Foxboro
Foxboro
The only New England market to ever host a Supercross, Foxborough’s sport history dates back to 1983 but the events have been mostly sporadic in schedule appearance. Named after Charles James Fox, a British statesman who supported the colonies’ desire for independence, Foxborough (or, Foxboro, before it was incorporated in June, 1778) is the “gem of Norfolk County.
Fast Facts
Foxborough Venues
The first three Foxborough Supercross races (1983-1984, 1990) were held in Sullivan Stadium, a 61,000 seat NFL venue that was demolished in 2002.
Gillette Stadium, 36 miles southwest of Boston’s center has been the home of the New England Patriots since 2002. It was built adjacent to the Sullivan site. It held its first Supercross in 2016 and has been on an every-even-year rotation with East Rutherford since (it was scheduled to host in 2020 before the pandemic-altered season).
The first ever Foxborough Supercross was a Sunday afternoon race in July 1983, held after a morning of rain showers. Attendance was light at 25,000 fans but it was high on drama when championship points leader Mark Barnett didn’t qualify (see next slide). David Bailey did. He won his third (and 9th podium) race of the season and headed to the final round with a six point lead. Bailey’s 1983 comeback is still the largest (after round 10) ever in the history of the sport. 1983 photos courtesy of Paul Buckley. Buy classic moto photos at buckleyphotos.smugmug.com
Mark Barnett didn’t qualify for the main event at the 1983 Foxborough SX. The 1983 season featured a unique format where riders had to go through two steps to qualify for the main event; first they raced in heats and then again in a semi. Barnett’s transmission locked up in the semi and he DNF-ed, which brings up another unique 1983 rule: any rider who didn’t finish a qualifying race was simply done for the day. Barnett didn’t get the opportunity to race the LCQ at all. He entered Foxborough with a 27 point lead and left 6 points behind David Bailey (riders scored points for the heats AND semis that year).
Jean-Michel Bayle fully missed two rounds of racing earlier in the season but because of consistency (and his competition’s lack of) he left the 1990 Foxborough Supercross with his fifth win in seven races and sat third in the standings, just nine points out of the lead. It was the last race held in Foxborough until 2016.
Ken Roczen won the first race back in Foxborough since 1990, doing exactly what Ryan Dungey needed him to NOT do. Had Dungey finished ahead of Roczen, he would have locked up his third SX championship a full two races early. Dungey holeshot but by lap 12 had faded to fourth. He re-passed Jason Anderson for third to extended his podium streak to 31 straight races. Another highlight was The Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski as Grand Marshall of the event.
This interactive table details the all-time leaders in Foxborough. Who has the most starts, wins, podiums and points. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
All-Time Leaders
This interactive table details the winner history in Foxborough. Who won in what year and what round was this venue. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.