Biggest... Never was.

Gebken40
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Gebken40
Edited Date/Time 5/19/2015 3:08pm
I saw some comments on another post and it got me wondering.... Who do you think was the biggest "Never Was" from amateur to pro?

Someone with multiple amateur titles and maybe even multiple factory rides that just wasn't able to win at the professional level?
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dadofagun
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dadofagun 5/5/2015 5:24am
5/5/2015 5:24am
Alessi. He's got to at least be considered...
Spydee
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Spydee 5/5/2015 5:27am
5/5/2015 5:27am
Justin Buckelew springs to mind.. he just seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth after his YoT days??
BABSTER#976 5/5/2015 5:34am
5/5/2015 5:34am
Gebken40 wrote:
I saw some comments on another post and it got me wondering.... Who do you think was the biggest "Never Was" from amateur to pro? Someone...
I saw some comments on another post and it got me wondering.... Who do you think was the biggest "Never Was" from amateur to pro?

Someone with multiple amateur titles and maybe even multiple factory rides that just wasn't able to win at the professional level?
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Sully22
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Sully22 5/5/2015 5:36am
5/5/2015 5:36am
Gebken40 wrote:
I saw some comments on another post and it got me wondering.... Who do you think was the biggest "Never Was" from amateur to pro? Someone...
I saw some comments on another post and it got me wondering.... Who do you think was the biggest "Never Was" from amateur to pro?

Someone with multiple amateur titles and maybe even multiple factory rides that just wasn't able to win at the professional level?
Thats a good question.....I thought Alessi at first but he's won as a pro, then I thought maybe Wey, but he won an overall in millville 99. They both won, but maybe not like people thought or expected....
neverwasfastenuf 5/5/2015 5:43am
5/5/2015 5:43am
Spydee wrote:
Justin Buckelew springs to mind.. he just seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth after his YoT days??
That list is going to be long one, several never reached their true potential for many varieties of reasons.

Buckelew, Marley, Reynard, Pastrana, .....................

It's a tough sport and like in many other sports there is only so much room at the top no matter how much promise you show early on. Add in the loss rate due to injuries and it gets tougher real quick.

BTW, I think this has been covered on multiple other occasions.
racerx221
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racerx221 5/5/2015 5:51am
5/5/2015 5:51am
Reynard, he did win an arenacross title though, does that count?
Uncle Tony
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Uncle Tony 5/5/2015 5:57am
5/5/2015 5:57am Edited Date/Time 5/5/2015 6:11am
Robbie Skaggs, Bobby bonds, nico izzi the list could go on forever
hillbilly
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hillbilly 5/5/2015 6:26am
5/5/2015 6:26am
Rodney Barr was better than Bradshaw ,he could ride a bike but imploded when a pro.

Crush
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Crush 5/5/2015 6:40am
5/5/2015 6:40am
dadofagun wrote:
Alessi. He's got to at least be considered...
Let's be honest though...

That's only a testament to how amazing he was as an amateur and a further reflection of the silyness he's been involved in as a pro...

He's also finished 2nd in the nationals 3(?) times? A few podiums indoors and if nothing else I'm sure he's got some coin in the bank.
UpTiTe
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UpTiTe 5/5/2015 6:44am
5/5/2015 6:44am
My top five would be Paul Dennis, Mouse McCoy Eddie Hicks Shane Bess and Troy Blake (R.I.P.).

There's a few more that could slip in there, but when you watched these guys on 80s, you were watching something special.
vanillaice782 5/5/2015 6:59am
5/5/2015 6:59am
He didn't have a million titles like Izzi or Alessi but Billy Fosnock! He beat a lot of fast guys as an amateur at different times (Emig, Larocco, Hughes, Brown). He won a decent amount of motos ar LL's but headed down the wrong path and ended up going to jail
MX114
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MX114 5/5/2015 7:12am
5/5/2015 7:12am
Without a doubt Gene Stull or Ben Riddle
codyc24
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codyc24 5/5/2015 7:18am
5/5/2015 7:18am
Scott Gebken comes to mind for me
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davistld01 5/5/2015 7:20am
5/5/2015 7:20am
deebrad wrote:
What about Izzi?
Unfortnately...even sadly, Nico's was the first name that popped into my mind.

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mx836
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mx836 5/5/2015 7:29am
5/5/2015 7:29am
Izzi had a factory ride for multiple years and has raced pro for some time. Hardly the "never was" that many more before him were. Also, he was one of three top amateurs that went pro that year. Not really a stand out.
jmx411
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jmx411 5/5/2015 7:32am
5/5/2015 7:32am
Alessi, Stroupe, Izzi
look out below 5/5/2015 7:38am
5/5/2015 7:38am
Spydee wrote:
Justin Buckelew springs to mind.. he just seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth after his YoT days??
neverwasfastenuf wrote:
That list is going to be long one, several never reached their true potential for many varieties of reasons. Buckelew, Marley, Reynard, Pastrana, ..................... It's a...
That list is going to be long one, several never reached their true potential for many varieties of reasons.

Buckelew, Marley, Reynard, Pastrana, .....................

It's a tough sport and like in many other sports there is only so much room at the top no matter how much promise you show early on. Add in the loss rate due to injuries and it gets tougher real quick.

BTW, I think this has been covered on multiple other occasions.
Patrana? (Who?) He as a east sx champ and a national champion. Hardly a never was.
look out below 5/5/2015 7:40am
5/5/2015 7:40am Edited Date/Time 5/5/2015 7:43am
codyc24 wrote:
Scott Gebken comes to mind for me
Yeah me too! He is a clown that needs to get back to work being "safe". Ha ha
neverwasfastenuf 5/5/2015 7:48am
5/5/2015 7:48am
Spydee wrote:
Justin Buckelew springs to mind.. he just seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth after his YoT days??
neverwasfastenuf wrote:
That list is going to be long one, several never reached their true potential for many varieties of reasons. Buckelew, Marley, Reynard, Pastrana, ..................... It's a...
That list is going to be long one, several never reached their true potential for many varieties of reasons.

Buckelew, Marley, Reynard, Pastrana, .....................

It's a tough sport and like in many other sports there is only so much room at the top no matter how much promise you show early on. Add in the loss rate due to injuries and it gets tougher real quick.

BTW, I think this has been covered on multiple other occasions.
look out below wrote:
Patrana? (Who?) He as a east sx champ and a national champion. Hardly a never was.
Just never realized his full potential in MX/SX, that is all
KennyT
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KennyT 5/5/2015 7:50am
5/5/2015 7:50am
I gotta go with as stroupe, Izzi, Riddle and the top podium Lawrence
DeStouwer
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DeStouwer 5/5/2015 7:52am
5/5/2015 7:52am
What about Politelli and Audette? I thought they were doing pretty good a season or two ago. This SX season hardly noticed them. Maybe a little early to call them "never was".
oldmotophan 5/5/2015 7:58am
5/5/2015 7:58am
Mini Heros are just like pee-wee football stars......I know this first hand as I have lived it with my son who plays and loves football. Many of the kids that are pee-wee football stars are not even playing anymore by the time they are varsity age. Why? because they have matured faster physically than the other kids. Point blank, they are bigger, stronger, faster at a younger age. We had a kid on my sons team that literally looked 25 years old in the eight grade. Receding hairline, full beard, best player in the league. This kid had the emotional maturity of a 5 year old. Tons of pressure on him because winning or losing was in his hands (just mortgaged the family home to buy another bike and go to Loretta's). Temper tantrums, getting kicked out of games acting like a total baby, because he was coddled because he was the star, bad behavior was allowed, rules didn't seem to apply to him, he was amazing (as many mini stars, think.. Buddy Antunez...just a beast) to watch. By the time he was a sophomore all the other kids had caught up physically and were not as beat up, the poor kid had a torn labrum in the seventh grade, carried the ball 25 times a game since the fourth grade. He was wore out and not noticeably better than the other kids at this point, so guess what, he quits! switches schools and runs with the wrong crowd at his new school and last we heard is in trouble with the law for drugs. Just like mini heros beat up and burned out by their 16th birthday. There are some exceptions of high expectations early in life that do become champs, in both football (Manning brothers comes to mind) and motocross (RC, JS7) but not many.
TannerMxer
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TannerMxer 5/5/2015 8:03am
5/5/2015 8:03am
Mike Alessi, hands down.

Tied for most amateur titles all time at Loretta's and then never won more than a couple races in an outdoor season, and barely held on in supercross.
Mchenault499 5/5/2015 8:14am
5/5/2015 8:14am Edited Date/Time 5/5/2015 8:16am
TannerMxer wrote:
Mike Alessi, hands down. Tied for most amateur titles all time at Loretta's and then never won more than a couple races in an outdoor season...
Mike Alessi, hands down.

Tied for most amateur titles all time at Loretta's and then never won more than a couple races in an outdoor season, and barely held on in supercross.
You guys are ridiculous.

Alessi finished 2nd in the lites class outdoors 1 year, and 2nd in the 450 class outdoors twice. He's won a few times, during the Stew and Villo dominate years he was the closest to them in speed, and if his dad didn't bog down his career he'd still be top 5 fastest outdoors.

He has 6 total overall wins outdoors between the two classes in the US.

I just counted 44 overall podiums between SX and MX in the 250s and 450s in his career. (on racerx vault) Yeah he was expected to be great and he was just good, but that hardly makes him a never was. I'll argue all day that his career would have been much better without his dad but he's still pretty damn good.

Maybe you call Jeff Alessi a never was, but not Mike.

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