Seattle
Lumen Field
The Emerald city is one of the original Supercross markets, dating back to the expansion years of the late 1970s. It’s a top five market for most SX races held all-time thanks to an 11 year string of doubleheaders in the Kingdome. In 2005 the Seattle Supercross moved into the open air Lumen Field.
Fast Facts
Honda’s new hires, Jimmy Ellis and Marty Tripes, dominated the inaugural Seattle Supercross, which was the first round of the season. Defending champion, Bob Hannah, was a distant third.
Ellis, the 1975 Supercross champion, appeared to be a serious challenge for Hannah but the Seattle race ended up being his 8th (and final) career 450SX win. A few weeks later, his season derailed in Houston (dislocated shoulder). At the time, Ellis was the all-time SX wins leader.
In a sign of legendary things to come, the 1984 season started off with three riders winning their first ever Supercross main events. First, Johnny O’Mara won the Anaheim opener. Then, at the doubleheader in the ‘dome (rounds 2-3) Jeff Ward won Friday night’s main (his 48th career start) and Ricky Johnson won Saturday night, his 26th career start.
Johnson (pictured above in ’84) is still the all-time wins leader in Seattle, with seven wins between 1984-1989.
Woodinville, Washington’s Larry Ward got two of his three career 450SX wins in Seattle, including 1999, the last race held in the Kingdome.
In 1990, Ward, a 19-year-old premier class rookie, chased down another rookie, Jeff Matiasevich, in a slam-fest now remembered as the “slow race”. Ward said he was exhausted but spurred on by the crowd that he knew was in his favor. It was also Suzuki’s first SX win since Mark Barnett in 1983.
Nearly 50,000 people turned out for the first race at the new home of the Seattle Seahawks (then called Qwest Field). James Stewart lapped up to 5th place and won the second main event of his career.
Chad Reed, however, had the more memorable ride. He needed a win to stay in the title hunt. Instead he got punted in the first turn and came back from 19th to fourth, finishing just behind Kevin Windham and Ricky Carmichael who were second and third.
On a track so rutty riders foot-paddled their way through the whoops, Kevin Windham won his first race in two years (which was also in Seattle) and the second to last 450SX of his career.
It was Ryan Dungey’s day, however. With a fourth place behind Tommy Hahn and Justin Brayton, he wrapped up the championship two rounds early and became the second rookie to win the 450SX title (Jeremy McGrath, 1993)
Venues
Lumen Field (2005-present). An open air stadium, Lumen Field has been the home of the Seahawks since 2002. Its football capacity is 68,740. Originally known as Seahawks Stadium, then Qwest Field, then Centurylink Field.
The Kingdome (1978-1999) held 33 rounds of AMA Supercross, 22 of them happening on doubleheader weekends, typically in January/February. Officially named the King County Stadium, the Kingdome opened in 1976 and was the original home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. It also hosted Supersonics (NBA) and Mariners (MLB) games. Capacity was 65,000 and it had the largest thin shell concrete roof in the world,
Seattle’s round on the schedule has been all over the place; it’s served as rounds 1-7 and 11-16.
The interactive table below details the all-time leaders in Seattle. 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 Seattle. Who won in what year and what round was this venue. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
Winner History
Full race results from every Seattle Supercross in sport history. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see position changes and qualifying ranking