Here are the full stats of race wins and titles of the top ten finishing riders, plus notable riders that finished outside the top ten, from the three past perfect seasons and this current season. It only includes wins/titles for the riders at the start of that season. I included 450SX stats but excluded regional SX.
Top ten each year plus notable names that finished outside the top ten:
Wins and titles for all riders that competed:
Wins and titles for the top ten only:
My conclusions:
This year stacks up well by comparison. Overall my opinion would be about the same as 2004 and slightly better than 2002.
If you include all riders then by the numbers 2004 was clearly the strongest field, but LaRocco, Dowd and McGrath were definitely at the back end of their careers and weren't threats to win any races.
Finally, 2008 was a weak field by any measure.
Discuss.
Don’t overthink it. They’re all impressive
Absolutely, 2008 was a weak field, but still full of amazing riders, not many people like to admit it though. A lot have commented about 2023 being weak, because Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia, Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen aren't in the mix. After the dismantling of the 2022 AMA Championship by Eli and Chase and the way Jett is racing Sexton this year it's pretty disingenuous to say he hasn't earned it if he goes perfect. There are so many factors besides competition could end this streak.
Yes I feel a lot of people just focus on the competition but that’s just one factor for a perfect season. To achieve it also means zero mechanicals, no costly tip overs or crashes, consistently good starts, and no injuries.
They are. With the debate about weak fields I thought I’d look at what the fields actually were.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
I’ve been saying 2008 was by far weaker than this year all along. Thanks for pulling the stats out.
Another thing that stands out to me was that 2004 wasn’t weak, RC was just that good.
The argument isn’t that there’s nobody in the field. It’s the circumstances. Anderson is just coming back from injury, Sexton was hurt and just coming back, Ferrandis was just hurt and coming back (clearly not the same as he was), list goes on. There isn’t another actual contender that is 100%.
perfect seasons are always impressive, but I think Kenny put things into perspective when he showed up with 2 days of testing off the couch and would have had a 2-2 and leading laps. The field is fine, just not 100%.
Man Tim Ferry was good when he was healthy.
Any perfect season is impressive. None of the others compare to 2004.
Yep, those numbers of race wins and championships numbers or lack thereof of the challengers mean nothing without context. Btw, he’s missing Tedesco and Townley in 2008 season.
I’ve said it before, another reason the challengers in James’ and RC’s seasons don’t have a lot of wins and championships is because James and Ricky were winning all the races and championships in the years prior to doings their perfect seasons.
Ando, how much time did you spend on this? lol
A rookie having a perfect season is borderline ludicrous. None of the greatest racers in history have ever done it.
Very good. Mxon member. People forget
Context is certainly important and stats alone don’t show that.
Some other thoughts on this whole topic and the stats:
- championship vs perfect season puts a slightly different spin on things. For a championship it absolutely is relevant if good riders are injured and only ride part of the season. A perfect season however only takes 1 moto to ruin so the presence of top riders for only part of a season I feel carries more weight than a championship discussion.
- I didn’t attempt to list who didn’t ride the whole season e.g. Tomac for 2023.
- some riders, Reed comes most easily to mind, were at the start of their careers and so results wise had few credentials at the time but later became established as greats.
Probably took me about an hour and a half.
I think as Jett get's closer and closer to a perfect season, there's probably more and more anxiety that goes with it, it's almost like getting to the last frame of a perfect 300 bowling game and getting a 1/10 split, so you can imagine if Jett makes it to 21 straight moto wins and has a bad mid to back pack start in the final moto and he's got to go full send it mode to try to win and keep the streak alive, I think I'd vomit in my helmet from the stress, because these types of historical events don't happen that often and he'll be a rookie 450 rider only once.
now take in consideration the age of the riders when they had their perfect seasons and how long they have been in the class to achieve such..
To me, that’s what’s really impressive
I saw an interview with him the other day about it. He was pretty adamant that he'll take the win if it's there, but he's isn't going to risk the championship or injury to achieve a perfect season.
Also one more important point - Jett hasn't done it yet...
Pit Row
I just would love to see the collective vitard meltdown if J Law pulled a no-hander on the last lap and went over the bars (as did RC). That makes me chuckle just thinking about it.
Ha! When did that happen?
Jason Lawrence making a comeback?
Those stats just show just how great RC is. If Jett pulls this off that’s impressive for rookie to do it.
RC did it in 2002 on the under-powered two stroke when most guys were already making the move to the four stroke. Nothing will ever compare to that one. Also, the pressure was highest on him since it had not only never been done, but nobody thought it was even possible.
Most guys weren't on 450's. Kawasaki and Suzuki were still a few years away from theirs, and it was only the first season of the CRF450.
I think it was Milville when he was still on a 125 . It was after doing a can can I think too . He still won the moto .
Put ‘em on whatever bike, new or old, who wins? 2002 RC, ‘04 RC, ‘08 Stew or this year’s Jett?
Are we even having this conversation if he doesn’t win the next 6 motos? Is it a perfect season but tarnished in everyone’s minds since it’s only 22 instead of 24?
I believe you're right. I think maybe I am thinking of how the "125 class" had become the 250f class by then. Or maybe it's my CTE acting up again.
To be fair, RC in 04 and Stew in 08 we’re coming off of blown out knees. I want to saw Stew only had a week or two on the bike. After winning Rd.2 of SX he went under the knife. RC had a bit more time I believe in 04 then Stew in 08.
Again this is not to belittle Jett but I haven’t seen the blown knee thing written any where in all this perfect season talk.
Butt Jett 19, RC 22 and 24 and Stew was 22 as well.
Jett, rookie season. Neither of them ran the table first time out.
There are so many parallels to McGrath in the AMA 250 Supercross of 1993. Rookie on Honda with fantastic starts, blistering speed (especially early on in the race) and absolutely showing the old guard a new way to get around a track.
Obviously this thread is about perfect MX seasons ... I get it ... can't wait for playoffs!
Post a reply to: Let's compare perfect seasons to this season