the Hurricane coming.
5. Rick Johnson to Honda, 1986: Rick Johnson had speed and determination. He even had the 1984 AMA 250 National MX Championship. But he was just part of a party-driven group in the mid 1980s, where any one of eight riders could win any race on any day. That’s until RJ moved from Yamaha to Honda for 1986. From that moment on, he won races at a clip the sport had not seen since Bob Hannah a decade earlier.
4. Bob Hannah to Yamaha, 1976: No one saw this Hurricane coming. Hannah was a little-known DG Suzuki rider in Southern California in 1975, but Yamaha signed him for ’76, where he promptly won the Florida Winter Series and earned the nickname Hurricane. Then came a 125 National Championship versus Honda’s seemingly-unstoppable Marty Smith, followed by three-straight supercross titles, and overall domination the likes of which had never been seen before. Yamaha’s monoshock bikes owned the sport in the late 1970s, based mostly on the move to sign a young Bob Hannah.
3. Ricky Carmichael to Suzuki, 2005: Best-ever combination move for rider and team. Carmichael had shown some cracks in the foundation via Chad Reed’s supercross surge in 2003, and James Stewart was coming. RC then missed the 2004 SX tour with a torn ACL. This was set to be the classic end of the line. Suzuki, meanwhile, had endured the McGrath dissapointment of ’97, and, more recently, things were going so badly that most considered the team to be cursed! In April of ’04, before RC could even get back on a bike, they signed him for the 2005 season. He won every championship he competed in for them and still rides yellow to this day. Suzuki’s whole rep is very largely still built on their linkup with RC.
Stanton to Honda tops The List.
Photo: Thom Veety
2. Micky Dymond to Honda, 1986: As one of the last riders of his era to race Husqvarnas, Dymond wasn’t even near the podium. Honda made the curious decision to sign him to their powerhouse team, even though he had only earned a national number in the 40s. He delivered back-to-back AMA 125 National MX Titles.
1. Jeff Stanton to Honda, 1989: Jeff Stanton was not supposed to win six AMA National Championships. No way anyone, except Stanton himself, was banking on him to get to that level. Solid outdoor guy? Yes. Consistent, solid rider? Sure. But when Stanton moved from Yamaha to Honda for the 1989 season, and started hanging with his new teammate Johnson, he turned into a whole new man. Before ’89, Stanton had never won a supercross race. By the end of the year, he was the SX and 250 MX Champion. Like RJ and Dymond above, had Stanton not made the switch, his career and life would have most likely turned out very different.
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Lets just go ahead and add RD to KTM now!!! Have i made it too obvious that i'm hoping he does well with/for them??haha
It would be nice to see if Justin Brayton can make the same strides Stanton did when he moved to Honda. Seems like he has some of the same qualities... Solid outdoor guy? Yes. Consistent, solid rider? Sure....you just never know. Looking forward to see what JB10 can do on that Factory Honda!
In the 80's and early 90's,, just about anyone who jumped on a Honda won.. Also, they could buy the best riders in that time.
I like the way Brayton rides, but he will likely have to be happy to get a top 5. No way he is beating RV, RD, Reed, Stewart or Canard. I think the 6th on back guys are going to have some killer battles though.
If I'm not mistaken, in the photo of Stanton, he is riding a 125 (125 Support Class) at Unadilla that ran in conjunction with the U.S.G.P. The year..1989 He won by the way, sweeping both motos in his only race on a one two five. This was also Bob Hannah's farewell race in the 250 class.
I still remember Micky Dymond saying WHY DO THEY NEED ME after Rodger D came out onto the test track and passed him in his first few days at Honda. LOL
I would think the combination of Reed leaving San Manuel Yamaha for Suzuki and James leaving Kawi for San Manuel Yamaha should be on this list! That was crazy news!
@ jojo,,, that's no 125,, looks like a 5-hundy to me...
Thats NOT a 125, Yellow backgrounds was the 500 class... And that Pipe and cylinder is waaaaaaaaaaay to big to be a 125 LOL
JS did NOT leave Kaw, KAW signed RV and told JS good bye.
If the list was bigger, you could add Bailey to Honda, Hannah to Honda, Magoo to Honda, Lamson to Honda... For a while there, everyone got better when they got on Big Red.
Brian Swink to MOTO XXX
James Stewart to whatever team he goes to.......any day now??????
Cooper leaving Honda to ride Suzuki in 90 then winning the 125 outdoor championship
Back in the 80's Team Honda was the bog dogs on the block. They were like the Yankess, they could spend the money and had the trickest parts to win all the time. the guys who went there were usually the next champ.
Contract expirations flooded this weeks news? yea right all we`ve heard about is dungey
....and brayton oops
Dungey to KTM is the best move KTM has made. I honestly don't think it will hurt Dungey much, if at all. If this was Stewart or RV or RC when, well anytime in his career it might be different. But as good as RD is doing I still don't think he (at least yet) has the stuff to consistantly beat RV, Stewie, and Reed
Very cool write up. Team honda was the sh!t back then (in roadracing too).Jeff Ward seemed to be about the only rider able to snag some titles from honda.
Carmichael could switch to team jinshingtwang or team tornado (like ping) and make the list.Ricky could win on a moped.
@speedracer42
You know the KTMs one the last 4-6 championsships in europe with "real" works bikes?
You know they are building a "dungey" KTM - with special frame if needed and all? ;-)
Hadn't RD lost his suzi in that one race when he lead reed, he'd be AMA champion by now (just add 25 pts. to his result) :-D
The KTMs won't break next year - i know the effort they put in here in europe. No motor is used more than a weekend, all used parts are dropped after weekend, the supension guys from WP built whatever parts are needed...
The bikes will be even or are already they just never had a podium racer on them (Mike Alessi never reached it's peek after that crash again did he?).
Can't wait for SX in anaheim! :-D
Suzuki has made some great moves in the last decade. RC, Reed, Dungey, Alessi even did well against Stewart in the outdoors. But unless they can get Reed back or Stewart on the bike their tenure might be coming to an end.
Slightly off topic- Ricky or Stewie wringing the living he'll out of a 125, I'd pay to see and hear that again.
Spike you totally missed my point. Im not knocking KTM at all, and Im not really knocking RD either. But my point IS that HE doesn't quite have what it takes IMO to consistantly beat the other guys. Moto racing (road or mx) is not like car racing. You can put a decent driver in an amazing car and he will win. If you put a decent rider on an amazing bike he will still not win.
And you theory about adding 25pts is bs. That only works if you add those points, and assume that nothing else changes. Well if you go back and change that then everything else changes too. So don't assume, and no what if bs. What actually happened is that RV won the #1 plate. Anything else is empty arguments
Amen, Speed.
the foliage color behind Stanton tells me that this was one of the years that Unadilla had the normal July GP and a September AMA 125/500 National. that's about how it looks for the September GNCC's there!
@speedracer - Dungey got 4 Overalls, Villopoto got 3 Overalls, and your saying Dungey can't beat RV? Who has the empty argument now?
@Smee, the Dungey fans won't let that alone. Its ONE statistic. RV started the year sick, and never really liked his bike and set up. He won when he needed to. Thats what he does. I will conced that RD rode AWESOME. Far better outdoors than I thought he would, esp after the SX season. Like I said I don't think the KTM will hold him back much, if at all. Lets see how he does in 2012. There will be alot of bench racing until then, and I liove it. But simply saying he won more overalls means nothing in the end, because winning races clearly does not always win titles.
@speedracer - Fair enough, but then again this is the first year that Villopoto has remained healthy since he raced in the Lites/250 Class. If anything, I would say that Dungey's consistency is his strong point, he's only been injured once (as far as I know), and he crashes far less than Villopoto, so you saying "winning races doesn't always win championships" would seem to go in Dungey's favor, no? Not to take anything away from Villopoto, because he certainly earned both championships, but most of Dungey's downfalls were his teams fault, not his, so if anything won't KTM make him strong?
That last word is supposed to be stronger, btw
Speedracer42 - to say that Dungey "doesn't quite have what it takes IMO to consistantly beat the other guys" is absurd. When he DNF'd at Freestone, he was laying wood to the entire field. 34 seconds ahead of Reed in 2nd place and an amazing 1:31 ahead of your boy RV - who was in 6th. Yes, the entire season could have turned out differently, but it's hard to ignore that this was a 27 point swing. (-25 for Dungey, +2 for RV). Congratulations to RV, well deserved. But his title is hollow and should have an asterisk * placed next to it. Just sayin....
If you want to put an asterisk on RV's season because of RD's mechanical issues, then some might say there should be ones on his 2010 titles, because of injuries to other riders. I say that's all part of racing. They are both great riders who won the two premier titles in the same year. I guess that makes 2012 the tie-breaker. There may be a few other riders that have something to say about it though. A1 can't come soon enough. Should be another great year.
dude, just shut up speedracer
Reedy to kawasaki is one of the worst moves
RD1 should have both titles if it wasn't for the broke chain in supercross (not his fault) running out of gas at Texas (not his fault) starting a lapdown at Souyhwick (not his fault) I hope this helps for the ones that don't understand. ha ha, ur welcome
mx bob " then some might say there should be ones on his 2010 titles ". For heavens sake man, have you been living under a rock? They have been saying it nonstop for years. The same people that say RD's dnf didn't make a difference sound a lot like the ones that insist Pourcels did. That coupled with being called "chokemaster" by JOSH GRANT , the guy who can't hold it together by JASON LAWRENCE or JOSH HILL's ironic little gem " hopefully he'll just keep making mistakes " kinda makes it look like the anti-dungey crowd are full of s#$& ( or just plain stupid )
what about reed starting up his won team this year? not sure if you could really put it in this list. But man what he did this year was nothing short of impressive
Sure...Katoom added a great rider and certainly dumped the wrong one. Although Mike Alessi's heart is in the right place it appears that all the distractions through the years and not to mention what many consider the heavy handed methodology of Papa Alessi living his own dreams through his sons has been nothing short of ridiculous. Andrew Shorts discipline abounds and given the SIZE engine that will constitute victory is all he needs to be on the podium and regularly! People like myself are dumping there 350's or relegating them to trail riding duties. Pro or amateur...great concept guys but at any level, you're at a distinct disadvantage. Just ask Short.
...and lets hope the disrespecting attitude doesn't reel it's ugly head with Malcolm. Let's hope he DOES NOT follow in the shoes of his pin-headed felony committing brother but follows his own and talented path to success...and remembers the fans who help put him there!
1A. Roger DeCoster to Suzuki, 1971.
Duh!!!
How about Ron Leichen being dropper by Honda (i think) on arrival to Tokyo airport and being signed by Kawasaki before he left the airport.... or even better but not mx Anthony Gobert being being told before first practice at the Phillip Island World Superbike he didn't have a ride at Honda the following year so he walked down pit lane to the Kawasaki box, they gave him a Muzzy ZXR750 and if I remember correctly he went out and beat the worlds best in his first WSB race.
Hahahahah! It just gets more stupid by the minute on here.
RD 1 SX win, RV 6 wins
One other thing, RV won 3 out of the last 4 moto's when RD was the one who needed to win. That says a lot. Not bashing RD at all but when it was crunch time RV steped up for sure.
Worst move ever was O'Mara to Suzuki. and then Kawasaki... ugnnnn
MC to Suzuki
Larocco to Suzuki
Matasavich to Suzuki
Damn, I like Suzuki too. WTH?
MC to KTM
I'm guessing this will lead to the 10 worst moves for next week, in that case, I'm calling the winner as:
-James Stewart to Yamaha
Along with: Mike Alessi and Andrew Short to KTM 350s!
Lamson to Husqvarna
DV to Boo Koo Honda
Well, Reed has so many good people working for/with him that were able to handle it more like a formal race team. That switch that MC had to suzuki was such a last minute deal. No testing much at all and it was mid SX season before they got the clutch right on that thing. Plus who was helping him out? Suzuki of Troy and so Phil Alderton involved? That guy was at his worst at that point. I think the Key difference was that Chad had alot of great support behind him and people taking alot of the work out of it. MC was scrambling and never really caught up. Yeah he had support, who wouldn't want to work with MC during that time, but he didn't have the people. Mcgrath said it would be difficult for Reed as he saw it from his experience. Reed just had his stuff together better.
O'mara to Suzuki ??? Other then the almost win at Anaheim where he was running away with the win until his steering bearing locked up he had little success on the yellow bike. Being left off team Honda for 1987 was a hard choice for Decoster. After Bailey's crash Johnny O' was never the same......
chromob: I may have understated my example. All I meant is that the whole asterisk business is BS. In a long series, things often happen that are out of the rider's control and that's just part of it. Except for the RC era and McGrath in SX, you could put an asterisk and just about every championship. Brown because Langston's bike broke, Langston because Stewart got hurt. Reed because RC/JS were hurt, and on and on. RV this year, and everyone else who ever won a title, are champions. Period.
Yes, MXBob, I agree whole heartedly. I just brought up the asterisk BS as a touch of sarcasm about all the comments about Dungey's titles last year. 10 years from now the record books will say that RD was champion in 2010, and RV was champion in 2011. Both of which worked their butts off to taste from the champions cup. Well deserved by both riders. Now, let's bring on 2012 and settle the score!!!!
Another good move- Chuck Sun to from Husqavarna to Honda in 1979- produced a 1980 500cc championship
Worst move ever- McGrath to KTM- disloacted hip for MC and a black eye for KTM
Another worst- Grant to team Honda.... metal mulisha scrub with Honda = disaster and damaged Honda's rep.
Something people don't talk about is that RV won't be healing from a badly broken leg this off-season. To think at this time last year he was just getting warmed up on a bike, and still had pain for months more. Dungey is going to be learning a KTM while RV is just building on the program he built in 2011 on that new 2012 he seems to love.
How about 1990... Donny Schmit to Bieffe Suzuki... Result -125cc World Champion
YES B-KR, I have said the same thing, RV could DOMINATE in 2012. JS was the only one who had the speed in SX but this year RV will be tought to beat.
Heikki Mikkola, Yamaha consultant in 1981, recruited Danny Laporte (who just had an off year in the AMA Nationals & Supercross on a Honda) to ride the 1982 250cc GP series. Danny won the title that year, becoming only the second american to win a world mx title at the time - two weeks after Brad Lackey.
i heard martin luther king rode across africa on a tm 250 2 stroke...back in the day.....it was arranged by the communist activist of china...now thats a great deal for tm...lots of media coverage ...i think he wore a biefee helemt