Well, the 2015 AMA Supercross season is officially over.
The series initiated with much hype over the question, “who’s next?”. That question seemed extremely appropriate considering the previous 4-time SX champion Ryan Villopoto was no longer racing in the U.S., and four very promising 450 rookies, Cole Seely, Jason Anderson, Blake Baggett, and Dean Wilson, were making their debut in the premier class.
However, as the series reached the halfway point, the answer to the question “who’s next?” became very clear: Ryan Dungey.
Despite the eventual outcome of the series, the opening round in Anaheim showed plenty of promise, with Ken Roczen dominating from start to finish aboard his new RCH Suzuki. Ryan Dungey finished 4th in that first round at Anaheim, but little did everyone know that that would be his only finish off the podium for the entire year. Roczen was the heavy favorite in the opening three rounds of the series grabbing 1-2-1 race finishes, which clearly prevailed over Dungey’s 4-3-2 race finishes. Entering the fourth round in Oakland, Roczen had built a 12 point lead over Dungey. Unfortunately, Oakland is where Roczen’s season ultimately took it’s downwards spiral. A severe case of one of the triple jumps in Oakland as he came up short damaged Roczen’s ankle and resulted in a 15th place finish. Roczen went on to get a couple more podiums after that, but after reinjuring his ankle a few times, his season came to an end in Daytona. Overall, Roczen’s crash was definitely the biggest turning point of the season, allowing Dungey to gain the points lead and eventually the championship.
Throughout the season, many riders proved to be worthy contenders for race wins, although none of them were remotely close to matching the consistency set by Dungey in order to win the title. Trey Canard, Eli Tomac, and Chad Reed were all able to grab main event wins before the halfway point of the series was reached, however Canard was by far the closest to Dungey in points. Canard perhaps could have made the championship a bit more exciting if he had been able to get on a roll, but all hopes of that came crashing down when he collided with Jake Weimer in Detroit. The ensuing crash resulted in a broken arm for Canard, ending his season.
As the series went into it’s latter stages, Cole Seely, Jason Anderson, and Weston Peick began to show some more promise for race wins. Indeed, Seely was able to make this happen in Houston, grabbing his first win in the 450 class. However, struggles with starts and upholding the proper pace for all 20 laps deterred Seely from repeating another win. Additionally, Anderson and Peick showed moments of race-winning speed, but were never consistent enough to transform that speed into a win.
The only rider other than Seely that was able to grab a win over Dungey in the last half of the series was Eli Tomac. As it happens, Tomac was the only rider that was able to upright pass and beat Dungey all season long. Tomac ended up with 3 wins throughout the season, which is the second most out of all the riders, but this number truly could have been a lot higher if not for excruciatingly bad starts from him. Eli was no doubt the fastest rider most weekends, but crashes and upright failure to put in a clean 20 laps ultimately lost the championship for him. In actuality, he was never statistically that close to winning the championship, as his series started out rough with a crash at Anaheim 1. However, he definitely was a favorite to grab race wins in terms of his sheer speed. If he can figure out his starts, watch for him to be in the title hunt for next year.
When it’s all said and done though, Ryan Dungey was by far the most deserving of the championship. Despite not necessarily being the fastest rider every weekend, he was definitely consistently the fastest for all 20 laps, and that’s all that matters in the end. Actually, his raw speed alone was greatly improved over years past, which is noteworthy in itself. Also note that he was able to easily pull away from Tomac at the last round in Las Vegas - not an easy feat. Dungey was very impressive this season, and he will be a huge title threat for many years to come.
In his 100th start in the 450SX Class @RyanDungey banged this holeshot in Vegas then led every lap. #Supercrosslive pic.twitter.com/ZDpQEFwWsz
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) May 7, 2015
In the 250 class, the question “who’s next?” also deemed fit. Very few riders had previously won a single race, and no riders except Justin Bogle had won a 250 championship. The 250 West series started off with an unexpected career-first win from Jessy Nelson, with surprisingly mediocre results for championship favourites Cooper Webb and Justin Hill. However, Webb soon rebounded with a win the following weekend in Phoenix, and went on to win six of the seven rounds of the West regional championship, finishing no worse than second. After looking back at the utter domination from Webb this year, it’s surprising that he had never won a race prior to the start of this season.
Malcolm Stewart had also never won a race before this year, but was able to get his first career victory in Oakland; he and Nelson were the only two riders that were able to beat Webb all year long. Malcolm showed lots of promise this year, and definitely proved that he was worthy of his last-minute Geico Honda ride. It’s shocking to think that Malcolm was left without any team support for the majority of the off-season, and it makes one think of how many riders’ careers would be different if only they were given a chance on factory-supported equipment.
At moments, other riders such as Shane McElrath, Tyler Bowers, Justin Hill, and Aaron Plessinger showed some potential for wins. Unfortunately, none of them were able to seal the deal. In reality, Bowers and Hill both had disappointing seasons results-wise. On the other hand, McElrath and Plessinger were actually quite impressive and had some good finishes. In fact, Plessinger won the 250SX Rookie of the Year award.
In the 250 East class, Bogle returned in an attempt to defend his 2014 championship, but was no match for Marvin Musquin. It had been a full year since Marvin had raced Supercross due to injury, so there was initially some doubt as to how he would fair. However, all doubt was instantly erased as soon as Musquin got on the track for the first time at the opening east round in Dallas. Marvin went on to win six out of eight races, losing only once to Jeremy Martin and once to Justin Bogle. Similar to Webb in the West class and Dungey in the 450s, Musquin was by far the most deserving of his championship.
Despite Musquin’s clear success, Bogle actually had a very impressive season as well, although unfortunately just couldn’t handle Musquin’s pace. Bogle forced the championship battle all the way to the last round in East Rutherford, and only finished off the podium once. Jeremy Martin also showed periods of intense speed, but bad starts and one DNQ ruined his title chances.
Unlike the podium variations witnessed in the 250 West class, the East class clearly had four top five riders: Marvin Musquin, Justin Bogle, Jeremy Martin, and Joey Savatgy. Savatgy had a good season, but just didn’t have the speed to race for wins. Anthony Rodriguez, Matt Lemoine, Kyle Peters, Kyle Cunningham, and rookies RJ Hampshire, Jordon Smith, and Colt Nichols also showed promise throughout the season, but Hampshire was the only one that was actually able to grab a podium finish.
Overall, the 2015 AMA Supercross season got underway with lots of questions as to who would prevail in the end, but those questions diminished as Ryan Dungey, Cooper Webb, and Marvin Musquin quickly became favorites in their respective classes. However, this series also left us with a promising future, as Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Trey Canard, and perhaps Cole Seely have demonstrated that they are all capable of winning a championship once they figure things out. Furthermore, Marvin Musquin will be joining Ryan Dungey and Dean Wilson on the 450 Red Bull KTM team for 2016/17; Musquin is most definitely capable of winning a championship in his rookie 450 year.
The 2015 Supercross season just ended, but there’s no doubt that the 2016 supercross season will provide even more competition.
For now though, turn your focus onto the 2015 Pro Motocross championship; a full preview of the upcoming outdoor championship is to come.