During the 2022 supercross season Jason Anderson won 7 of 17 races. By any measure that’s a great season. At many stages of the year, he was undoubtedly the fastest guy on the track. What makes it even more impressive is the gap between wins, his last AMA supercross win prior to Oakland this year was on March 3rd 2018 in Atlanta, during his championship season. During said championship season, he won 4 races.
A lot’s been said about El Hombre’s season, of course. But I wonder, in the future, does this fantastic season get the respect it deserves. Only time will tell? Here are some similar stories from seasons past.
Ron Lechien “The Dogger” 1984 AMA 250 Nationals runner up.
During this amazing season, at only 17 years old, the Dogger took his works Honda to wins at 4 of 10 rounds, and never finished outside the top 5. The epic season saw him battle his hometown El Cajon rival, Rick Johnson down to the last round, losing by only 8 points.
Damon Bradshaw “The Beast from the East” 1992 250 Supercross runner up.
This season is so infamous in moto history that any fan over maybe 35 years old, knows the story. But here’s a short version, for the wipper snappers!
Another teenage sensation, Damon graduated to the premier class (then 250 2 stroke) in 1990 at the age of 17, winning the Anaheim opener. By the 1992 season Damon was a juggernaut, he won 9 races and was clearly the guy to beat. A 19th place finish after a crash at Round 9 in Indianapolis, and a torn ACL at a Red Bud national, left Damon having to clinch the title at the final round. Jeff Stanton went on to win the last round and the title with Damon fading backwards, looking like a shadow of the man he had been much of that year. In my books, Damon is the greatest rider to not win a premier class title.
Chad Reed 2003 250 Supercross runner up
Arguably CR22’s best season, didn’t end in victory. Battling “The Goat” Ricky Carmichael down to the last round, Chad won 8 races including the final 6 of the season. He missed the podium only twice and never finished worse than 6th. RC is on record saying that he had “nothing for him” in the tail end of that season.
James “Bubba” Stewart 2006 450 Supercross runner up
In one of the greatest seasons ever, Bubba lost the title by 2 points to RC despite winning 8 races and landing on the podium 13 times out of 16 races, but a 17th at St Louis proved costly. In fact, the top three in the title were separated by only 2 points with Chad matching Bubba’s points due to incredible consistency, Bubba getting 2nd place due to more race wins. Kid’s, seriously, go look up the 2006 season on the choobe!
Adam Cianciarulo 2019 250 west runner up
This one still hurts. AC won 5 of the 10 rounds and was never outside the top 5 until the devastating 20th place finish at the final round handed the championship to Dylan Ferrandis. It did however fuel the fire for a dominant outdoor season, and a well deserved title later that same year.
Yep, there is so much heartbreak in this great sport. Sometimes unfortunately a rider catches fire at the same time as a rival does, and there can only be one number 1 at seasons end. Just try and remember who came 2nd.
Go Riding
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