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FINAL ROOKIE GRADES |
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| Features | Wednesday, 16 September 2009 09:22 |
If you think having a pro motocross career means you can avoid being graded, then think again. Four of Vurb's crew put on glasses, dodgy hemp jackets and got out their chalk in order to give the class of '09 their marks. The first number is by David Bulmer, then Brent Stallo, Wes Williams and finally Andrew 'bullied at school' Campo. We then averaged out these four grades to give a score out of 100%. The results are definitely interesting...
Justin Barcia (5th) - 95 - 96 - 92 - 90 = 93%
- Won a moto and an overall at Southwick
- Led the 3rd highest number of laps in the 250 class behind Pourcel and Dungey
- Always an exciting rider, who you can never take your eyes off of
Kyle Regal (16th) - 93 - 95 - 90 - 90 = 92%
- After switching from the 250s, he put in an amazing second-half of the season
- Got three 4ths, which involved overtaking multiple factory riders
- Good enough performances to earn himself a ride on Valli Motorsports
Blake Wharton (8th) - 88 - 94 - 86 - 80 = 87%
- Five podium finishes
- Seemed to be involved in a battle, in every lap of every race
- If it wasn't for a broken foot, could've easily finished higher
Ben Evans (15th) - 76 - 83 - 78 - 80 = 79%
- Really needed a top 10 finish to round out an impressive year
- Season tailed off towards the end, which let Clarke overtake him
Darryn Durham (12th) - 84 - 89 - 80 - 60 = 78%
- Scored three 5th placed finishes at Washougal, Millville and Budds Creek
- Could've easily had a top 10 championship finish ahead of his teammate, Matt Lemoine
- An unfortunate injury meant he couldn't finish off the season properly
Max Anstie (18th) - 84 - 88 - 80 - 60 = 78%
- Struggled initially but progressed throughout the year
- Got a 6th at Red Bud and then two 9ths at Washougal before injuring himself at the X-Games
- Should be able to hold the pace a lot better when he returns to action
PJ Larsen (16th) - 80 - 85 - 77 - 65 = 77%
- Shame he missed the middle of the season through injury
- Showed flashes of real speed
- Could've quite easily got 10th overall
Steven Clarke (14th) - 77 - 85 - 74 - 65 = 75%
- Finished as the top privateer in the 250 class
- Had one top 10 finish
- Consistently scored points, but never really threatened the factory-backed teams
Weston Peick (22nd) - 83 - 80 - 77 - 50 = 73%
- Had two excellent rounds at Glen Helen and Freestone
- Never got any momentum going during the season
Alex Martin (20th) - 70 - 78 - 75 - 70 = 73%
- Average season, but deserves credit for sticking with it until the end
- Had a great home race at Millville where he got an 8th in race one
- Only failed to score points in five races
Vince Freise (22nd) - 72 - 78 - 72 - 50 = 68%
- Almost managed a top 20 championship finish
- Best finish of 11th at Southwick
- Got good starts in a lot of motos but faded back
Cole Seely (38th) - 58 - 64 - 64 - 60 = 62%
- Scored points in 3/8 races
- Got to ride a factory Suzuki ride for one round, at Budds Creek
- Didn't qualify for the races on the factory Suzuki
Michael Hall (28th) - 57 - 50 - 67 - 63 = 59%
- Injury hit year
- Only scored points in three races
- Crashed in nearly all his 14 races
Ben Lamay (34th) -55 - 50 - 68 - 30 = 51%
- Only managed one top 10 performance all year at Washougal in race two
- Next best result was a 15th, but otherwise he really struggled to score points
- Finished on the same number of points as John Dowd
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It cracks me up when people rate riders.
First off No Momentum we had 8 mechanical DNF'S witch is rediculus.
Second off Weston placed 9th at Glen Helen when everyone was there. Texas 9th when only Villopoto was out.
Some of these riders towards the end placed well when you had numerous guys out and a few riders were sick.
Weston was sick the last three nationals.
I just wanted to clear up a few things.
