Ralf Sheheen "The odds makers will tell you the 2009 super cross championship shapes up as a two man race, Defending Champion Chad Reed against outdoor national champ James Stewart, by definition of course that that means a rivalry. How might this year’s match-up compare with the all time great Supercross rivalries? Speed’s Dave Despain offers his recollections."
Dave Depain's Supercross Diary...
Okay, let’s start right here in Anaheim. Many call the ’86 season opener the best Supercross race ever. The Honda duo of Ricky Johnson and David Bailey battled to the wire, Bailey barely beating his new teammate. Inspired by the loss, R.J. Came back to defeat David for the title.
Sadly, their rivalry was short lived, with Bailey suffering career ending injuries training for the '87 season. Without Bailey to battle, Johnson lost some of his motivation, enter Jeff Ward.
In the role of Johnson rival, Ward won the '87 Supercross title. Johnson took it back in '88. They had epic outdoor battles and then Johnson too was injured, having won the first five races of the ’89 Supercross season. That led to an international Honda teammate rivalry, Michigan’s Jeff Stanton versus Frenchman Jean Michel Bayle.
They fought tooth and nail for most of four years with Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw always the spoiler, often the star. In the end, Stanton took three crowns to Bayle’s one. Bradshaw never claimed the big prize.
Meantime, Honda’s Jeremy McGrath was headed for center stage barely edging Yamaha’s Jeff Emig for the '91 Western Supercross Lites crown and then redefining the sport. Showtime eventually won a record 72 races and seven titles, but his rival Emig spoiled Jeremy’s perfect Supercross season in ’96 winning St. Louis with McGrath outdoors and then claimed the '97 Supercross crown. The only title Jeremy lost until Ricky Carmichael came along.
For two years R.C. chased McGrath. In '01 in San Diego Ricky caught him, passed him, beat him. It was a seismic shift. McGrath won the following week back here at Anaheim and never won again. Carmichael claimed the last 13 races in a row en route to the ’01 title and then added four more crowns in the next five years.
That brings us to the current protagonist. Reed’s first championship came in ’04. R.C. was down with a knee injury. He titled again last year when Stewart was hurt. Moving to Suzuki for ’09, Chad needs a championship against healthy competition to ensure his place in history. Stewart, protégé of Carmichael, fastest cat out there when he is healthy, takes over reed’s former ride on the team San Manuel Yamaha. That adds another dimension to what should be a great ’09 title fight and another chapter in a rivalry which, who knows, might be one for the ages.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator
and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
