For this edition of Classic Ink, we are going to take a look back at Team Honda and their amazing 2002 Supercross and Motocross seasons.
After several years of struggles 2002 was an incredible comeback year for Honda. Indoors and out, in the dirt and on the street, Honda was at the front. Photo Credit: Honda
Over the last 50 years, no factory team in the sport has been as successful as Honda’s. The last decade has seen the rise of powerhouse competitors from Europe in the form of KTM and its subsidiaries, but none of Big Red’s competitors can boast of the sort of sustained excellence they have shown over the last five decades here in America. Honda kicked off their dominance capturing America’s first AMA 250 motocross championship in 1972 with Gary Jones at the controls and followed that up two years later by winning the AMA’s first 125 National title with Marty Smith and his fire engine red RC125.
During the eighties and early nineties, Honda’s domination took hold with Big Red capturing numerous AMA titles indoors and out. Riders like Chuck Sun, Darrel Shultz, Donnie Hansen, Johnny O’Mara, David Bailey, Ron Lechien, Micky Dymond, Ricky Johnson, Jeff Stanton, Mike Kiedrowski, Jean-Michel Bayle, Doug Henry, Steve Lamson, and Jeremy McGrath piloted the red machines to victory during this incredible era for Honda. From 1986 through 1996, Honda captured every AMA 250 Supercross title but one and scored an incredible eighteen 125, 250, and 500 National Motocross titles. During this era, it seemed that all a rider needed to do was get on a red machine and the victories would start coming. Honda turned journeyman riders like Dymond, Henry, Lamson, and Stanton into superstars and took elite talents like Bayle, Johnson, and McGrath and made them nearly unbeatable. During this era, Honda’s advertising pitch of “no wing, no prayer” felt like more than just Madison Ave hyperbole, it felt like the hard truth.
Since the departure of Jeremy McGrath at the end of 1996 Honda had struggled to capture a major motocross or Supercross title. With the arrival of reigning 250 MX and SX champ Ricky Carmichael to the squad, Honda believed they finally had the man to bring the Big Red Machine back to lost glory. Photo Credit: Simon Cudby
In 1997, however, this air of invincibility took a major hit with the introduction of a radically new CR250R and the debut of an incredibly determined seventeen-year-old from Florida. This season, Honda scrapped their proven championship-winning steel-framed CR250R in favor of an all-new alloy-framed machine and with it lost the services of their four-time Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath. Off-season contract disputes and dissatisfaction with the new machine led McGrath to decline the offered contract extension at the last minute and seek his fortunes elsewhere.
This late-season departure by McGrath left Honda in quite a lurch with only Steve Lamson set to defend Big Red’s honor inside and out. In the 125 class, Lamson was a beast, winning the last two AMA 125 titles, but indoors he had never been more than a solid wingman to the dominant McGrath. Lamson had never finished higher than fifth overall in the 250 Supercross standings and his promotion to team leader was a ton of pressure for the California native.
Early on in 2002 it was Amsoil Honda’s Mike LaRocco carrying the red banner at the front of the pack. At A1 Carmichael crashed out while battling LaRocco for second and left the long-time veteran to chase Yamaha’s David Vuillemin to the finish. At round three, LaRocco brought Honda their first 250 win of 2002 while also securing his first Supercross victory since 1995. Photo Credit: Factory Connection
Unfortunately for Honda, Lamson’s 1997 Supercross season turned out to be a total disaster that started with an embarrassing altercation on the track with his former teammate McGrath in the opening round. Both riders went down in the first turn and then Lamson proceeded to take McGrath out while the two circulated at the back of the pack. After round one, Lamson would fare a bit better, carding a pair of sixths at Atlanta and Daytona but his eventual fifteenth in the final 250 standings was a far cry from the dominance Honda had enjoyed the previous nine indoor seasons. Outdoors, his season started well with a second at round one to Pro Circuit’s rookie phenom Ricky Carmichael. At the time, many pit pundits thought Carmichael’s surprising victory against the two-time champ could be chalked up to his home-court Florida advantage, but RC was quick to dispel this narrative by beating Lamson on his home turf at Hangtown and backing that up with another win at Glen Helen. Five more victories would deliver Pro Circuit and Carmichael their first AMA 125 National Motocross title and subject Honda to their first 125 title defeat since Jeff Emig’s amazing 125 title comeback in 1992.
Joining his Amsoil Honda teammate at the front of the pack in early 2002 was longtime journeyman racer Travis Preston. Over six feet tall and far too heavy for a 125, Preston’s success on the revamped CR125R was quite a shock to many who expected a James Stewart runaway for the 125 West Coast Supercross title. Preston started the season with a surprising win at round one and backed it up with three podiums and a second win in Dallas to claim the 2002 125 West Coast crown. Photo Credit: Honda
After the disaster of the 1997 season, Honda was quick to reload for 1998 by hiring Yamaha’s Ezra “Yogi” Lusk to back up Lamson. Lusk was a young rider who had shown tons of speed on the YZs capturing his first 250 motocross and Supercross victories in 1997. After an equally disastrous 1997 campaign, McGrath was also on a new team, moving from the hastily put-together Suzuki of Troy squad to the Yamaha-backed Chaparral team for 1998.
Both moves proved fruitful, with Lusk bringing Honda their first 250 Supercross victory since the departure of McGrath at the end of 1996. Wins at rounds two, three, thirteen, and fifteen proved Honda’s faith was well placed, but Lusk’s inconsistency at several other rounds proved his undoing. Double-digit finishes at LA, San Diego, Indy, and New Orleans dug Lusk too deep of a points deficit to overcome.
Over at Chaparral Yamaha, McGrath started the season slowly, carding a third and two seconds in the first three rounds. By round four, however, the old McGrath was back ripping off a string of four victories to capture the points lead and eventually, a fifth AMA Supercross Championship.
After being KO’d at round one and a pair of fourths at rounds two and three, RC came roaring back to take the victory at rounds four and five. Photo Credit: Honda
In 1999, Honda once again reloaded, adding Yamaha’s Kevin Windham, Suzuki’s Mickëal Pichon, and newly-crowned 250 World Motocross Champion Sebastian Tortelli to their lineup. With Lusk returning, it looked to be the most impressive Honda stable since the heydays of McGrath, Stanton, Lamson, and Henry in the early nineties.
Despite all the firepower, however, Big Red was unable to claim a single title in 1999. Lusk, Tortelli, and Windham all carded victories, but none of them put it all together for a title. Indoors, McGrath once again proved unstoppable, and outdoors, fan-favorite Greg Albertyn finally backed up his three World Motocross titles with the 1999 AMA 250 National championship.
The 2000 season would see another year of missed opportunities for Honda. Many experts had Ezra Lusk pegged as the rider to finally break McGrath’s stranglehold on the Supercross series but a collision with Greg Albertyn in practice at round one left both riders in a heap and Lusk on the sidelines for the entire Supercross season. With Pichon shipped back to Europe after an embarrassing off-track altercation midway through the ’99 season, it was up to Tortelli and Windham to bring Honda Supercross gold in 2000. Surprisingly, however, it was another Frenchman, Yamaha’s David Vuillemin who proved McGrath’s biggest competitor in 2000. Vuillemin would win four events on his way to second overall in the Supercross standings. Both Windham and Tortelli would struggle indoors, carding only a single main event win by Windham in Dallas during the season. Windham’s fourth overall and Tortelli’s sixth both once again left Honda on the sidelines as Yamaha and McGrath claimed yet another Supercross crown.
By round nine in Daytona, RC was still down twenty points to David Vuillemin due to RC’s early season issues and DV’s consistency and speed. Unfortunately for the series, however, Vuillemin would crash in the off-week between Atlanta and Daytona and injure his shoulder to the point where he could not race the Florida round. This would leave the door open for RC to power his CR to the win and capture his first points lead of the 2002 Supercross season. Photo Credit: Honda
Outdoors, it was the Ricky Carmichael show as the three-time 125 National champ moved up to the 250s and laid waste to the competition. In the Nationals, Tortelli was much more competitive, carding a win at Red Bud and chasing the blazing redhead to second overall in the final standings. Windham followed Tortelli to third overall, but the Louisiana native failed to win a single overall in the 2000 National motocross season. After missing all of Supercross, Lusk was back, but he was off the pace and failed to crack the top ten in the final season standings. Overall, 2000 proved another disappointing season for Honda. Despite having one of the most talented squads on the circuit, the red team lost their fourth consecutive Supercross title and failed to win an outdoor crown in either the 125 or 250 divisions.
Turning point: In the off weekend before Daytona, Transworld Motocross’ Donn Maeda made arrangements to interview and shoot photos of 2002’s surprising SX points leader David Vuillemin. Unfortunately, however, for both parties, a routine photo shoot turned into the defining moment of the 2002 Supercross season. This crash captured by Maeda shows the moment when DV’s title chances took a turn for the worse. A rung bell and injured shoulder had DV sitting out the Daytona round, effectively handing the SX points lead to Carmichael. Photo Credit: Donn Maeda
Big changes at Team Honda occurred in 2001 with the departure of Kevin Windham to factory Suzuki. The ever-mercurial Windham had been blazing fast on the CRs but his inability to put it all together for a title left him and Honda looking for greener pastures in 2001. This left Sebastian Tortelli and Ezra Lusk as the sole riders under the new Universal Studios-backed Honda tent. Unfortunately for both, however, 2001 turned out to be another one-man show in the 250 division.
After several years of struggles indoors on the big bikes, Kawasaki’s Carmichael finally got serious about training and put a dramatic end to the McGrath era in Supercross. After the two superstars traded wins in the first three rounds, it looked like it was going to be an epic battle for the Supercross crown, but RC would quickly quell those expectations by reeling off an incredible thirteen straight victories on his way to the 2001 250 Supercross crown.
Under the Honda tent, it was more frustration as both Lusk and Tortelli failed to capture an indoor victory. While Lusk was shut out of the top spot, he did have a strong season, starting with a second at round one and going on to capture a total of seven overall podiums on his way to third in the final standings. Tortelli was less successful, racing to thirteenth overall with a fourth at Indianapolis being his best 2001 indoor finish.
After Daytona, RC would only have one misstep the entire rest of the 2002 season. At Pontiac, RC would whisky throttle and loop out his CR leaving him at the back of the pack. While he would charge back to second, his teammate Nathan Ramsey would hold on to deliver Honda and their all-new CRF450R their first AMA victory. Photo Credit: Honda
Outdoors, the season looked more promising for Big Red with a second at round one and a victory at round two for Tortelli. Lusk’s outdoor season on the other hand would start terribly, with a series of four double-digit finishes to begin the motocross campaign. Much like Tortelli indoors, Lusk would fail to capture a single podium on his way to a very disappointing eleventh overall in the final standings. While Lusk struggled, Tortelli continued to show impressive outdoor speed carding a third at High Point and two seconds at Budds Creek and Unadilla. Unfortunately, however, these podium finishes were backed up by double-digit finishes at Troy, Washougal, and Broom-Tioga. This inconsistency landed him in sixth overall in another disappointing outdoor season for Honda.
Out front, it was once again Florida’s flying number four and his Chad Watts-tuned KX250. After a fluke encounter with a hay bail at round one, splitting motos at round two, and a mudfest at round three, RC was back on top by round four and from there on out it was smooth sailing for the newly crowned Supercross champ. Ironically, it turned out to be former Honda rider Kevin Windham who proved to be RC’s biggest challenge for the 2001 250 motocross title. Windham raced his new RM250 to wins at Washougal and Steel City and only missed out on the title by eight points to RC in the final 250 standings.
After another unsatisfactory season for Honda in 2001, it was time to hit the reset button for 2002. In a surprising move, Honda snatched reigning 250 Supercross and Motocross champion Ricky Carmichael away from Kawasaki. At the time, most fans thought RC bled green and it was downright shocking to see him move away from a brand that had delivered him so much success. Perhaps less surprising was the fan backlash, which centered around the feeling that Honda was “buying” titles by wooing RC away with a big payday. While some of that may have been true, RC also reportedly felt that Kawasaki was not doing enough to update their machines and he felt that Honda was more committed to developing their race machines. While both of these viewpoints probably held some truth, the reality was that Honda was ready to pay some serious money to have a six-time AMA champion under the red tent for 2002.
Another new addition for 2002 was the arrival of Honda’s YZ426F competitor, the all-new new CRF450R. In 2001, both Ryan Hughes and Amsoil’s Mike LaRocco had raced a works version of the CRF outdoors, but for 2002 the production bike was ready and going to be raced indoors and out. This left Honda looking for a pilot with four-stroke experience and they settled on 1999 West Coast Supercross champion Nathan Ramsey. In 2001, Ramsey had raced Yamaha’s all-new YZ250F to second in the 125 East Coast Supercross standings and he seemed the perfect fit to shake down the all-new CRF.
Joining RC and Ramsey as new Honda team members for 2002 was two-time 125 Supercross champion Ernesto Fonseca. In 2001, Fonseca had been teammates with Ramsey on the powerful Yamaha of Troy team and raced the new YZ250F to its first 125 Supercross title in the West. At the time, Fonseca’s focus was to back up RC indoors and deliver Honda its first 125 Motocross title since Steve Lamson in 1996 once the racing left the stadiums.
It took RC three seasons to figure out Supercross on the big bikes but once he had it dialed, he never lost a championship in which he fully competed. RC’s 2002 Supercross title would be the second of the five AMA 250 Supercross titles he would capture before his eventual retirement mid-way through the 2007 season. Photo Credit: Honda
Last up on the Honda roster for 2002 was the returning Sebastian Tortelli. Tortelli’s 2001 season was far from a rousing success, but he had won a race and still showed that he could be a threat for the outdoor title. By 2002, most allusions about his indoor speed had faded from his shocking 1998 Coliseum victory, but he made a good wingman and solid backup plan if RC was to have something go wrong.
With RC, Ramsey, Fonseca, and Tortelli in the Honda semi, Ezra Lusk was left looking for a new home in 2002. After four very up and down years both parties were ready to turn the page and Yogi found a new employer in the form of RC’s old partner Kawasaki. Many people thought the KX250 platform was getting a bit long in the tooth by 2002, but it was hard to argue with the success RC had enjoyed on the green machines the previous two seasons.
Coming into the 2002 Anaheim 1 season opener there was a huge amount of anticipation surrounding Honda and their new hires. Many people wondered how RC would fare on the all-new and unproven 2002 CR250R and if his Kawasaki speed would immediately transition to the new machines. There was also a fair amount of buzz around the all-new CRF450R and whether the red four-stroke would prove more successful indoors than Yamaha’s booming 426F had been. MC was also back on his new Bud Light-backed Yamaha and out to exact some revenge for the drubbing RC had delivered in 2001.
In the end, A1 turned out to be a real shocker, as RC crashed out, MC struggled, and Yamaha’s David Vuillemin shined. Vuillemin took the victory, with Amsoil Honda’s Mike LaRocco and new Honda hire Ernesto Fonseca rounding out the podium. RC’s DNF and MC’s thirteenth immediately upended a title fight that many had thought would be over before it even started.
After his A1 crash, RC was not up to his usual self, and it would take several rounds for the champ to shake the cobwebs out of his Fox Pilot helmet. One look at the setup of his CR also had many wondering what the heck Chad Watts was doing. RC’s Honda looked choppered out with a very low and slow rear shock and bars rolled back into his lap. It was a completely bizarre setup that looked nearly unridable to most. A pair of fourths at rounds two and three had pit pundits chattering about the wisdom of RC’s move to Honda and whether MC had placed a curse on the brand on his way out the door in 1996.
Unlike RC’s Supercross season, the great outdoors would prove an utterly drama-free experience. He came out swinging at round one and never let anyone even get close to challenging his reign at the front.
While RC struggled, Vuillemin continued to pour on the coals at the front. A win at round two and a second at round three delivered the Yamaha rider the points lead and proved that his A1 showing was no fluke. Behind DV, Amsoil’s Mike LaRocco defied father time and upheld Honda’s honor by capturing the win at round three. This was LaRocco’s first win on a Honda and first victory since he was on a factory Kawasaki in 1995. At the end of round three, Vuillemin held the points lead by five over LaRocco, twenty-six over Honda ex-pat Ezra Lusk, and a staggering thirty-five over Carmichael.
At round four in Phoenix, the RC train finally got back on the track by taking the win over Suzuki’s 125 phenom Travis Pastrana and a third place Vuillemin. DV remained at the front of the points, but RC did shave five points off his championship lead. After Phoenix, RC would reel off wins in three of the next four rounds, shaving DV’s points lead down to twenty points going into Daytona.
Perhaps the most surprising development of all in the early season was the struggles of seven-time SX champ Jeremy McGrath. After finishing second to RC in 2002, it would take MC eight rounds to even score a podium finish on his Bud Light YZ. While RC had dominated the win totals the year before, MC had been able to capture two victories and nine podiums. This tremendous downturn in results shocked the former champ’s fans and had many wondering if the end might finally be in sight for the winningest rider in the sport’s history.
Coming into Daytona, the story of the 2002 season was the speed and consistency of Yamaha’s David Vuillemin. Before 2002, DV had shown tons of speed, but he had never been able to put it all together for a 250 title. He was always a threat for the win, but in the end, he was too inconsistent to overcome the speed and consistency of MC and RC. With McGrath’s slump and Carmichael’s early season struggles, 2002 finally looked like the year that “Le Cobra” could put it all together for a Supercross title.
RC destroyed his competition all season leading nearly every lap on his Chad Watts tuned CR250R. The only rider to challenge RC at the front all season was Southwick’s retired hometown hero Doug Henry who snagged the lead in both at the Wick and ended up leading the second most laps of the 2002 Motocross season. Photo Credit: Honda
As fate would have it, however, DV’s Cinderella season was about to face a major setback. The week before Daytona, Transworld Motocross’ Donn Maeda set up a photo shoot with Vuillemin and during that shoot, DV lost control of his YZ and crashed hard injuring his right shoulder. At Daytona, Vuillemin tried to gut it out, but the pain was too great, and he pulled out after practice. This left the door open for RC and he was ready and willing to race through to the Daytona win and championship points lead.
RC’s immense points lead allowed him to wrap up the Motocross title with two rounds to go. Photo Credit: Honda
After the Daytona debacle, DV surprisingly rebounded with a third one week later at New Orleans but by then, the damage to his points lead was already done. He would round out the season with four more podiums but fail to win another race. If DV had not crashed, it may have been his season, but the nagging shoulder injury and Daytona DNS put an end to what would turn out to be his best shot at a major AMA 250 title.
With MC off the pace and DV wounded, RC took control of the series. After Daytona, he pulled away to card five more victories to round out the season. His only loss after Daytona would come at Pontiac where he would crash spectacularly and then put on an incredible charge to the front that came up one place short of victory. The winner of this race would be another Honda rider, Nathan Ramsey, who would deliver the all-new CRF450R its first AMA win. At season’s end, it would be RC at the top of the standings by thirty-five points over Vuillemin and the disappointed Yamaha squad. Despite a very rough early going, McGrath would rebound to claim third place in the final 250 Supercross standings. Nathan Ramsey would pilot the CRF450R to sixth overall with his teammate Fonseca right behind in seventh on his CR250R. Tortelli’s Supercross season would prove to be another disappointment with a thirteenth in the final points standings.
Before 2002, many riders thought the perfect season was a near impossibility. Twenty-four motos without a serious crash, mechanical mishap, or even a first-turn fall. Even the fastest rider in the world was bound to have something go amiss, but in 2002 Ricky Carmichael proved that it could be done. Much like the unbreakable four-minute mile barrier, once that ceiling was chattered, others followed. Still, no one can ever discount just what RC did in 2002. His incredible domination this season was history-making and a tribute to the immense determination of one the greatest motocross riders the sport has ever seen. Photo Credit: Honda
Outdoors, it was the RC4 show from start to finish. In an unprecedented display of domination, Carmichael won every moto on his way to the sport’s first undefeated motocross season. Out of a possible 365 laps during the 2002 motocross season, RC led an unimaginable 352 of them. At no point during the season was RC ever challenged. He decimated the field on the way to an incredible 160-point victory margin over Yamaha’s Tim Ferry in second. The 2002 250 MX title was RC’s sixth consecutive outdoor crown and tied him with McGrath for the most major AMA MX/SX titles at eight.
At the start of the 2002 season, Honda received a lot of heat for moving on from Lusk and hiring Carmichael, but it is impossible to argue with the results of the move. Big Red captured their first AMA Supercross title in five years and their first AMA motocross title in six seasons. RC dominated the standings indoors and out and shattered records many thought would never be broken. The team of RC, Ramsey, Tortelli, and Fonseca brought glory back to Honda and fostered a new era of domination for the red team in the mid-2000s.
