Keep Washougal Weird
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From the bizarre to the boggling to the local boys who made the Pacific Northwest proud, we’re exploring some weirdo Washougal Motocross moments.
We could probably find many oddities with any venue on the Pro Motocross schedule but because of Washougal’s proximity to Portland (“Keep Portland Weird”) weirdness seems to have crossed over the Columbia River and affected the racing, too. Maybe it’s just the shadows cast by the tall evergreen trees and the deceptively slick dirt.
Either way, there’s been plenty of weird results, happenings and local success at Washougal, not unlike what we see across the country at The Wick.
This list is NOT a ranking, nor is it complete. If you’d like to share your own ‘Washougal Weird’, leave a comment on any of the recent Washougal posts you can find on our Instagram or Facebook feeds.
1999: Ricky Carmichael Thought He Won
Ricky Carmichael was so convinced he’d won the second 125MX moto (and round 9’s overall) he pointed a finger in the air in celebration as he crossed the finish line. The he saw his mechanic shaking his head “no”.
He had no idea that Vancouver, Washington’s Jason McCormick had been way out front the whole time.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Carmichael told Cycle News. “I thought [Brock] Sellards was leading and that I had made the winning pass. I don’t know what my problem was today, they just rode better than me.”
Carmichael started poorly in both motos. Sellards won the first moto, while RC battled back to second. In moto two, RC’s bad start was followed up with a first lap fall and he battled back to second again (only he thought he was in first when he passed Sellards on the final lap).
McCormick’s 5-1 performance landed him on the 125MX podium at Washougal for a third time in five years. “This is a dream come true,” McCormick told Cycle News. “I’m on cloud nine.”
In another curious bit of moto history, Carmichael was also bummed because losing at Washougal (round 9 of 12) meant he would have to win out to beat Mark Barnett’s all-time 125MX win record, which RC wanted to own.
THAT meant he would have to cancel his plans to ride the 250/450 class at the final round in Steel City.
2007: Kevin Windham Thought The Race Was Over
Because Kevin Windham (6-3) thought he’d taken the checkered flag, Tim Ferry (2-2) passed him and won the 2007 Washougal National.
Had Windham not flaked (he realized what he had done when the crowd started yelling at him), Grant Langston (4-1) would have likely won the overall.
But before all that, James Stewart (1-35) would have actually won the overall (and probably the 450MX championship). Stewart was cruising in third place behind Langston and Windham when his front wheel popped in the air upon hitting a large rock in a sweeping left hander.
He stuck out his left leg and absorbed all the weight of his KX450, which tore his ACL. Stewart never returned to the series.
1985: Lechien Steps Up, Bailey Steps Down.
In 1985, Honda rearranged its entire team to gang up on Jeff Ward, which created unique opportunities for two riders to get their first (and only) career wins. Because in a normal situation, there’s very little chance that AJ Whiting (125) and Eric Eaton (500) win a Pro Motocross overall in 1985.
Washougal closed out the Pro Motocross season from 1984-1986 and Jeff Ward found himself in a title fight with Johnny O’Mara in two of those finales. In 1984 it was for the 125MX crown (Ward) and in 1985 it was the 250MX championship, which Ward led by 20 points coming into Washougal.
Join The Garage!
This may have been peak win-at-all-costs Honda. Ward had taken the 250SX championship just a week earlier and Honda wanted the 250MX title so badly they yanked Ron Lechien from the 125 class and David Bailey from the 500 class and put them in the 250 class with Bob Hannah, another Honda rider, to create a buffer between O’Mara and Ward.
Lechien had already clinched the 125 title (he won 15 of the first 18 motos!) and even had a 10 moto win streak going. The 500 class had also already been decided and Broc Glover (the new champion) wasn’t even riding because of injury. Glover and Bailey were the only two riders who won in the 500 class up to that point.
Honda gave Bailey’s CR500 to New England’s Jo Jo Keller. This was the final race of the works bikes era so maybe Honda just wanted to go out with a bang.
The musical chairs didn’t work. Bailey was never a factor (4-DNF) and Ward went 1-3 for second overall. Lechien finished 9th in the first moto and had a huge lead with two turns to go on the final lap of moto 2, yet, ‘somehow’ O’Mara still won. The Cycle News coverage insinuated that ‘team orders’ may have been in play (I mean, duh, of course).
We should mention that defending 250MX champion, Rick Johnson was still in contention for the 250 championship at Washougal but he took a rock to the hand and left the race with a broken finger.
With both Bailey and Glover out of the 500 class, someone else was guaranteed to win motos and the overall. Tacoma, Washington’s Eric Eaton was third in points coming into the race and the only way he could pass Bailey for second overall was to win at least one moto and finish second in the other moto.
That’s exactly what he did. Eaton won the overall with 1-2 finishes and Keller went 8-1 for third. In 65 Pro Motocross starts, Eaton had an average finish of 11.3 but on this weird day at Washougal, he got his one and only win.
In the 125 class, AJ Whiting nabbed a few moto podiums throughout the season and came into Washougal ranked 5th in points. A 1-1 day over Erik Kehoe and George Holland (the only two other riders to get victories that season) and Eddie Warren, leap-frogged Whiting ahead of Rick Ryan in the standings and gave him his only career Pro Motocross win.
The We Went Fast USGP Tee
2004: Rusty Holland Leads (almost) 2 Laps
The ultimate trivia question: name the four riders to lead laps in the 2004 Pro Motocross season.
In 2004, Ricky Carmichael led 359 of 371 laps (97%) on his way to (another) perfect season. The other 12 laps were led by riders you’d expect to lead laps: Chad Reed (9), Kevin Windham (2), aaaannnnd…. Rusty Holland (1).
Holland led the first lap of moto 1 at Washougal (and almost the entire second lap).
2004 450MX Laps Led
DYK that Carmichael led 183 of 185 second moto laps in 2004!?
1982: Hannah’s Last Yamaha Win
In 1982, Bob Hannah said Yamaha paid him an extra $100,000 to race the 125 class, which he hadn’t contested in five years. According to Hannah, Yamaha had an overstock of YZ125s and “they knew if I rode one–win, lose or draw–they would sell out the entire warehouse,” Hannah said in Tom Madigan’s book Hurricane! The Bob Hannah Story.
“The bike was constantly breaking down,” Hannah said. “It was a piece of junk.”
The Hurricane’s results were mixed that summer but he had a handful of moto podiums, got a third at round 2 (Saddleback) and then won moto two at Washougal, ultimately his last Pro Motocross on a Yamaha.
He went 3-1 for 2nd overall, his best finish of the season.
2016: James Stewart’s Final Appearance
The last professional dirt bike race James Stewart ever lined up for happened at Washougal 2016. Not only did Stewart not race again after Washougal, he disappeared and didn’t announce his retirement until 2019.
Stewart went 9-36 at Washougal 2016. It wasn’t planned that Washougal would be it; at least not in the moment. Years later, he said he knew it was time to rethink his career when he wasn’t nervous on the starting line and also found himself racing behind riders whose names he didn’t know.
No Repeat 250MX Winner since 2009
- 18 different 250MX riders have won the last 19 races dating back to 2004.
- Ryan Dungey is the most recent two-time winner at Washougal (2008 and 2009).
- Notable, Ryan Dungey got his first ever 125/250 moto and overall win at Washougal in 2008. Dungey is one of three riders to win their first 125/250 race at Washougal,
- The other two first-time 125/250 winners at Washougal are AJ Whiting (1985) and Mike Brown who went 2-1 for 1st overall in 1995.
- Ryan Villopoto never got a 250MX win here and only one 450MX win (2013).
Local WA/OR/ID Top 5 Performances
Not surprising to see riders like Oregon’s Chuck Sun (1st in 1980 and 2nd in 1982 in 500MX), Washington’s Larry Ward (1st in 1991 125/250), and Washington’s Ryan Villopoto (1st in 2013 250/450) on this list. But there’s other great performances that came from unexpected local heroes…
- Jason McCormick (Vancouver, WA) has 1 moto win and 3 125/250 Pro Motocross overall podiums in his career – all at Washougal. He went 7-3 for 3rd in 1995, 4-3 for 3rd in 1998, and 5-1 for 3rd in 1999.
- Eric Eaton (Tacoma, WA) won the 500 class overall (1-2) in 1985 (more detail below).
- The Hill brothers (Yoncalla, OR): Justin Hill has 2 top 5 overalls in the 125/250 class (2013 and 2016) and Josh Hill has 1 top 5 overall in the 250/450 class (2008).
- In 2024, keep an eye on Levi Kitchen (who is actually FROM Washougal, WA) and Chance Hymas (ID) in the 250s and Derek Kelley (ID), Justin Hill (OR), Max Miller (OR), and Kile Epperson (WA) in the 450s as the home crowd cheers on the favorite local riders.
