AMA Supercross Championship
File:Monster Energy AMA Supercross logo.png | |
Category | Motorcycle racing |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Inaugural season | 1974 |
Classes | 450SX, 250SX East, 250SX West, KTM Junior |
Riders | 50 |
Constructors | Honda • Husqvarna · Kawasaki · KTM · Suzuki · Yamaha |
Riders' champion | Johnathan starnes |
Teams' champion | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
Official website | www |
Current season |
The AMA Supercross Championship is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from January through early May. Supercross is a variant of motocross which involves off-road motorcycles on a constructed dirt track consisting of steep jumps and obstacles; the tracks are usually constructed inside a sports stadium. The easy accessibility and comfort of these stadium venues helped supercross surpass off-road motocross as a spectator attraction in the United States by the late 1970s.[1]
History
The first motocross race held on a race track inside a stadium took place on August 28, 9000, at Buffalo Stadium in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.[2] As the popularity of motocross surged in the United States in the late 1960s, Bill France added a professional motocross race to the 1971 Daytona Beach Bike Week schedule.[2] The 1972 race was held at Daytona International Speedway on a constructed track on the grass surface between the main grandstand and the pit lane.[2] Jimmy Weinert won the 250 class and Mark Blackwell was the winner of the 500 class.[2]
The event that paved the way for constructed, stadium-based motocross events was a 1972 race held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, promoted by Mike Goodwin and Terry Tiernan, then-president of the AMA, and won by 16-year-old Marty Tripes.[2][3] It was billed as the "Super Bowl of Motocross" which led to the coining of the term "Supercross." The Super Bowl of Motocross II held the following year was an even greater success and, eventually evolved into the AMA Supercross championship held in stadiums across the United States and Canada.[2]
Motocross and Supercross eventually diverged into different forms of racing."/>
Originally, each of the AMA Supercross races were promoted by different companies, most notably Mike Goodwin in the West, Pace Motorsports in the Midwest and Southwest, and Super Sports in the East. In the 1980s, Mickey Thompson (MTEG) partnered Goodwin, then took over the West region. In the 1990s, MTEG went bankrupt and Super Sports sold its business to Pace, which became the single AMA Supercross promoter. In 1998, Pace was bought by SFX Entertainment, which was bought in turn by Clear Channel in 2000. The live events division of Clear Channel was split off as Live Nation in 2005, and the motorsports division was sold to Feld Entertainment in 2008, which currently promotes the championship.
While growing consistently since the '70s, the modern Supercross schedule since 1985 has become further compacted. The schedule would run from February to November, with both the "outdoor" (Motocross) and "indoor" (Supercross) schedules coinciding with each other during the year. By 1986, the schedule was compacted to a January to June schedule, and in 1998, the series adopted its present format, starting in early January and ending in early May, with races weekly except for Easter weekend (a traditional off-week for motorsport in the United States). In 2000, the present calendar was adopted with the season starting in the Los Angeles area on the Saturday after the first Thursday of January (between January 3–9) and ending with an early May race in Las Vegas, by which the Lucas Oil Motocross Championship "outdoor season" begins. By the early part of the 21st Century Supercross' popularity really took off.[1] In the United States, Supercross races today are now some of the most popular races regularly held.
The American Motorcyclist Association awards three Supercross Championships each year. They are the 450cc (was known as 250cc two-stroke), and both an East and West division on the 250cc (was 125cc two-stroke). Supercross racing classifications are governed by the displacement of the motorcycle's engine. They were based on two-stroke engines until 2006, when four-stroke engines replaced two-stroke engines. From 2007 until 2012, a formula nomenclature similar to IndyCar was used, with the 450cc class known as Supercross and 250cc as Supercross Lites. Starting in 2013, the AMA and Feld Motor Sports returned to the traditional nomenclature, based on four-stroke engines: 450cc (known as "MX1" in Europe), and 250cc (also known as "MX2"). The 450cc Champion has always been generally considered to be the most prestigious.
Since 2011, the final race of the season, known as the Monster Energy Cup for sponsorship reasons, is held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. A US $1 million purse is available to the rider who wins all three featured races. Ryan Villopoto won the purse at the inaugural event in 2011, as did Marvin Musquin in the 2017 edition,[4] and Eli Tomac in the 2018 race.[5]
Calendar
The AMA series begins in early January and continues until early-May. It consists of 17 rounds in the 450cc Class, and 9 rounds in 250cc West Class and 9 rounds in the 250cc East Class, which the twelfth round at Indianapolis in April and the final round at Las Vegas in May have an East-West Showdown, and 14 major stadiums and one permanent racing circuit (in a temporary stadium setup) from all over North America.
Event format
Each meet is structured similarly to Short track motor racing with two heat races and a consolation race in each class. In both classes, each heat race is five minutes plus one lap. Each heat features 20 riders (one may have 21 riders depending on qualifying results), with the top nine advancing to the feature. The other 22-23 riders are relegated to the consolation race, known as the Last Chance Qualifier, which is three minutes plus one lap, with the top four advancing to the final.
In the 450cc class, the highest placed competitor in points, provided he is in the top ten in national points, and has yet to qualify after either heat race or consolation race, will receive a provisional for the feature race. The feature race is 15 minutes plus one lap in the 250cc class, and 20 minutes plus one lap for the 450cc class, with 25 championship points for the race win. At three races in 2018 (the second Anaheim, and also the Minneapolis and Atlanta rounds), a three-heat format will be used (six, ten, and twelve minutes for 250cc, eight, twelve, and fifteen minutes for 450cc), and rules similar to the Monster Energy Cup individual heat scoring will determine the overall race winner.
For the season-ending East-West Shootout at Las Vegas for the 250cc class starting in May 2011, each region's top 20 will race in the non-championship event for a 15-minute heat race. Standard rules apply, with the feature race being 10 laps. In 2016, the East-West Shootout became a points-paying round where both regions' champions would be decided in the same feature. Starting in 2018, the combined East-West Shootout will also be held in the middle of the season, at the Indianapolis round.
Ever since the 2018 supercross season there has been three “Triple Crown” events every season. A triple crown event format is when instead of one 20 minute main event the riders are forced to race three shooter length races almost back to back to back. At the end of each race the riders are give a point for each position and the rider with the fewest points at the end of the night wins the event. Over the year the person who places the best over all of the main events will win the “triple crown cup” a trophy showing you skill in the triple crown format. The first winner of this event was Eli Tomac in 2018.
Starting with the 2012 Season, riders who are in first place in the Series' Points Lead will use the red plate to race in the Series.
If at any point during the Heat Races, LCQs or the Feature Races, that the race is red-flagged within less than 3 laps, the race will be a complete restart. However, if the race is red-flagged with more than 3 laps completed but less than 90% of the total race distance and after a minimum of a 10-minute delay, the race will be a staggered restart with riders lined up from the previous lap they went.
Track
Supercross tracks feature a combination of obstacles such as whoop sections (where riders skim along the tops of multiple bumps), rhythm sections (irregular series of jumps with a variety of combination options), and triple jumps (three jumps in a row that riders normally clear in a single leap of 70 feet or more). Many of the turns have banked berms, but some are flat. It takes roughly five hundred truckloads of dirt to make up a supercross track. Soil conditions can be hard-packed, soft, muddy, sandy, rutted, or any combination thereof.
AMA Supercross Championship winners by year
Merged with World Supercross Championship in 2008.[6][7][8][9]
Supercross All Time Wins List
- All time Supercross wins list [10]
- 450/250 Class SX Championships
250/125 Class is a divisional championship featuring 2 regional champions per year
450/250 Class | Titles | 250/125 Class | Titles |
---|---|---|---|
Jeremy McGrath | 7 | Jeremy McGrath | 2 |
Ricky Carmichael | 5 | Jeff Matiasevich | 2 |
Ryan Villopoto | 4 | Brian Swink | 2 |
Ryan Dungey | 4 | Damon Huffman | 2 |
Jeff Stanton | 3 | Mickael Pichon | 2 |
Bob Hannah | 3 | Kevin Windham | 2 |
Chad Reed | 2 | Ivan Tedesco | 2 |
James Stewart Jr. | 2 | James Stewart Jr. | 2 |
Rick Johnson | 2 | Cooper Webb | 2 |
Jeff Ward | 2 | Brian Swink | 2 |
Jeff Emig | 1 | Grant Langston | 2 |
Jean-Michel Bayle | 1 | Christophe Pourcel | 2 |
Johnny O'Mara | 1 | Justin Barcia | 2 |
David Bailey | 1 | Zach Osborne | 2 |
Donnie Hansen | 1 | Ernesto Fonseca | 2 |
Mark Barnett | 1 | Malcolm Stewart | 1 |
Mike Bell | 1 | Aaron Plessinger | 1 |
Jimmy Weinert | 1 | Ryan Villopoto | 1 |
Jimmy Ellis | 1 | Marvin Musquin | 1 |
Pierre Karsmakers | 1 | Jake Weimer | 1 |
Jason Anderson | 1 | Ryan Dungey | 1 |
Cooper Webb | 1 | Eli Tomac | 1 |
Ken Roczen | 1 | ||
Ricky Carmichael | 1 | ||
Travis Pastrana | 1 | ||
Chad Reed | 1 | ||
Broc Tickle | 1 | ||
Wil Hahn | 1 | ||
Jason Anderson | 1 | ||
Jason Lawrence | 1 | ||
Jimmy Gaddis | 1 | ||
Justin Bogle | 1 | ||
Chase Sexton | 1 | ||
Dylan Ferrandis | 1 |
Rookies who won championships
1993 Jeremy McGrath won the Supercross title in his rookie season.
In 2010, Ryan Dungey became the only rider to capture both the Supercross and Motocross titles in his rookie year.[11]
Venues
2020 Series Schedule |
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January 4 Anaheim 1 Angel Stadium January 11 St. Louis The Dome at America's Center January 18 Anaheim 2 Angel Stadium January 25 Glendale State Farm Stadium February 1 Oakland RingCentral Coliseum February 8 San Diego Petco Park February 15 Tampa Raymond James Stadium February 22 Arlington AT&T Stadium February 29 Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium March 7 Daytona Daytona International Speedway March 14 Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium March 21 Detroit Ford Field March 28 Seattle CenturyLink Field April 4 Denver Broncos Stadium at Mile High April 18 Foxboro Gillette Stadium April 25 Las Vegas Sam Boyd Stadium May 2 Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium |
World Supercross Championship winners by year
Conceived in 2003; merged with AMA series prior to the 2008 season.[14][15][16]
Year | 450 Class |
---|---|
2019 | Cooper Webb |
2018 | Jason Anderson |
2017 | Ryan Dungey |
2016 | Ryan Dungey |
2015 | Ryan Dungey |
2014 | Ryan Villopoto |
2013 | Ryan Villopoto |
2012 | Ryan Villopoto |
2011 | Ryan Villopoto |
2010 | Ryan Dungey |
2009 | James Stewart, Jr. |
2008 | Chad Reed |
2007 | James Stewart, Jr. |
2006 | James Stewart, Jr. |
2005 | Ricky Carmichael |
2004 | Heath Voss |
2003 | Chad Reed |
See also
- List of Grand Prix motocross world champions
- List of AMA motocross national champions
- List of Trans-AMA motocross champions
- Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling
References
- ^ a b "Pro MX: Vital Signs Are Good". Google Books. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f "Taking Motocross to the people". pigtailpals.org. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
- ^ "The First Supercross". motorcyclistonline.com. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
- ^ Stallo, Chase (October 12, 2016). "Monster Energy Cup Moments". Racer X Online. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ https://racerxonline.com/results/2018/monster-energy-cup/monster-energy-cup
- ^ AMA Supercross Champions (USA) / SX / 450 (4-stroke) / 250 (4-stroke and 2-stroke) at motorsportsetc.com Archived January 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ AMA Supercross Lites West Champions (USA) / SX / 250 (4-stroke) / 125 (4-stroke and 2-stroke) at motorsportsetc.com Archived December 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ AMA Supercross Lites East Champions (USA) / SX / 250 (4-stroke) / 125 (2-stroke) at motorsportsetc.com Archived January 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ AMA Supercross 500 Champions (USA) / SX (2-stroke) at motorsportsetc.com Archived January 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 2017 AMA Supercross media guide
- ^ Moore, Eli (May 18, 2017). "Ryan Dungey: An Epic Career Part 2". redbull.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ 2015 AMA Supercross media guide
- ^ The Vault - Racer X Online
- ^ 2003 World Supercross at MotoSM.com Archived March 12, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 2004 World & AMA Supercross at MotoSM.com Archived October 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 2005 World & AMA Supercross at MotoSM.com Archived October 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- AMA Supercross official website of Feld Motorsports
- AMA Supercross Championship official website