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Mike Brown and Warren Reid were exceptional racers, Brownie more than Reid IMO, who had great careers. But they weren't even the best riders of their time, let alone over the years of the class.
Here's my shot at the ten best in the class (considering how they did in other classes). Some guys, like Bayle, Everts, Pastrana, are better riders overall than some on that list, but just trying to nail the 125s, no way do I expect agreement.
Stewart
RC
Barnett
Smith
Hannah
Rahier
Glover
H. Everts
Lamson
Toss up between Geboers and Henry
From O'Mara down there's a bunch of guys that could slot in there, but I don't think there's a lot to argue about with the top eight other than order, which will likely entail cross pond pissing.
Gaston Rahier 3 x 125 champ
Harry Everts 3 x
Broc Glover 3 x
Mark Barnett 3 x
Alessio Chiodi 3 x
Ricky Carmicheal 3 x
Theres alot of great mx guys that have 2 titles in the 125 class,and i would include Marty Smith, i got a 75 cr 125 because of him,, but James Stewart should be included because he has the most wins in the USA,in the 125 class,, imo...
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See...no one EVER, EVER did that to Jimmy Stewart 259.
Let me tell you a story.... In my first year I raced pro at southwick in 05 AMA still had the top 125/250 riders in the same practice group, this meant Rc and Stewart were together in the sand 125 against 450 Saturday practice, James strait up had fastest times in practice. The raw speed and strength mixed with his crazy talent to flow perfectly around every sand burm was beautiful. He really knew how to ride a two stroke to the max.
And now that the sport is all about 250F's and 450's, do you as a racer think that the racing is actually any better or just faster, more dangerous and more expensive?
http://www.amapromail.com/pdfresults/mx/2004/03-southwick/cp2ovr.pdf
and in 2005 he was on the KX250:
http://www.amapromail.com/pdfresults/mx/2005/03-southwick/cp2ovr.pdf
In 2004 he smoked them all on the 125 (had a bad start in moto 2 and had to pass a lot of them)
In 2005 he went DNF & DNS on the KX250
Pit Row
James Stewart is hands down the fastest 125 rider ever.
I dont care about titles and dudes back in the day, I am talking pure speed. He was untouchable.
Chad Reed was a GP champion and got embarrassed and down right clowned by James Stewart on a 125. Don't care who was on the track James would work them.
RC was really fast as well but James was scary fast.
I never saw Barnett ride so I gotta go with Stewart (bonus: I loved Pastrana on a 125)
Of course he had better equipment than those before him, and he had developed knowing the discoveries made by those before him. This is why it is wrong to compare riders from different era's (strictly speaking).
However, in his time, James was just so much better than all of the other riders in the class at that same time. You also have to remember that by 2004, most of his opposition were riding superior bikes to him (250F's).
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