Motocross

8 MX Racers Who Were Way Ahead of Their Time

These motocross legends brought the sport to new levels, simply because they were so good.
By Eric Wright
6 min readPublished on
JS7 sends it sideways

JS7 sends it sideways

© Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

The nature of sport is that it is ever-evolving. The constant pursuit for superiority enables a progression that means any sport will become more challenging in the years to come. But sometimes, an athlete arrives on the scene with such ability that he or she transcends generations, reaching levels thought impossible in the modern era. These eight motocross racers are eight such athletes:

James Stewart

When he came to the pro scene, James Stewart was one of the most highly touted rookies ever in motocross. He was signed by the factory Kawasaki team when he was just 15 years old, racing his first Supercross in 2002 just a month after reaching the AMA-required minimum age of 16. In his first year, Stewart displayed explosive speed and talent, introducing the world to the Bubba scrub, which revolutionized motocross. Stewart was a completely new breed of racer, one with amazing flash and ability that completely outclassed competitors. In his early years, Stewart knew that he could not lose, and so did his competition. By the time he was 18, he was the best 125 rider the world had ever seen.
Travis Pastrana wheelies at Straight Rhythm

Travis Pastrana wheelies at Straight Rhythm

© Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Content Pool

Travis Pastrana

Travis Pastrana no longer can be classified as a professional motocross racer. In fact, he has made his name outside of motocross, reaching the mainstream success that no other racer has ever seen with his Nitro Circus conglomerate that has taken over the world of action sports. But Pastrana got his start in moto, and not only was he winning amateur titles at an early age, he was also at the forefront of the freestyle motocross movement ... all before he was a teenager. Pastrana won the first FMX event at X-Games at just 15 years old; by far the youngest rider to ever achieve that feat. Oh, and then he won the AMA 125 Outdoor National title just a year later, at 16.

Jeremy McGrath

Jeremy McGrath is the winningest Supercross racer of all time, and probably will be forever. He has 72 wins. And the next best racer? That'd be Stewart with 50 wins. McGrath ruled supercross in the '90s, with seven titles over eight seasons until Ricky Carmichael found his big bike groove and exploded onto the scene. It wasn’t McGrath's work ethic that won him titles, it was his ability. MC came from BMX, and used those precise bicycle skills in Supercross in a way that hadn't been seen before. He would regularly hit jumps that no one else was willing to even touch, and it meant that nobody could touch him in a race. McGrath even said his regular main event strategy was just ride hard for eight laps then cruise the next 12, because by then he had a massive lead anyway.
Ken Roczen at A3

Ken Roczen at A3

© Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

Ken Roczen

Ken Roczen has been called the “most marketable rider in the world” for a reason. He arrived on the pro scene from Germany in 2009 when he was only 15, and immediately made his name one of the most valuable in the sport. The youngest rider ever to win a World Motocross GP, he then won a world title before setting his sights on America, where he has two championships, as well. Roczen, at only 20, is a mix of charisma and talent that can essentially write its own checks from sponsors. Women want him, men want to be him, and that means that the big brands want their logos on him.

Ricky Carmichael

Ricky Carmichael is the GOAT, the greatest of all time: 150 motocross and Supercross wins and 16 championships over his 10-year career. RC did not have the textbook style that trainers are constantly hammering into their riders; he rode like a bulldog and that resulted in the Floridian never losing a title defense ... ever. But Carmichael was a workhorse, and his immaculate fitness combined with near-infinite hours at the practice track made him untouchable on a racetrack. Two perfect seasons — meaning 24 wins in a row on two different occasions — in the outdoor nationals don’t just happen from luck.
Jeffrey Herlings on his way to the win in Qatar

Jeffrey Herlings on his way to the win in Qatar

© KTM Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Jeffrey Herlings

Jeffrey Herlings is just 19 years old and already has two MX2 world championships to his name. The FIM literally made an exception to let him race MX2 for two years longer than usual, just because no one had ever won two titles (normally the maximum allowed under current rules) by age 17. He just won the MXGP of Qatar with just six weeks back on the bike after rehabbing a broken femur. Herlings is the present and future of world motocross.

Jean-Michel Bayle

In the turn of motocross world domination during the late '80s, Jean-Michel Bayle was the first of a new wave of Europeans to move to America to race dirt bikes. After winning multiple FIM world championships, JMB then traveled to the U.S. and won multiple AMA championships. Within four years the Frenchman won every major U.S. national title — 125, 250 and 500 outdoor titles and the 1991 250 Supercross title as well. Bayle's style was buttery smooth, and something that no rider in the world could replicate. It is what allowed him to become one of the most decorated riders in world motocross. By 1992, Bayle had done what he had set out to do and joined the MotoGP tour in 1993. He came, he saw, he conquered, he went road racing.
Stefan Everts' legendary style

Stefan Everts' legendary style

© Stefano Taglioni/Red Bull Content Pool

Stefan Everts

Stefan Everts is known as the greatest rider ever in FIM World Motocross. Stefan is the son of Harry Everts — one of the first stars of motocross — and hit the world championship at 17 years old, and won his first title two years later. In his career, Stefan Everts racked up 10 world titles and 101 GP wins, each records unsurpassed in the MXGPs. The Belgian is also the only rider ever to win three GPs in three different classes ... all on the same day. Of course, that was during the short period when the series was running a one moto format, but that's still impressive. Everts could stand up around practically the entire track, which made his style on the bike seem effortless, only further humiliating the competitors that he was destroying on the track.

Part of this story

Ken Roczen

Ken Roczen is a German motocross racer who's well on his way to becoming a legend in the USA in the AMA Supercoss 450SX series.

GermanyGermany

Jeffrey Herlings

With five motocross world titles to his name, Dutch rider Jeffrey Herlings is already regarded as one of the all-time greats of the sport.

NetherlandsNetherlands