What a year to be a fan of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship! Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton started the year by dominating both motos at the opening round at the Fox Raceway 1 National. It took a little while for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing Eli Tomac to warm up outdoors, but he found his stride at High Point Raceway. Winning High Point and the next three rounds with an eight-moto win streak, he took over the points lead from a very consistent Sexton. From there the two can’t seem to get away from each other. Even when Sexton crashed twice during the first moto at Budds Creek Motocross Park and took seventh, he rebounded nicely to win the second moto and Tomac had an unlikely 1-5 on the day. That left the duo with only one point separating them going into Ironman Raceway, where they swapped moto scores again. So here we are with only one round to go and Tomac leads by one point!
This is the closest title chase in history, with the smallest points gap after 11 rounds. It got us thinking about other title chases in the premier 450 (formerly 250 two-stroke) class. Since the series has not always been 12 rounds, our list consists of the top ten closest title chases after 11 rounds heading into the 12th and final round.
The following stats are provided by Clinton Fowler.
#10 | 2013 | Ryan Villopoto 50 points over Ryan Dungey
Let’s face it 50 points after 11 rounds is not that close, but Ryan Villopoto was on fire that year. He only finished off of the podium four motos and the entire season and won an impressive 18 out of 24 motos. With that sort of dominance, it is actually impressive “Mr. Consistency” himself, Ryan Dungey, stayed as close as he did, eventually finishing the series 56 points behind.
#9 | 1995 | Jeremy McGrath 47 points over Jeff Emig
In 1995 all eyes were on defending AMA National Motocross champ Mike LaRocco and the 1994 MXGP champ Greg Albertyn. This much anticipated battle was short lived when they both had to sit out part of the season due to injury. At Budds Creek Motocross Park it looked like the title contenders would be Jeremy McGrath and Doug Henry, that is until Doug suffered a gnarly crash breaking his back. That left only Jeff Emig to challenge McGrath for the title. Even though he was 47 points back after 11 rounds, by the end of the season The King of Supercross proved he could win outdoors, too, winning by 60 points.
#8 | 2017 | Eli Tomac 28 points over Blake Baggett
Even though 28 points after 11 rounds does not seem too close, the 2017 season was action packed. Eli Tomac came out at round one swinging, but then had some bike issues at round two. Blake Baggett looked as though he could be as dominant on 450s as he was on 250s, that is until he tore a ligament in his thumb at the RedBud National. Marvin Musquin started the season slow, nursing a knee injury, only to heal and pick it up by the end of the season. He was able to close the gap to only 17 points by the final round.
#7 | 1999 | Greg Albertyn 21 points over Kevin Windham
Three-time World Champion Greg Albertyn would finally get his one US title in 1999. It would not be an easy run. There was not one dominant rider in 1999 like in most years (Though it appeared that the 1998 World Champion Sebastian Tortelli would be until he broke his wrist) and the series saw seven different overall winners in 12 rounds. Surprisingly the ‘96 and ‘97 outdoor champion Jeff Emig did not win a single round and it was just down to Albertyn and Kevin Windham at the end. Albertyn would eventually win by 29 points.
#6 | 2018 | Eli Tomac 20 points over Marvin Musquin
Eli Tomac’s 2018 title defense was a nail bitter. A mechanical at RedBud leading to a DNF and a very fast and consistent Marvin Musquin brought the title chase down the last moto. He won the championship over Musquin by 16 points.
#5 | 2014 | Ken Roczen 20 points over Ryan Dungey
Even though 20 points is the same difference between Tomac and Musquin in our last entry, Ken Roczen and Ryan Dungey break the tie because by season's end there were only 14 points between them. Roczen started the season off strong, like he always does, and Dungey finished strong which led to some close racing. Eli Tomac missed the early rounds with injury but got in between them at the end and helped Dungey close the gap, but it was not enough. Roczen was able to win the 450 title in his rookie year.
#4 | 2011 | Ryan Villopoto 14 points over Ryan Dungey
For as many titles as Ryan Dungey has (three in 450 motocross) it is surprising to see him appear on this list in second place just as many times. Two-thousand-eleven started off as a three-man battle with Chad Reed leading the points until Millville when he got “Chadapulted” off of the track. From there it just left "The Ryans" again battling it out. It was a close battle with only 12 points separating them after the final moto of the season. Bike problems at a couple of rounds must have left Dungey wondering “what could have been.”
#3 | 2007 | Grant Langston 8 points over Andrew Short
How exactly does one beat Ricky Carmichael in Pro Motocross? Quite easily if Ricky races (and wins) only six rounds on his farewell tour. With Carmichael only doing select rounds, and therefore out of the championship hunt, everyone assumed the crown would be handed over to James Stewart. Then Stewart suffered a knee injury, and the championship was wide open. Grant Langston came on strong at the end, winning the last three rounds winning the championship for himself and Yamaha with 16 points over Mike Alessi.
#2 | 1996 | Jeff Emig 8 points over Jeremy McGrath
Old rivals Jeff Emig and Jeremy McGrath battled it out during the 1996 season. McGrath, the defending champion, held the points lead until he miscalculated a jump at Spring Creek and cased a table-table, hurting his foot. He tried to tough it out and still get points, but Emig was coming on strong. Emig opened an eight-pint lead, but McGrath was able to heal up enough to go 1-1 at the second to last round. This left them just two points apart heading into the finale, making it the closest championship (with this many rounds) in this class until this year. Emig rebounded with a 1-1 at the finale to take the championship by 10 points, as Mcgrath went 2-3.
#1 | 2022 | Eli Tomac 1 point over Chase Sexton
And that brings us to 2022, going into the last round, where Eli Tomac leads by only one point over Chase Sexton. It would be easy to look at this list and think that Eli has been in this situation before, once with Blake Baggett and once with Marvin Musquin. But the fact is no other riders have been this close before and we have no idea how this is going to pan out. Riding smart for points at the finale is one thing, but this weekend will require an all-out attack (and likely moto wins) to ice the crown. The only thing we know for sure is that this Saturday at Fox Raceway at Pala is going to be exciting to watch!
Main image: Villopoto and Dungey at the 2011 Steel City National, photo by Andrew Fredrickson
