Budds Creek

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 of the season.

LaRocco’s 48-point championship lead was slashed to just one point at the penultimate round in Steel City (double DNFs) two weeks earlier. The only thing that made his day better in the Budds Creek mud was his ability to at least remain in the race. In moto one, The Rock collided with Ronnie Tichenor on lap one and broke off his shifter. The incident put him a lap down but he was able to salvage 13th. LaRocco entered the final moto 16 points down and he now he needed Emig to get a 13th or worse if he had any chance at the championship he had controlled for much of the season.

The rain intensified before the second set of motos and Emig rode another flawless race to win his 9th moto of the season. LaRocco ended the first lap in 7th and fell twice in pursuit of Emig. He finished second in the moto but never got close enough to make a pass. The championship was Yamaha’s first in the class since Broc Glover in 1979.

In the 500MX class, Kawasaki’s Mike Kiedrowski won his third Pro Motocross title in four years, thwarting Jeff Stanton, who came into the race 11 points behind. Stanton dominated the day with a 1-1 sweep while Kiedrowski made it an exciting one in the second moto by colliding with his teammate on lap one and then falling twice before climbing back up to the front. He went 2-3 to secure the title by just three points.

Another major headline of the day was Jeff Ward competing in his final race as a professional motocrosser. The 7-time Supercross and Pro Motocross champ ended his career with a third place (4-2).

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 wreck late in 250cc moto 1 is why Budds Creek has an obstacle called Henry Hill.

To merely describe it as a crash is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened. It was more like a flight, then a plummet. To the fans, it seemed he sent himself into the atmosphere on purpose as he sailed nearly to the infield of Budds Creek MX Park. Read about the incident in much greater detail in the We Went Fast Original 2.8 Seconds to Legend. Henry was a serious contender for the title in 1995 and was trying to become the first two-time winner of the season.

Even though Henry was still on his motorcycle when he landed, the impact was so great, his L1 vertebra burst, causing spinal-cord compression. Doctors later said the fact that he retained full movement in his legs was ‘miraculous’.

Jeremy McGrath, witness to the flight, and landing simply said, “I thought he was dead.” McGrath (2-1) went on to win the overall over Mike LaRocco (1-4). In the 125MX class, Honda’s Steve Lamson scored a 2-1, beating Mike Brown (3-2) and Tim Ferry (1-7)

A collarbone injury kept Kawasaki prodigy James Stewart out of the first four Pro Motocross rounds of the 2003 season but he immediately made an impact upon returning to the gate.

Stewart dominated the first moto, winning by 36 seconds over former champion Mike Brown. The second moto started on a sour note for Stewart when he tangled with Steve Boniface in the first turn and rejoined the race in last.

Stewart reached the top ten by the third lap and took no prisoners, making an aggressive pass on Brock Sellards as he rapidly approached the lead.

During his charge to the front, the announcers were stupefied by what would become known as the “Bubba Scrub”, a time-saving maneuvering Stewart employed by laying his KX125 parallel to ground over jumps that he wanted to minimize airtime on.

Photographer Chris Tedesco noticed this and climbed to the top of Henry Hill where he captured “The Scrub”, one of the most famous photos in motocross history.

Eventually, Stewart caught and passed Ivan Tedesco to win in a dominant display of speed and skill. In fact, Stewart’s best lap that day was over half of a second faster than Ricky Carmichael’s best lap in the 250 class, where Carmichael took a 1-1 sweep himself.

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 machines. He won each moto by large margins.

In the first moto of the day (MX1/MX2), Carmichael gave #1 gate pick to Villopoto to give him a better advantage on the KX250F. RV2 put 15 seconds on Australia’s Chad Reed.

In the next moto (MX2/MX3) he thrashed the competition. The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider finished over a minute clear of Belgium’s Ken de Dycker and the United Kingdom’s Tommy Searle with a wire to wire win.

Carmichael took care of business in the final race ahead of open class rider Tim Ferry to secure a flawless win for the Americans on home soil.

In perhaps the most underrated season in recent memory, RCH Racing’s Ken Roczen thrashed the competition in 2016.

The German rider won his second 450 Pro Motocross title a round early, holding up the #1 plate at round 11 at Budds Creek.

Roczen won 20 of the 24 motos and 10 of the 12 overalls and was on the podium in 23 of the motos. His worst moto was a 4th at Glen Helen.

He won the championship by 86 points over his next closest competitor, Eli Tomac.

This would also be the final season for Roczen with the RCH team, as he headed for Honda in 2017.