Would Davies join RC, JS, RV etc. as a Rookie MX Champion?

Not a stupid question at all.

Just needs to get four good starts, bust out a few hot laps to open a gap, then ride smart.

Levi's starts are Davies biggest ally.

I thought Deegan won his rookie year?

The hype machine would like us to believe that, but no, he did not.

2nd season, 1st season was just short.

I would say categorically no. IMO, having raced as a pro at all in any previous season disqualifies you from being a "rookie." I don't like the idea that you "only" race half the nationals or a full season of one series but not the other, then somehow are "starting out" as a pro the following year. (I also don't like the "rookie" moniker for people in Haiden Deegan's current position - just because this is his first year on a 450 doesn't mean he's inexperienced.) 

The hype machine would have us believe this is Cole’s rookie season and it is not. 

If this isn't Davies rookie season then 23 isn't Deegans rookie season and 20 isn't Jetts rookie season in my book

RC raced one pro national in 1996... he got an 8th... which by some would then be defined as his "rookie" season...

And...  

Rv2 had 3 races in 2005... before a full season in 2006.... 

He's raced two seasons of supercross, essentially had two years of professional development and training on the current most successful team, and outdoor motocross is a discipline of the sport he's been racing his entire life. Not a rookie.

If we don't count Canards 4 races in 2007, RV's 3 races in 2005, RC4's 1 race in 1996, Deegan's 2 races in 2022, or Jetts 3 races in 2019....

Than we aren't counting Davies 2 races in 2025

I swear up until the Deegan vs Davies comparisons started popping up first full season was always considered your rookie season. Everyone refers to ‘23 as Haiden’s “rookie season”

The difference is pure volume and context, not whatever cope narrative you’re peddling: a couple of meaningless late nationals after dominating at the The Ranch doesn’t wipe out rookie status the next year, but a full prior pro SX campaign plus some outdoor and SMX starts absolutely does. Davies already burned through his first-year pro status in 2025. He’s not a rookie in the AMA ranks in 2026, period.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Completely disagree, outdoor is such a different discipline there’s no way I could look at his first trip to 8 of these tracks as not his rookie season. Agree to disagree

You can call him a rookie or you don’t have to. Either way, I recall a ton of people on this forum counting him out before the season even began because “he’s an SX specialist” or “he hasn’t ridden the tracks”. Yet here we are.

Davies is a rookie and is blowing deegans rookie stats out of the water. That’s why the bed bugs are saying Davies isn’t a rookie. However you want to slice it Davies has more wins in sx and mx if you compare both of their first 10 starts and first 2 sx seasons

You’ve conveniently left out that Cole’s first ten starts are better than Jett’s as well. 

Yes we are. Cole went full-time pro in 2025. Trey didn’t go full-time until 2008, RV went full-time in 2006, Jett went full-time in 2020, and Deegan in 2023. None of them raced a full sx series like Cole did. 

It’s not the amount of races that decide the issue. If that was the case, then RV’s rookie 450 outdoor season wasn’t until 2011, 3 years after he moved to the 450 class. It’s an absurd argument.  

So a full regional supercross gives you enough outdoor experience to make you not a rookie? I’m genuinely not seeing the substance in this reasoning, I get you’re saying he’s already been through a years worth of racing, but also none of that was on outdoors. Also Cole’s start to his outdoor career is much better than Jett’s, nobodies afraid to admit that.

See above; it’s not the amount of races that gives a rider rookie status. It’s when they went to full-time pro. If you want to add in a footnote, fine. But the benchmark used is not the amount of races a racer raced. 

Would you really want to argue that RV’s rookie season was in 2011 because he only raced 2 outdoor races in 2009 and missed all of 2010 even though he had been racing 450s since 2009?  Or that Trey Canard’s rookie 450 outdoor season was 2013 because he only raced 2 races in 2011 and missed 2012, even though he had been in the 450 class since 2011?  

No reasonable person in the world would say that Ryan Villopoto was a rookie in 2011 when he was already holding a premier 450  Supercross title in his hands before he went to the outdoors in 201.  

You can’t dismiss the context here and the fact that all the other racers that were mentioned weren’t full-time pros when they did two or three races outdoors. Cole was, and yes his two full seasons of sx factor in here. 

Should be considered like a college athlete that got hurt first season, red shirt him and give him his extra year of rookie eligibility 

Grammar police:

Would Davies join RC, JS, RV etc. as a Rookie MX Champion? Should be: Will Davies join...etc...

And I know this is a unfortunate feature of American English (the use of the present tense for everything) but the next sentence should be:

Will Davies be a Rookie 250 Motocross Champion? or If Davies wins this year's 250 Motocross Championship can be considered a rookie champion? 

I mostly agree with Falcon on what makes a rookie. One race or five or ten...when you race in a series from that point on you are no longer a rookie. However, I do think rookie applies to each separate series. Although Deegan raced a 450 at the Washed-Up SX series he is still a rookie in AMA 450 MX...and next year will be a rookie in AMA 450 SX. 

By definition, Davies cannot become a Rookie 250 MX champion because he raced some of the same series last year. If you are asking can he be this year's 250 MX champion I absolutely agree that he can...and most likely will. Bendy Kitchen is too erratic. 

Davies has raced 2 complete SX series now and had 2 nationals under his belt at the start of outdoors this year. Definitely NOT A ROOKIE.

The only 100% true Outdoor rookies that I know of (my knowledge base begins to get foggy for anything before 1989) are Stewart and Pastrana.

Neither had raced a single national before their title year. In other words 12 Nationals raced (the complete series) before a title. 

Carmichael and Villopoto were "technically" rookies but Ricky did one race after LL's in 1996 and Ryan did three after LL's in 2005. So it took Ricky 13 Nationals before his first tile, and RV 15 Nationals before his.

The difference for all of them though, compared to Davies, is that they each had only raced ONE (crash-laden, yet also successful with wins) SX series. 

IF Davies gets it, it would be after 14 Nationals, but again TWO full SX series... plus SMX... if that counts for anything.

Another way to think of it: Stewart and Pastrana are the only two in this group who were legitimate 3-digit riders when they took their titles. They had not earned a single National point prior to their championship years.

*Also, for some reason Mike Kiedrowski is often considered a rookie when he won the 1989 125 Outdoor title, but he'd already done ten 125 MX and SX races in 1987 and 1988. Don't see how that's a rookie. He did have a 3-digit number (762), but had also already scored a bunch of points.

So Jett wasn't a 450 rookie in 2024 SX because he did 2023 Outdoors and SMX? 
And Kenny wasn't a 450 rookie in 2014 because he did some premier class races on a 350? Makes no sense to me

Just missed it? He was 4th in points 

Kudos to OP, this is an interesting discussion. 

I dont think Davies can be considered a rookie. He was signed up as a full-time pro in 2025. He got injured and missed some races, but still raced. We didnt call him a 250SX rookie this year since he was injured for the last round in 2025. And I dont see anyone putting a number or percentage of races someone has to compete in during a year to lose their rookie status the following year. 

Seems pretty cut and dry. Were you a full-time pro last year? Yes. Did you race some of the races? Yes. Then last year was your rookie year. RC, RV, even Kenny in 450s in 2014, all were rookies because it was their first full-time year in the class. Just like RVs rookie 450 outdoor season was 2009. 

Everyone called Cochrans rookie mx year 2025 because he was injured in 2024 mx. why is it different for Davies? Can ML give us his take

Davies already had his pro status last year, so although he only raced twice, it was his rookie season. He raced SX as a pro. 

Amateurs can race a few pro races, but if they score more than X amount of points they lose their amateur status. That's why we see rookies that already have a 2 digit national number in their rookie years.

IMO, if they want to allow amateurs to get their feet wet in the pro ranks, that's fine, but they shouldn't be eligible to earn points towards a national pro number if they don't yet have their pro status. They can't score more than X amount of points, but yet they sometimes score enough to earn a national number for their rookie year. It's a bit odd.

I don't remember which rider it is, but I believe he'll race Budds Creek as a pro and then race Ironman in SMX Next in order to keep his amateur status for next year.

100%

Nobody considered 05 villo's rookie season,  or 96' for RC.