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Also Deserving Of Consideration

Make no mistake, the Valentino Rossi/Ducati era is one of the biggest debacles in motorsport history. Massively hyped and with nothing less than world titles destined to be considered a failure, the pairing failed to notch up even a single victory in their two-year partnership. (Rossi had won in each of his 15 prior Grand Prix seasons).

James Stewart's '12 campaign was defined more by mishaps, injuries, and controversy than on-track brilliance. His tenure with Joe Gibbs was supposed to last years and eventually transition the superstar from two wheels to four, but instead it fizzled out in less than one Supercross season. He flashed his old form early in the MX season after hooking up with Yosh but was again struck down by injury.

While not on the same scale as the three above, Carlos Checa and Blake Young anticipated considerably stronger seasons in 2012. Checa put together one of the greatest World Superbike seasons ever in '11, but his bid to repeat was effectively crushed relatively early in '12. The Spaniard ended the year in fourth and with eleven fewer wins than the year before. Young, meanwhile, was a race-winning magician in '11 and nearly stole the AMA Pro Superbike crown. Expected to take another step forward and perhaps even surpass his more experience rival, Josh Hayes, in 2012, Young instead was thoroughly outclassed by the Mississippian. While he showed himself to be the next best rider in the series by a wide margin, Young ultimately fell far short of his goals as Hayes repeatedly brought the pain.

SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.