Is Windham the best he's ever been?

PaleBlue
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PaleBlue
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 2:02pm
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is there currently less talent around him in SX 450's than in living memory?
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redrider111
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redrider111 5/12/2010 12:43am
5/12/2010 12:43am
hmm... I dont know if this is the best that he's EVER been, but close to it. In my opinion, his best year was when he came back after a year off and raced the outdoors on the 450 against RC on the 250. I believe it was in 2004 (please correct me if I'm wrong). Some GREAT battles were had between RC and Windham that year!
redrider400
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redrider400 5/12/2010 1:33am
5/12/2010 1:33am
I think so. He is riding with more confidence than ever. I hope he keeps it up.
Crush
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Crush 5/12/2010 1:36am
5/12/2010 1:36am
He came back 2003 Outdoors... And won Washougol and Unadilla against RC on the 2 stroke... I personally think he was better 2008 at times but he's been on fire this year too...

He got 2nd in points and had some dnfs I think... Good ride for sure!
ReedyMX
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ReedyMX 5/12/2010 1:37am
5/12/2010 1:37am Edited Date/Time 5/12/2010 1:38am
I think he knows his time is limited. He is trying to enjoy the sport before retirement. When you enjoy MX you have correct frame of mind and ride faster.

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burnside
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burnside 5/12/2010 2:23am
5/12/2010 2:23am
ReedyMX wrote:
I think he knows his time is limited. He is trying to enjoy the sport before retirement. When you enjoy MX you have correct frame of...
I think he knows his time is limited. He is trying to enjoy the sport before retirement. When you enjoy MX you have correct frame of mind and ride faster.
Yeah thats what I've observed too, seems like he really appreciates where he is at right now and is enjoying it for what it is, gotta be a more healthy mindset than some of the other guys on the line.
Fat Fingers
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Fat Fingers 5/12/2010 2:28am
5/12/2010 2:28am
He seems to ride better when he gets a sniff of a win.

I think his best years were long ago when he was racing RC on a 2 stroke. Again, when he had a shot at a win, he came through.

Didn't Windham retire from racing in 2002 and get on the booze for a year?

Old Mate
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Old Mate 5/12/2010 2:50am
5/12/2010 2:50am
He is good and strong always, go real fast and beat him, the guy is a benchmark of the top of the sport, freaks beat him.
WideOpen
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WideOpen 5/12/2010 3:28am
5/12/2010 3:28am Edited Date/Time 5/12/2010 3:29am
PaleBlue wrote:
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is...
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is there currently less talent around him in SX 450's than in living memory?
KW is the same as he was 2 or 3 yrs ago. He is not a contender when there is a full field. He is a 4th or 5th place guy with a full field of riders. Not bad if you ask me. The guy just keeps plugging along.
RocketLab
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RocketLab 5/12/2010 4:20am
5/12/2010 4:20am
Larocco? How much has he had to do with Windham's resurgence this year? How much different would that career have been with someone of that caliber in Kevin's corner from the beginning?
Stephon
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Stephon 5/12/2010 4:30am
5/12/2010 4:30am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 10:45pm
PaleBlue wrote:
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is...
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is there currently less talent around him in SX 450's than in living memory?
WideOpen wrote:
KW is the same as he was 2 or 3 yrs ago. He is not a contender when there is a full field. He is a...
KW is the same as he was 2 or 3 yrs ago. He is not a contender when there is a full field. He is a 4th or 5th place guy with a full field of riders. Not bad if you ask me. The guy just keeps plugging along.
I would tend to agree mostly with the above. I do think he's a contender; maybe not the biggest threat over a season, but a threat nonetheless every time the gate drops.

That said; I'd love to see him get a title before it's over. He's had to contend with MC, RC, CR & JS he deserves a medal for that alone. Great guy for the sport; I hope he makes it to '14 and retires on his own terms.
mccread
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mccread 5/12/2010 4:47am
5/12/2010 4:47am
I think Windhan is the same as he ever was no worse and probably not really any better just maybe smarter and more relaxed.. he was probably at his best in 98/99 he was beating MC straight up those years and 2003... but overall he is the same level I think, his talent is the same. It is just when he uses it to his full potential.

K Dub has always started slow and got better at the end.. imo he could have won the title this year if he believed in it from round one like Dungey.
mccread
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mccread 5/12/2010 4:49am
5/12/2010 4:49am
RocketLab wrote:
Larocco? How much has he had to do with Windham's resurgence this year? How much different would that career have been with someone of that caliber...
Larocco? How much has he had to do with Windham's resurgence this year? How much different would that career have been with someone of that caliber in Kevin's corner from the beginning?
That is a really good point - if he had someone like that from 95 he probably would have a majot title by now...
BobbyM
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BobbyM 5/12/2010 5:31am
5/12/2010 5:31am
PaleBlue wrote:
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is...
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is there currently less talent around him in SX 450's than in living memory?
possibly, 1st or 2nd year on the 125 or his resurrection on the 4 banger maybe too
Racer92
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Racer92 5/12/2010 5:39am
5/12/2010 5:39am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 10:46pm
huck
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huck 5/12/2010 5:42am
5/12/2010 5:42am
I think he looked better in some races this year, then he has in a long time. I'm sure the confidence of knowing that RC, Reed, and Stewart not being in there has helped...regardless, he had an awesome year and started the season equal to everybody, and finished 2nd. Major props!

JOHN CHOATE
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JOHN CHOATE 5/12/2010 5:50am
5/12/2010 5:50am
PaleBlue wrote:
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is...
Plenty of podiums and a couple of wins and all on a non-factory team! Is K.W. the best he's been for many a year OR is there currently less talent around him in SX 450's than in living memory?
Maybe a little of both IMO.
SCIENCE
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SCIENCE 5/12/2010 5:58am
5/12/2010 5:58am
Love KDub! He will perhaps go down as the best rider in the history of MX/SX to never win a title. (I don't count 125SX as a top title). He has had a few chances to pounce when top guys have faltered or gotten hurt. It is a shame he never garnered the brass ring. His effortless riding style should allow him many more years of top 5's.
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txmxer 5/12/2010 6:00am
5/12/2010 6:00am
Not best, but he's still very good.

Age keeps him from pushing as hard as the "kids" do. Fact of life. Max output on a continuous basis goes down with age.

He's always been smooth as silk and hasn't lost a thing in that area.

I still wish he had stayed on Yamaha in the 90's. Everything seemed to work for him at that time. Then he went to Honda and they couldn't get those shitty bikes (frames) to work right for years.

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Pilk
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Pilk 5/12/2010 6:15am
5/12/2010 6:15am
I believe he is the best he has ever been. The pace of the racing and skills have been stepped up and I feel like Windham has had to elevate his game to be where he is at. True he may not be contending just like yesteryear although he is winning ( I realize people are out ), how cool would it be to see everyone as excited to be racing supercross that he is. Thats why we like him. Just watching him in some of those whoops sections recently has been a treat.
purpleNurple
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purpleNurple 5/12/2010 6:42am
5/12/2010 6:42am
I think he really put his head down after Canard got him for third place. After that we got the angry Windham, and it was good to see.
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rallendude 5/12/2010 6:50am
5/12/2010 6:50am
How many years has Windham finished second in points in either SX or MX or both? The guy is and always will be a threat. A threat that one of the top two or three guys in the world can handle but a threat none the less.

Windham is by far my favorite rider. I've been a fan since he was on YZ125s. If he had the calm maturity he has now back when he was with Yamaha he probably would have won a few titles. He's always been a bit of a head case and never has been one to hang it out over the edge too far. That's why he's always been there.

As for the "got on the booze" comment, that's the first I'd heard of that and I think it's probably out of line.
Hank_Thrill
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Hank_Thrill 5/12/2010 6:54am
5/12/2010 6:54am
Pilk wrote:
I believe he is the best he has ever been. The pace of the racing and skills have been stepped up and I feel like Windham...
I believe he is the best he has ever been. The pace of the racing and skills have been stepped up and I feel like Windham has had to elevate his game to be where he is at. True he may not be contending just like yesteryear although he is winning ( I realize people are out ), how cool would it be to see everyone as excited to be racing supercross that he is. Thats why we like him. Just watching him in some of those whoops sections recently has been a treat.
BINGO!!!!

gt80rider
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gt80rider 5/12/2010 7:08am
5/12/2010 7:08am
Old Mate wrote:
He is good and strong always, go real fast and beat him, the guy is a benchmark of the top of the sport, freaks beat him.
W T F???
mjskier
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mjskier 5/12/2010 7:36am
5/12/2010 7:36am
As for the "got on the booze" comment, that's the first I'd heard of that and I think it's probably out of line.

Look for the part about "I didn’t train, I ate what I wanted, and I got drunk a hell of a lot"

http://motocross.transworld.net/1000015206/features/second-coming-kevin-windham-is-the-transworld-motocross-racer-of-the-year/
Adam43
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Adam43 5/12/2010 7:45am
5/12/2010 7:45am
He is as fast as ever, and keeping pace with the evolution of the sport.

I think he has figured out how to bring his A game more consistently. When things are going right for him, he has the ability to raise his pace a couple levels to be the fastest one out there.

The speed and overall competitiveness he has shown the last half of this season is very impressive. More so than 2008.
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brocster 5/12/2010 8:15am
5/12/2010 8:15am

i call BS on not keeping up with the kids...

jumped a quad in the dark at opening ceramonies, huge transfers first lick and was jumping shit on the track at vegas that no one else was.....dudes a bada$$ just needed a better start and it was his

in the past he let shit get into his head and would think too much which would not let him ride to his potential but now it seems all bet sare off...looks like he's having a shit ton o fun. IMHO of course

lucero10x
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lucero10x 5/12/2010 8:49am
5/12/2010 8:49am
How cool was it to see Windham win a couple? Wow!

How many guys have came through the ranks, got burnt out and faded away? Kevin is truly a master. If he never wins another race or never lines up for another moto, he will always be known as a moto god.
mccread
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mccread 5/12/2010 8:50am
5/12/2010 8:50am
mjskier wrote:
[b]As for the "got on the booze" comment, that's the first I'd heard of that and I think it's probably out of line.[/b] Look for the...
As for the "got on the booze" comment, that's the first I'd heard of that and I think it's probably out of line.

Look for the part about "I didn’t train, I ate what I wanted, and I got drunk a hell of a lot"

http://motocross.transworld.net/1000015206/features/second-coming-kevin-windham-is-the-transworld-motocross-racer-of-the-year/
that was when he was injured not when he was racing...
oldschoolmxr203 5/12/2010 9:12am
5/12/2010 9:12am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 10:46pm
,,

Ive been a fan of Kevin Windham, since his amatuer days.

Photos from Racer X
chrisbuehler
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chrisbuehler 5/12/2010 10:15am
5/12/2010 10:15am
Great to see a vet out there winning but he never had a sniff of the supercross title this year, it wouldnt have matter ed how well he started out the season. He had nothing for RD or RV. Awesome to see him get a couple wins though(mud races). And his bike is as factory as it gets by the way.

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