Bench Racing Ammo: Top 100 AMA Riders
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 | 11:10 AM
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PrintMotocross super fan and statistician Chris Westfall has spent countless hours determining who, statistically, is the best motocross rider to ever strap boots on. Check out his statistics and the formula he used to determine them. Keep in mind this list is determined by Westfall's statistical report, and not by the Racer X editorial staff. But it's a facinating read.
TOP 100+ AMA Riders
(1970-2011)
Categories
SX/MX - 250&500/SX-MX/450 national series (titles= +1/wins= +.1)
MXL - 125/MXLites/250 national series (titles= +1/wins= +.1)
Fall - Trans-AMA/Inter-AMA/Trans-USA nat series (70-82) (titles= +1/wins= +.1)
SXL - 125/SXLites/250 regional series (titles= +.5/wins= +.05)
Big Win - Daytona(>'73)/LA Coliseum('72-'82)/USGP/US Open('98-'09) (each win= +.5)
P2/P3 - Podium finish in any national series (each P2 = +.5; each P3 = +.25)
Bonuses
(1) Perfect Season = +1.5
(2) Multiple titles in one year = +1
(3) AMA Athlete of year = +1
(4) National Title Defense = +.5
(5) Rookie of the year = +.1
Penalties
(1) Specialist = -.5
(>2-1 ratio- SX>MX)
(2) Shutout = -.5 ea
(no premier SX and/or MX wins)
T/W = Overall National Titles/Wins
Bold= Hall of Fame
Italics=Active Rider
Cross Out=Defunct
*=Shared Award
T/W=Overall Number
Click HERE to download full statistics.
| Rider | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 R. Carmichael (FL) | 53.70 | |||||||||||
| 2 J. McGrath (CA) | 26.55 | |||||||||||
| 3 R. Johnson (CA) | 23.70 | |||||||||||
| 4 B. Hannah (CA) | 22.50 | |||||||||||
| 5 J. Stanton (MI) | 21.30 | |||||||||||
| 6 J. Stewart (FL) | 20.85 | |||||||||||
| 7 J. Ward (CA) | 18.85 | |||||||||||
| 8 B. Glover (CA) | 17.50 | |||||||||||
| 9 C. Reed (AUS) | 14.90 | |||||||||||
| 10 K. Howerton (TX) | 13.95 | |||||||||||
| 11 R. Villopoto (WA) | 13.55 | |||||||||||
| 12 M. Barnett (IL) | 13.05 | |||||||||||
| 13 J. Emig (MO) | 12.90 | |||||||||||
| 14 K. Windham (LA) | 11.95 | |||||||||||
| 15 D. Bailey (VA) | 11.50 | |||||||||||
| 16 M. Kiedrowski (CA) | 10.35 | |||||||||||
| 17 T. Distefano (PA) | 9.50 | |||||||||||
| 18 R. Dungey (MN) | 9.15 | |||||||||||
| 19 M. LaRocco (IN) | 9.05 | |||||||||||
| 20 R. DeCoster (BEL) | 8.70 | |||||||||||
| 21 M. Smith (CA) | 8.55 | |||||||||||
| 22 G. Jones (CA) | 8.45 | |||||||||||
| 23 J. Weinert (NY) | 8.20 | |||||||||||
| 24 J-M Bayle (FRA) | 8.00 | |||||||||||
| 25 J. O'Mara (CA) | 7.35 | |||||||||||
| 26 R. Lechien (CA) | 7.20 | |||||||||||
| 27 D. Henry (MA) | 7.15 | |||||||||||
| 28 M. Bell (CA) | 6.25 | |||||||||||
| 29 P. Karsmakers (DEN) | 5.75 | |||||||||||
| 30 D. Bradshaw (NC) | 5.15 | |||||||||||
| 31 J. Ellis (CT) | 4.90 | |||||||||||
| 32 G. Langston (RSA) | 4.55 | |||||||||||
| 33 D. Hansen (CA) | 4.20 | |||||||||||
| 34 S. Lamson (CA) | 3.85 | |||||||||||
| 35 M. Tripes (CA) | 3.75 | |||||||||||
| 36 E. Lusk (GA) | 3.60 | |||||||||||
| 37 S. Stackable (TX) | 3.40 | |||||||||||
| 38 B. Lackey (CA) | 3.30 | |||||||||||
| C. Sun (OR) | 3.30 | |||||||||||
| 40 J. Dowd (MA) | 3.00 | |||||||||||
| 41 D. Shultz (CA) | 2.80 | |||||||||||
| 42 G. Cooper (OK) | 2.70 | |||||||||||
| G. Wolsink (NED) | 2.70 | |||||||||||
| 44 J. Matiasevich (CA) | 2.35 | |||||||||||
| 45 I. Tedesco (NM) | 2.05 | |||||||||||
| 46 R. Staten (CA) | 2.00 | |||||||||||
| 47 G. Holland (CA) | 1.90 | |||||||||||
| 48 D. LaPorte (CA) | 1.80 | |||||||||||
| M. Dymond (CA) | 1.80 | |||||||||||
| 50 G. Semics (OH) | 1.65 | |||||||||||
| D. Huffman (CA) | 1.75 | |||||||||||
| 52 D. Vuillemin (FRA) | 1.70 | |||||||||||
| 53 T. Canard (OK) | 1.65 | |||||||||||
| 54 G. Albertyn (RSA) | 1.60 | |||||||||||
| 55 T. Ferry (FL) | 1.50 | |||||||||||
| 56 C. Pourcel (FRA) | 1.45 | |||||||||||
| 57 A. Short (CO) | 1.30 | |||||||||||
| 58 G. Mosier (CA) | 1.25 | |||||||||||
| 59 T. Pastrana (MD) | 1.20 | |||||||||||
| 60 J. Pomeroy (WA) | 1.15 | |||||||||||
| 61 R. Burgett (OR) | 1.10 | |||||||||||
| 62 E. Fonseca (CR) | 0.95 | |||||||||||
| J. Grant (CA) | 0.95 | |||||||||||
| A. Weil (WGER) | 0.95 | |||||||||||
| 65 H. Mikkola (FIN) | 0.85 | |||||||||||
| 66 M. Alessi (CA) | 0.75 | |||||||||||
| M. Brown (TN) | 0.75 | |||||||||||
| 68 E. Kehoe (CA) | 0.70 | |||||||||||
| 69 D. Millsaps (GA) | 0.65 | |||||||||||
| 70 D. Schmit (MN) | 0.60 | |||||||||||
| M. Pichon (FRA) | 0.60 | |||||||||||
| 72 S. Wise (TX) | 0.55 | |||||||||||
| 73 L. Ward (WA) | 0.45 | |||||||||||
| R. Hughes (CA) | 0.45 | |||||||||||
| 75 S. Tortelli (FRA) | 0.40 | |||||||||||
| A. Jonsson (SWE) | 0.40 | |||||||||||
| 77 N. Ramsey (TN) | 0.35 | |||||||||||
| 78 T. Hart (CA) | 0.30 | |||||||||||
| 79 S. Roncada (FRA) | 0.25 | |||||||||||
| D. Wilson (GBR) | 0.25 | |||||||||||
| 81 M. Blackwell (CA) | 0.20 | |||||||||||
| R. Thorwaldson (CA) | 0.20 | |||||||||||
| B. Swink (MI) | 0.20 | |||||||||||
| 84 D. Chandler (CA) | 0.15 | |||||||||||
| G. Breker (CA) | 0.15 | |||||||||||
| B. Townley (NZL) | 0.15 | |||||||||||
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How could you wonder who it is ???? Of course its The Goat !!! nobody will ever be that good again in our life time. Just like when he raced, the question asked should have been who was the second best !
DeCoster 20th? Granted, much of his career wasn't in AMA racing, but still.....
Cool list, but I'm just wondering how there are some people (like Wiemer) that have SX lites titles ranked below people that have won nothing...
Well done.... very well done! I think I may have put a higher weight on championship title and add some bonus points for MX of Nations victories, but overall this looks good. Again- well done CW.
Iam with you on that point system BUT.. just because a racer did not win as many championships doesnt mean thay should be that far down a top rider list. Lechien,Bradshaw,Bayle and cooper would be higher up on my list.
The GOAT!
Interesting list but kind of meaningless due to the fact that the World GP's were once the premiere racing league and they dont get credit for those wins. Everts would be right up there and "The Man" would be a lot higher. Still, like I said, interesting list.
You could argue about the exact order, but the Top 8 all have a ton of wins and championships, and are in their own tier. Barring injury, RV will be in that group before he's done. Guys like Lechein and Bradshaw had as much speed as some guys in front of them on the list, but they are not as accomplished.
If you took away the podium points, I have a feeling Reed and Windham, and perhaps others, would drop down the list.
As presented, the formula is FLAWED: .1 for a win, but .5 for a second and .25 for a third?!? That means you get 5 times as much points for a second than a first, and 2.5 times as much points for a third than for a first. Hello? Math anyone?
Who is this Carmichael fellow? Does he ride his dirt scooter fast?
Mark Barnett was living in Alabama when he was winning all those championships.Just saying!
For the handful of titles Bubba has compared to how long he has been racing.... he shouldn't be as high as 6th.
@ HeinzGuderian - I noticed the same thing. Was that written incorrectly or is that a clear flaw in the formula?
no Scott Metz?
You can manipulate stats to tell a different story. If we are rating top 100 AMA riders then shouldn't the total career points tally be the only point system? It would be very interesting to see that comparison to this existing list. Don't discount the 125 class points, since the 70's and good part of the 80's considered that class every bit the premier the 250 was.
yea P2 should be worth .05 and P3 should be worth .025 if they are trying to stick with something consistent. retype and repost with new totals please!lol
It should be .05 for a P2, .025 for P3. Maybe that's what he used, but that is not what is stated.
Where is the 35 point bonus adder for "minority in sport / facing non-existent adversity" ???
The .5 for second is overall in the championship points, not one race. So you get .1 for each win and no points for a podium finish. Using his formula for MX this year RV gained 1.3, RD gained .9 and CR gained .65. See how that works?
The math is ok.
the 0.5 is for a SERIES 2nd and 0.25 for a series 3rd, versus a series 1.0 for a championship
No score for an event podium, with the 0.1 being for a race/event win only.
and two250 beat me to it. 0.1 for him!
motodog1977 - Get an edjumacation:
"P2/P3 - Podium finish in any national series (each P2 = +.5; each P3 = +.25)"
Hate to tell you, but 5 tenths and 2.5 tenths are less than 1 tenth...
Oops - Hate to tell you, but 5 tenths and 2.5 tenths are MORE than 1 tenth...
you get the picture.
Pertty cool break down.
tomktm your HATE of JS is getting out of hand. Take a breath dude. The points add up for everyone the same way ... LIVE WITH IT.
@jd805 - Adding up all the points sounds like a good idea, the problem is its impossible to find the points standings for any year before 2003. Also, I think in Supercross 1975 they used a different points system.
But that's the beauty of this list- it takes into account way more than just titles and wins. Look at Stanton (#5) and Stewart (#6): Stewart has almost 50 more wins and only one title less, yet Stanton is ahead because he was more consistent (and actually raced) and placed on the podium in just about every series he competed. Also, big shoutout to Ping for placing #182. And lastly, who the hell was Keit Fransn?
@BillC - my point was this points system is flawed.... obviously.
Wow. Nobody is even close to the GOAT!!! Putting it in this perspective really makes one apprerciate what Ricky has done. I wonder if anybody can top his accomplishment? Some people say it may be Roczen. We shall see!!!
Ricky pretty much had an injury free career, unlike so many in this sport.
up to but not including 2011? If not, Wilson's being cheated out of a number of points.
Look at the spreadsheet- it includes 2011 stats. Wilson got credit for his title and is MXL/SXL wins, which got him into the top 100 at #79.
Friggin' awesome! Ricky is so dope. Great compilation of information. Thanks!
You can plug in any formula you want, but it will always add up to RC number 1. Bubba will slide down the list even farther if he doesnt show up and race once in a while. Very interesting list!
Pretty neet list....It basically sums up " who the best of the best" are...like Top Gun......sure there are fast guys that had moments of brilliance and potential...but your top 5 are the true stand out dominators of the sport.... RC dominated everything...MC dominated supercross..then you have Johnson/Hannah/Stanton who had their 2 or 3 years of dominance indoors and out..... then JS7 who will most likley pass Stanton and Hannah over the next 3 years and maybe Johnson if he can get back to his old self.....MC and RC may be outta reach....but we'll see
The top players are ok, but J Barcia?? he just won SX lites and numerous events, why doesn't he show up?
You know you're getting old, when ya reconise every single one on the list and rode before at least 1/2 of em...................sigh
Doug Henry is from CT, not MA. Just sayin
since the 250 SX ("SXL" on the list) is a regional-rather than national-series, the points are only half for titles and wins. Other than his 1 title and 5 SXL wins, he only has one national series win and a ROY award.
Yeah Win = .1, P2 = .5 P3 = .25 doesn't work. A Win whould be 1, not .1.
the goat didnt had really good competitors, had late ones like reed and stewart.. thats why he won a lot of stuf..
psh no competition, yeah he only raced against like 1/4 of the people on the whole list....
Joemotocross589 Yeah it is lame getting old but I would not trade my memories of Saddleback and Carlsbad for anything!!! When I was a kid I took photos of Ake Jonsson, Heikki Mikkola, Rich Thorwaldson, Mark Blackwell, Brad Lackey, the Jones Brothers and tons of others!!! Tim Hart lives on my delivery route here in Torrance!!! Tim still has his famous Orange Bell Star with the white stripes on display in his house!!!
I don't think anybody will top Ricky's achievements!!!
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the difference between the points for a win and a P2 or P3. It's pretty simple. First off, each title is worth 1 single point. Each win is worth .1 (1/10) point. P2 and P3 refer to finishing an ENTIRE series in second or third (i.e. on the "series" podium). Thus a P2 is worth half of a title or .5 (1/2) and P3 is worth half of P2 or .25 (1/4). So in the end, you would get more points for finishing a series in second or third than you would for just one individual win. Capiche? BTW, RC's numbers are so ridiculous that the "no comp" argument doesn't even make a dent in his accomplishments. They're that good.
its not a .1 Its a 1.0 clearly a typo guys..... calm down.
I might be reading this wrong but Carmichael won a US open and its not in the points! The whole system is kinda hard to read and not done right! Great Idea but we all know who is the GOAT!!!!
While the point system may be flawed in some ways, given all riders judged on the same criteria, I have to say that is really impressive that someone took the time to put that list together!
THANK YOU for giving us something to argue about during the off season!
@johnmotoman, agree'd seeing Roger DeCoster at redbud, was the same as see'n pink floyd at the dome w/ 100k, and your reference to saddleback.....I'd like to forget that place, riding tracks like red bud then racin saddleback....1983....much different in cali....i compressed t-7 t-8 there pretty badly. bonzia hill. 83 yz stock suspension _squish errrrr CLANK!
The top 4 in reverse. Hannah retired Decoster. Johnson retired Hannah. McGrath retired Johnson and Ricky retired McGrath. I'd say I watched 90 of the top 100 race at Saddleback sometime in their career. Some of the top 100 were not old enough yet to see the place before they turned into a fricken gated community.
To the post that said he never here's enough about Jimmy Ellis. I grow up watching him race in the NESC http://www.canned-ham.com/Newsletters/Newsletter 4.pdf Click link pretty good old article on him when he rode Can-Am.
Oh yeh the ranking where interesting.
Regarding Barcia, there are only half the points awarded to riders in the regional championships compared to a national championship. The 250 SX East and West Championships are regional, that's why his he landed where he did.
What is cool about this list is, it takes out the emotional decision and is purely a numbers formula and the numbers don't lie.
Stewart might be the fastest rider on the planet and Pastrana might be the the most recognized motocrosser ever, and both of them have the might have the fatest bank accounts, but neither has put it together on the track like the riders listed in front of them.
@ joemotocross and a couple of others ya I know the feeling cause I started racing in the summer of 72. been there done that but I like the way the list works out it is an interesting concept.
Should still only be total accumulated points in a season. That would move quite a few people around the rankings.
@ Welker. The one difference is there was a lot less supercoss races each year. I thought there was about 8 or 10 a year when Hannah was racing.
Let see Anaheim, Oakland, Silverdome, Coliseum, Daytona, Atlanta, Seattle 2 nighter, Texas, what else San Diego maybe. Metrodome. New Orleans.
@yogi13- look at the category "Big Win" on the spreadsheet. The last number represents US Open wins and RC has a big "3" on his profile, so those wins were counted.
Go away and rethink your formula. It has to be taken that this is AMA as numerous GP riders would be well above most listed here. But to have Villipoto ranked above DiStefano, Barnett & Jones shows that this is garbage.
Oh, Villopoto's not quite done yet.
And there is only one way he is going, up.
And one speed, fast!
Gentlemen, Here's to a great 2012 season(s)
Oh, and Emig in thirteenth?
Wow Fro, way to go! I forgot how good he was for a minute there.
There are very few GP riders on here BECAUSE it is an AMA only list- it just covers races on American soil. Sorry, go make your own GP list. As for RV being ahead of Tony D., Bomber and Jones... well the numbers don't lie. RV has as many championships as those guys and has 27 more wins than Jones and 24 more wins than Tony D. And although Barnett still has 4 more wins than RV, RV has one more championship and Barnett NEVER won an outdoor "big bike" overall. Huge strike against one of the all-time greats. Just sayin...
Cool, but I wish this guy counted moto wins in the MX and MXL class...not just overalls.
The top 5 seem to be very accurate. Each ruthless, win at all cost riders. I am fortunate to have watched them all dominate the SX/MX track!
It's not impossible to find out points before 03' just because YOU can't find them. Also McGrath had nothing to do with Johnsons retirement, you are forgetting the whole Stanton/ Bradshaw/ Bayle era.
No Monster Energy Cup?