Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
To be fair though, I do agree that RC threw a tantrum (kinda like you're doing here) over the tainted fuel to get his points back in '06.
There is very few if any in the history of the sport you can compare to RC.
I hate to say that because RC is undoubtedly the GOAT, but I'd guess even he would agree.
It makes me cringe to even say that because on some level it feels blasphemous to talk about those two seasons in anything other than pure awe.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
― Calvin Coolidge
I could talk for hours on this above. In business... sports... etc...NOTHING is more critical than raw desire. NOTHING. Talent is a joke. You have to want it. RC.... RC wanted it.
RC beat stewart most times outdoors and stewart would beat tomac, so no brainer RC over tomac outdoors.
Unless we see a guy come in on a 250, win his rookie year, win every other year, move up to 450, win his rookie year.....
Pit Row
RC had to win, similar to Stewart saying he had to win to pay the bills. Entirely different mentality. Not a negative about Eli but just coming from a different life scenario. But RC was on a mission to win from when he was a little kid.
knows better than MC. Eli admits himself that he rarely pushes out of his comfort level and that’s why he stays healthy and his career has run so long.
And Ricky acknowledges that the field is deeper now. Pure speculation.
Really it’s kind of disingenuous to say and I’m a big fan of both. So much has changed between those eras.
Like...I'd be like Kevin Windham level in Ju Jitsu but I'm no James man that bro just like fully sick bro fark.
Insane !!!!
But bro like...you can't compare James to Jett...Jett is like bro straight up faster than James farrkk!!!!!
What some people might not account for is that Tomac's bad rounds where he finishes in 7th, 8th, or 9th would probably land him a 3rd, 4th, or 5th in the mid-2000s. His bad days aren't as bad as we think, the field just has more riders that are close to that elite level so if you're a tick off, you're toast.
In terms of whose peak speed was better, I don't think there's a real answer. I think the small handful of guys that have won tons of races & titles, the Carmichaels, Stewarts, Tomacs, Villopotos etc of the world, all have the ability to go however insanely fast as they want when they're feeling it. I don't think Tomac's 2015 form is necessarily the no-doubt fastest anyone has ever ridden a dirtbike. Same goes for Stewart in '08, Villopoto in '13, or Carmichael in, well, any season he competed in. There's a 100% speed that only these guys, plus a handful of others, could hit. The difference between these guys is how often they hit that 100% speed. Villopoto had it almost all the time on the 250, but in terms of outdoors on the 450, his only years were '11 and '13, and he only really threw down that pace in '13. Tomac hit it at the start of '15 and every few rounds from '17-'19, and I think he's hit it a few times again this season. Basically, most of them couldn't hit it consistently for a decade.
Except Ricky did. And that's why he's the GOAT.
Tomac could beat Ricky here and there. There isn't a doubt in my mind that his peak speed is on the same level that RIcky's was. But Tomac would only match him for half of the rounds, if that. Ricky would almost certainly win a 24-moto championship against Tomac. I will say, I think the two riders since Carmichael who could make it even slightly tough for him include Tomac, and the other is Villopoto. Stewart's main specialty was SX, Carmichael never really had too much trouble with him in moto.
Post a reply to: Tomac VS Carmichael