2013 MXA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION: SEARCHING FOR THE BEST ALL-AROUND RACER

On Dec 9, 2013 Last updated Apr 7, 2014

Who was the best all-around rider in 2013? That is probably not a very hard question to answer since Ryan Villopoto dominated. But if you had to quantify Villopoto’s dominance, how would you do it?

No problem because 30 years ago the AMA had a system to figure how who the best all-around rider was. In 1983 Wrangler Jeans sponsored an AMA Grand National Championship. By combining the points earned from the AMA Supercross series and the AMA National series Wrangler handed out a special blue-and-yellow number-one plate to the rider who earned the most points in the sport.

David Bailey won the first two plates, but when Wrangler left the series, the AMA dropped the Grand National Championship idea. Why? We don’t know, but if we had to hazard a guess we’d say that if the AMA couldn’t make a buck off of it, they weren’t interested.

REVIVING A GREAT IDEA

Ryan Villopoto.

MXA resurrected the original AMA Grand National system in 2008 and began tallying points and handing out awards. In 2008, Team Honda’s Andrew Short took the number plate. For 2009, Chad Reed won it. In 2010, Ryan Dungey won the MXA Grand National Championship. For 2011 the winner was Ryan Villopoto. For 2012 the winner was Ryan Dungey for a second time. And for 2013, Ryan Villopoto becomes a double winner. If you think about it?these are what the true-to-life AMA National numbers would be if the AMA wasn’t handing out permanent numbers like they were cough drops?and if they quit counting 250 East and 250 West points as though they were equal to 450 Supercross, 450 National and 250 National points. It should raise an alarm when riders who never raced an AMA National or the 450 Supercross class are awarded an AMA National number.

To determine the best all-around, all-season, professional motocross racer in America, MXA counts all the points earned in 450 Supercross, 450 Nationals and 250 Nationals in 2013.

250 East/West Supercross points don’t count towards the MXA Grand National Championship because they are regional series, held against limited competition, and are not considered an AMA Championship series by the AMA.

When all the points were total from the 29 AMA events held in 2013, Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto topped Ryan Dungey by 90 points.

2013 MXA GRAND NATIONAL POINTS STANDINGS
Rider             Supercross National    Total
1. Ryan Villopoto       371…….563………934
2. Ryan Dungey       337…….507………844
3. Justin Barcia           277…….411………688
4. Eli Tomac               52………552………604
5. Trey Canard           221…….332………553
6. Ken Roczen           14………493………507
7. Andrew Short          214…….262………476
8. James Stewart       174…….289………463
9. Jake Weimer           157…….275………432
10. Broc Tickle           176…….236………412
11. Marvin Musquin      0…….…411……… 411
12. Chad Reed           239…….157………396
13. Blake Baggett       0………..395………395
14. Justin Brayton       190…….201………391
15. Davi Millsaps       338…….0………….338
16. Mike Alessi           107…….229………336
17. Zach Osborne       0……….356………356
18. Jeremy Martin       0……….300………300
19. Justin Bogle           0………. 291………291
20. Josh Grant           40………228………268
21. Jason Anderson   0……….260………260
22. Cooper Webb         0……….255………255
23. Phil Nicoletti           58……..190………248
24. Kyle Cunningham   0……….228………228
25. Cole Seely              0……….223………223
26. Justin Hill              0……….217………217
27. Weston Peick       105…….102………207
28. Tyla Rattray           0……….198………198
29. Malcolm Stewart   0……….197……..197
30. Matt Goerke           139…….43………182
31. Will Hahn           0……….172…….172
32. Darryn Durham       0……….171…….171
33. Martin Davalos       0……….168…….168
34. Ryan Sipes           147…….0………..147
35. Adam Cianciarulo   0……….138……..138
36. Ben Lamay           39………83………122
37. Josh Hill                  93………0………..93
38. Joey Savatgy          0……….89……….89
39. Blake Wharton       0……….85……….85
40. Alex Martin              0……….82……….82