Best. Season. Ever.

Honda’s 38 wins is the most ever by an OEM in a single season

There was more on the line at Ironman than Jett Lawrence earning a perfect season and Hunter Lawrence winning the 250MX championship. They entered the weekend tied with Kawasaki for most single season race wins of all-time.

After going through the longest premier class drought in SX/MX history, Honda had the biggest year ever for a manufacturer.

Not only did they win all five regular season championships, they won the more Supercross main events and motocross overalls in a single season than any OEM in the history of the sport.

The 38 combined Supercross main event and motocross overall victories, split between Chase Sexton, Jett and Hunter Lawrence and Max Anstie, are the most an OEM has ever won in a single year

With an almost unbelievable 2023 season, Honda takes back a record that Kawasaki snatched away in 2007, the year Apple released the first generation iPhone and (spoiler alert) Harry Potter killed Lord Voldemort. Honda and Kawasaki entered the Ironman National tied at 37 wins.

The chart below ranks the OEMs by most wins in a single AMA racing season.

Most OEM Victories in a Season

There’s a lot to unpack in the chart above but first:

– If you’re on mobile, tap the “+” to drop more info.

– Riders = the number of riders who won races on that brand.

– Moto wins = the Pro Motocross motos the brand won that season.

– Champs = the number of championships won that season.

Most wins is just one of many ways to rank the brands. We could rerank them by championships won (Honda tied itself with 5 (1991/2023).

Kawasaki 2011 is the all-time podium king with 75 top three finishes in a single season! Six different riders won races that year and the average finish (amongst those winners) was 3.1.

If you want to get uber granular, we could even tell you how many points a specific OEM scored in a single season.

Honda’s 2023 Winners

What’s most striking about 2023 is how Honda did it on the strength of their in-house factory team alone. Firepower Honda’s Anstie (East Rutherford Supercross) was the only win outside the American Honda tent. Throw out the mudder at MetLife and the Red Riders, managed by Lars Lindstrom, won 66% of the 56 races available.

And that’s just in the ‘regular season’ of races, which was also 28 events in 2007 (16 SX/12 MX). With 2023 being the inaugural year of the SuperMotocross post-season races and titles, we’re not done racing. There’s a very good chance Honda becomes the first OEM with more than 40 wins in a single year.

Diving deeper, only 47 Hondas total lined up for races in 2023, whereas 65 green machines raced in 2007. In 2011, Kawasaki had 69 bikes on the tracks but just 36 in 2019.

Kawasaki’s 2007 Winners

With James Stewart on the factory 450 and Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ben Townley and Ryan Villopoto on 250s, Team Green destroyed the competition in 2007. But Stewart’s knee injury at Washougal crushed their chances of joining Honda in the “Fab 5” club of championships won. Kawasaki won just two 450MX races that summer (Stewart at Lakewood and Tim Ferry at Washougal).

But Kawasaki 2007 still bumped Honda 1991 out of the best season spot on the strength of Stewart’s 13 450SX wins and PC Kawi winning pretty much everything in the 250 class (11 MX overalls, 11 SX main events).

Blu Cru 2000 is the only manufacturer that prevents the top 10 OEM wins list from being a complete Christmas colors sweep. Yamaha is tied with Honda 2002 and 1987 for 10^th (27 wins).

Yamaha’s 2000 Winners

That was the year that Jeremy McGrath and David Vuillemin combined for 14 supercross main event wins and Yamaha of Troy won the 125SX East title with Stephane Roncada.

But our vote for now-that-is-impressive is Honda 1996. Fourth on the top 10 list with 31 season victories, Jeremy McGrath and Steve Lamson teamed up to win 16 Pro Motocross overalls and McGrath went 14-1 in Supercross. Honda of Troy’s Jeff Willoh gave Honda its only 125SX win of the 1996.

Honda’s 1996 Winners