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Since it’s the off-season we decided to change things up a bit in the Guts Racing Vurb Power Rankings. Going forward, Slaw and Troy will be ranking different topics until racing starts again at Anaheim. Ginger Dog is currently breaking up fights in middle school for the next few months and will rejoin the rankings once racing starts.
As always, feel free to flame away on Troy below or on social. Not Slaw.
Now onto this weeks topic: Our greatest SX races of all-time. Again, OURS, not yours.
Troy Dog
-This is by far the best race that’s ever happened in the history of the sport. The amount of riders who were in the hunt for this win was amazing. I don’t know what it was about the frigid temperatures at Fulton County Stadium that made riders so frisky, but the entertainment delivered year after year. Jeff Ward came through the pack and won this while adding a double fist pump over the finish.
-A track made entirely of beach sand. My buddy Denny Stephenson finished fourth in the 125 class that night and he said the track was just wet sand and the finish line jump was the consistency of a water bed. Damon Bradshaw crashed a bunch of times in the 125 main event that night and still won. This was one of those races that I watched on repeat as a kid.
-If you follow my work you’ll know that Jeff Emig was a hero of mine growing up. He made sure that Jeremy McGrath didn’t have an undefeated supercross season in 1996! To make it even cooler, it was his hometown race in St. Louis! I’m a firm believer that this win gave Emig the confidence that he needed to go on his year and a half run as the top rider in the sport. He would go on to win the next three series, 96 MX, 97 SX and MX.
-Oh man, my guy Stew was on it that night in Toronto! He came from about 14th to take his 49th career win. He was carrying so much speed through his wheel tap triple and doing a triple over the on-off in the rhythm section. It’s crazy to think that he would only get one more SX win in his career because that night I thought he’d for sure get to MC’s record.
-The Minneapolis race in 1997 wasn’t even that good of a main event. As a kid I watched this race a million times. It was McGrath’s first win of the season. The track layout wasn’t difficult for the time period, I just liked the long whoop section, the elevated whoop section, and the deep ruts in the corkscrew turn before the finish. The track deteriorated that night and it was a big win for MC. That place loud!
Slaw Dog
-If this doesn’t top your list, you don’t know moto.
-Peak Stew. I think his greatest race ever.
-Oh, man. Stew vs Reed. Stew parked them both on the final lap and Ryan Villopoto went on to win. Crazy how many Hall of Famers were in this race.
-This race is slept on. Ryan Dungey tracked down Villopoto and that place was insane. Probably the loudest I’ve ever heard a Supercross race.
-Literally the closest finish in SX history. This was peak Cooper Webb v Ken Roczen and what a race it was.
Main image: Red Bull Content Pool