St Louis

Jeff Emig won his second career main event but, more importantly, ended Jeremy McGrath’s Supercross win streak at 13 races. The first ever St. Louis Supercross was round 14 in a 15 round season and McGrath had wrapped up the title at Pontiac (round 12). With the title clinched but the perfect season in play, McGrath had both nothing and everything on the line. Read the full story of this historic night in the We Went Fast Original “Jeremy McGrath And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night In St. Louis.”

Ricky Carmichael sneaks another one in during his part-time retirement year but even more memorable was James Stewart charging back from 19th to second place. The main event started with fireworks when title contenders Chad Reed and Stewart (who entered with a 17 point advantage) battled for the lead. When Stewart made a move on lap one, Reed immediately countered but collided with Stew, and took them both down. Eric Sorby officially led laps 1-3 but Carmichael took over the lead on lap four and led to the end. Reed ended lap one in eighth, while Stewart was back in 19th. Stewart’s charge back to the podium was one of the legendary feats that doesn’t happen in today’s racing. He (aggressively) moved into second on lap 11 and started running down Carmichael, whose massive lead proved to be too much to overcome.

Rookie Ryan Dungey won his fifth race of the season and the championship chase effectively ended in St. Louis (round 14 of 17) when Ryan Villopoto suffered a season-ending injury while battling Dungey on lap 12. But before that, this race had ‘instant classic’ all over it. Villopoto came in 12 points behind Dungey and knew he couldn’t let that lead grow any more. On lap nine of 20 he “went for the jugular” as Jeff Emig yelled on SPEED TV. The aggressive block pass took both riders to the ground. When Dungey picked up his still-running RM-Z450, his front wheel wedged into Villopoto’s forks. By the time they both rolled away, their 14 second advantage over Andrew Short and Kevin Windham evaporated and it was a four-way battle for the lead. Villopoto came out of the melee in first but three laps later he ejected from his bike and severely broke his leg.

Winning three in a row for the first time in five years, nobody who watched James Stewart run down and pass defending champion Ryan Villopoto would have ever said they had witnessed the final victory of his career. With Jeremy McGrath doing play by play in the broadcast booth, Stew got nostalgic after the win: “It’s such an honor to be even close to [McGrath]. I’m just a kid from Haines City, FL who wanted to be like my dad. He rode motorcycles and I wanted to be just like him. I never would have thought I’d be one of the best, second all-time in Supercross, it’s unbelievable.”

Ken Roczen returned to the top step of the podium after 25 rounds and nearly 3 years (1,092 days) in St Louis 2020.  Roczen took his HRC Honda to victory after a devastating arm injury, illness, and some epic close calls. He’d come so close during that 3 year span, including losing to Cooper Webb in the closest ever finish the year prior, making this win an emotional celebration.