I used to be a huge fan of AMA Supercross, but in recent years, the sport has become supremely boring to me. I think it’s because there always seems to be one rider who dominates each year and runs away with practically every race, making the sport similar to golf or tennis in that respect.
When was the last time someone other than Tiger Woods did anything noteworthy on the PGA Tour? When was the last time someone other than Federer or Nadal put up good results throughout an entire season (rather than just a single tournament). It gets boring seeing the same people win all the time.
In Supercross, this has been going on for years. First, there was Jeremy McGrath, who notched 72 career SX wins and seven 250cc titles. Then along came Ricky Carmichael, who won every MX championship series he ever raced in, and captured 5 Supercross titles to boot.
And now we have James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, etc. It seems that there will always be that one guy who wins everything in sight. Like I said, it’s boring!
So I guess it’s no surprise that I haven’t been paying much attention to the 2008 Supercross series, which has already been going on for a month. I’ve been glancing at the race results every Sunday morning, but haven’t bothered with the live webcasts or TV broadcasts so far.
The only noteworthy bit of info to come out of the series (at least IMO) is that James Stewart decided to have knee surgery rather than battle for the championship. That leaves the door wide open for Chad Reed to score his second SX title, and is eerily similar to the way Reed won in 2004 when Carmichael opted for surgery during the Supercross series.
Anyway, in case you’re interested, Reed is leading the Supercross class with 97 points (3 wins in the first 4 rounds), with Kevin Windham in second (78 points), and Tim Ferry in third (57).
In the Lites West Class, Ryan Dungey is on top with 86 points (2 wins in four rounds), Dan Reardon is in second (67) and Jason Lawrence is in third (63).
Villopoto doesn’t start his assault on the East series until February 23 in Atlanta, GA.
(Photo from supercrossonline.com)