Budds Creek
Mechanicsville, MD
The Mid-Atlantic stop on the Pro Motocross tour, Budds Creek Motocross Park features a challenging mix of ruts, hills, tacky soil and, in the summer, oppressive humidity. Mechanicsville, just under 50 miles from The White House, lies in Maryland’s southern neck between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay and is home to over 1,000 Amish citizens.
Fast Facts
One of the greatest meltdowns in motocross history was frozen in time on a rainy October day in 1992 when Jeff Emig ended Mike LaRocco’s suffering by clinching the 125MX championship at the final round.
LaRocco’s 48-point lead was slashed to just one point two weeks earlier in Steel City (double DNFs) and then even further when his shifter broke off on lap one at Budds Creek. LaRocco entered the final moto 16 points down and needed Emig to get a 13th or worse. Emig won his 9th moto of the season while LaRocco never got close enough to make a pass. The championship was Yamaha’s first in the class since Broc Glover, 1979.
A double Honda victory on Father’s Day weekend 1995 was overshadowed by the season-ending injury of a third Honda rider, Doug Henry. One of the most infamous (and bizarre) motorcycle wrecks of all time, Henry’s crash late in 250cc moto 1 is why Budds Creek has an obstacle called Henry Hill.
Read about the incident in much greater detail in the We Went Fast Original 2.8 Seconds to Legend.
Overall winner, Jeremy McGrath (2-1) witnessed the flight and landing, an simply said, “I thought he was dead.”
James Stewart missed the first four 2003 Pro Motocross rounds but made an immediate impact upon returning to the gate at Budds Creek. Stew won the first moto by 36 seconds over Mike Brown and tangled with Steve Boniface in the first turn of moto two. He still went from 40th to 1st.
Along the way, Stewart stupefied the announcers with the “Bubba Scrub”, a time-saving maneuver where he laid his KX125 parallel to ground over jumps he wanted to minimize airtime on.
Photographer Chris Tedesco noticed and climbed to the top of Henry Hill to capture “The Scrub”, one of the most famous photos in motocross history.
The 2007 Motocross of Nations was the second time the event was held on American soil (1987, Unadilla) and it happened in the middle of a dominant Team USA run of victories (2005-2011).
While many of the headlines centered around Ricky Carmichael and his final professional motocross race, it was 250 rider Ryan Villopoto who stole the show. The reigning 250 AMA Pro Motocross champion dominated his motos where 250s and 450s competed on the track together. He won each moto by large margins.
In an underrated season RCH Racing’s Ken Roczen thrashed the competition in 2016. The German rider won his second 450 Pro Motocross title, holding up the #1 plate at round 11 at Budds Creek, a full round early.
Roczen won 20 of the 24 motos and 10 of the 12 overalls and was on the podium in 23 of the 24 motos, his worst a 4th at Glen Helen.
He won the championship by 86 points over his next closest competitor, Eli Tomac. Roczen left the RCH team after 2016, switching to Honda for 2017.
Venues
Since 1973, Budds Creek Motocross Park has been a premier Mid-Atlantic motocross destination, home of rich “chocolate cake” soil. Carved into a valley right off Budds Creek Road deep in southern Maryland, the scenic course features hillside viewing for the fans and elevation changes for the riders.
Promoter/operator, Jonathan Beasley first held a Pro Motocross in 1989, USGPs in the 1990s and, in 2007 he realized his lifelong dream of hosting the Motocross of Nations.
The facility is now operated by Jonathan’s son Ezra, the next generation of Beasleys.
The interactive table below details the all-time Budds Creek leaders. Who has the most starts, wins, podiums and points. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
All-Time Leaders
Who won Budds Creek, in what year and what round was the race? Winner history makes that easy to see. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see more info
Winner History
Full race results from each Budds Creek Motocross. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see position changes and qualifying ranking