By Steve Matthes
Photos by Simon Cudby

Factory Yamaha’s team manager, Jim Perry

Hannah/Howerton at Saddleback 1981:  “Just two guys going at it for the whole moto. They really, really hated each other back then and it showed. If the internet was around back then the message boards really would’ve exploded!"

Anaheim 1986: “The race that everybody knows all about. Bailey and Johnson trading paint the whole way and working through the pack in one of the best supercrosses ever."

Anaheim 2004: “I was the manager and we went 1-2-3 in the main with Chad Reed, David Vuillemin, and Tim Ferry in third. It was an awesome way to kick off the season and something that, at that time, hadn’t really been done in a long time.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Timothy Ferry

Pontiac SX 2002: “When Nathan Ramsey won. Almost everybody led it at some point, including myself. I fell with two laps to go, which was a real bummer [laughs]. RC went over the back of his bike early on. There were so many lead changes, it was crazy.”

Atlanta SX 1990: “Man, it was crazy. I wasn’t there but I’ve watched this race a hundred times in my life. Everybody led at some point also. Bradshaw, Johnson, Keidrowski, and Wardy eventually won it with the coolest fist pump ever! I imitate that pump now and then in honor of that race.”

Budds Creek national 2003: “It was just one moto, really. I won the first moto over RC and he was all over me the whole race. I could hear him going bonkers behind me and revving his bike to the moon. I thought he was going to slam me in every turn but I managed to hold on for the victory. Second moto, I crashed 18 times and DNF’d. We won’t talk about that one [laughs].”

Parts Unlimited’s national sales manager, Lou Lopez

Phoenix Lites 2008: “That was probably number one for me. It’s the most recent in my memory anyways. It was an awesome battle between like four or five guys all taking different lines. It was cool because the jump combos could be done in so many different ways that it always kept you on the edge of your seat. The split whoop section also was cool!”

Anaheim SX 2001: “A real changing of the guard race,;the one where RC came from way back to pass MC near the end and motor away. Up to that point, they had split wins in the series and when RC won, MC never got a good start so there was still debate on who was better. Well, after this race, RC got on a roll until about, oh, 2007 or so."

Unadilla Mini-Bike national: “Probably the most important race in the sport’s history was when I won this race a few years ago. I had my Yamaha TTR 90 and was jumping into gravity cavity on stock suspension and scrubbing on the way out was something special. I really laid the wood to Andy Gustafson there and put a statement on my mini-bike career. I won a plaque and the respect of my peers.”