450 Class

Yes- the year Reed won his 450 championship..2009

Of course some guys in 10-20th on 250s could probably top 10 450s. There's like 20 factory 250 riders and 5 factory 450 riders. 

Langston title in 07?  The year Ricky raced half the series…that seemed pretty depleted…

Remember a few years back there were a lot of guys coming down with mono? Seemed like it bounced from rider to rider and some of them were out for quite awhile until they got over it.

That must be the year gerke snagged a win.

Ferry even had a shot at that 07 title.

The recency bias on this is fierce

Yes! 2008

and 2002 and 2004

Thoughts?

As long as the SX series wraps right before the Nationals, you'll see this trend with great regularity.

Ask Albee why it took him as long as it did to win his US MX title - couldn't get through SX healthy.

Not really new... but sucks all the same.

Perhaps the two series should be contested by two separate groups? We all know there are SX only contracts (because that's where the money is), but maybe there could be a push for MX only riders. It would require a change in attitudes, and spending habits.

Hey Pierre, I wish the field was depleted when I was racing. 

Ya, That was Roczen's X making her rounds

Yea. Matt. Won. 2009 southwick. And podiumed at budds creek one moto

Yeah! but the guy who won the Championship in 2002 and 2004 raced, dominated and defeated for AMA Championships EVERYONE! for 10 years. 

Did bubba just say French faggot

Lawrence will have so much confidence after today, even if Chase is back next weekend, I’m not sure it will be the same as if he’d stayed in (not had mono or sustained a concussion)

2009 has been mentioned a few times, but the season started with at least 10 factory riders. 2008 had less.
2023 started with 6. There’s unfortunately been plenty of depleted seasons, but this year’s gotta be right up there.

2022 only started with 9 factory races. 2 of them out of retirement.

If jett is to dominate this series. In 10 years time ppl will look back and no1 will remember the other riders issue. He will have beat Cooper Webb, ferrandis, ap, ac all guys with championships.

2004 was real Healthy. Obviously RC went 24-0 but Reed and Windham raced the entire year. DV was there and Tortelli came back at Red Bud. 

2012? Wasn't it dungey and allessi after stew crashed out.

Many seasons have finished more depleted than this. 2009 is probably number 1 on that list. Langstons eye issue forced a early retirement at this point. Stewart the fastest MX racer in the world decides to not race the moto gods were pissed and he never wins a title again. Windham is SX only. RV wins the first race and is out by Rd. 2. Alessi wins the next 2 rounds and is out by Rd. 4. Leaving Reed who is finally able to win his first MX race ever. Grant who wins Red Bud then passes and pulls away from Reed moto 1 Millville gets hurt at X games I believe. By the end of the year. Hahn, Geroke sorry about spelling win overalls and Dowd well into his 40’s podiums Southwick.

2007 there was still plenty of depth once RC and Stewart were out. There were 5 legit guys going for it. 

After 09, 2012 is probably the next “weakest”. 

I have a thought about the depleted field comments, lets look at it logically as i think you will find, yes there is some big names out but only 2 of them is a past Outdoor Champion. Jett would still have everyone covered easily.

Eli - Past Champion - Obvious person who would challenge if not beat at full strength
Kenny - Past Champion - don't think he has the distance anymore
Chase - No outdoor titles - would challenge but i thing Jett would still win in the long run
Jason - No outdoor title - couple 450 wins
Justin Barcia - No outdoor title - 4 wins since 2013
Christian Craig - No outdoor title 1 podium
Mookie - No outdoor title, barely ridden outdoors
Marvin - No outdoor title - 9 wins since 2016 - (wasn't contracted to race)

The Guys that are currently riding are the guys that have won Outdoor champions so Jett is basically beating the best Outdoors

Dylan - Past 250 and 450 Outdoor Champion
Cooper - Past 250 Outdoor Champion
Aaron - Past 250 Outdoor Champion
Adam - Past 250 Outdoor Champion

As it stands, aside from Eli, Jett is beating everyone who has the Outdoor credentials

To assume jett would "easily have everyone covered". Is a bit of a stretch.

All we can say is what we know.

In the last 12 months sexton has been the fastest in raw speed. Tomac has been the best racer. Overall they have been about equal.

When sexton has executed a race he has generally been dominant. 

Tomac has use his knowledge, skill and experience to win.

We have only seen 1 race where jett has raced either. Pala. Chases crash could have changed the general view of things. But it seems like Jett out raw speeded the fast guy. And was able to better race management. (Turn the tables in race 2. Who thinks chase makes a critical mistake?)

So in pala jett wins.

Hangtown who knows how hard jett was pushing? It didn't seem very hard. 

Would he have beat chase and tomac?? Who knows???

All I know is we are missing the opportunity for a good battle.

On a side note. How injured/ off are the other guys?

Ac injury is old. He said it would be better in mx. In sx he was about 7-9 place guy

Cooper had a concussion. No physical injury. Had about 4 weeks off. He should be 100% healthy, just behind on bike time.

Dylan had a bad concussion he had about 10 weeks off. Again he should be 100% healthy just behind on bike time.

Ap had a crash and hurt his hip. Just deep bruising. About 4-5 weeks ago.

All these guys should be able to run with jett for the opening 10 mins. But none are anywhere near him

Tomac and Chase challenging each other and staying in the same zip code outdoors seemed to cut down on Chase's mistakes a little, maybe keeping him focused on the task at hand as they were often so close?

Seems a lot of Chase's mistakes come when he's checked out and on his own and his mind wanders.

Hopefully this works the same way with Jett when Chase is back at it. They can stay close like moto 2 at Pala and Chase has something to concentrate on and keep him sharp until the flag.

Everyone knows Jett is remarkable and would possibly still win with the other guys in there. This isn’t about Jett. Jett has proved he can beat the best in the world. This isn’t about Ferrandis, Sexton, Webb, Plessinger or AC either. Those guys are legit to 10 threats no matter who is racing. 
 

When we talk about the field being depleted we’re talking about everyone else. Ty Masterpool, Derek Drake, Jerry Robin, Lorenzo Lucurcio, Jose Butron… those guys are very good riders but with all due respect, they wouldn’t normally be fighting for top 10 positions. Normally they’d be fighting to get into a point paying position. We’re missing Anderson, Barcia, Tomac, Mookie, Craig, Wilson, Roczen, Savatgy, McElrath, Bloss and now Sexton. That’s 11 guys who are more than capable of finishing inside the top 10 overall (a few of which can win any given week) who are out. 
 

That’s what is meant by a depleted field. No one with a brain is saying Jett is only winning because the field is depleted. Those who are saying that simply struggle with reality I guess. Eli and Chase are the only two in the series who could have possibly beat Jett on a consistent enough basis to win the championship. It’s just a fact that after the current top 5 riders there’s a massive drop off in speed. 

It's 'past'.

Agree with your logic though I think if he can easily out qualify and outrace Chase he will do the same with Eli.

Shit, good pick up, I'm usually a stickler for spelling ha

Fixed