A week ago at Thunder Valley, Chance Hymas led all the laps in the 250 class in both motos. I had wondered when this last happened figuring Haiden Deegan probably did last year or Jett Lawrence in 2022. But it turned out it had been 10 years since it last happened! Jeremy Martin in 2015 at Thunder Valley.
And then…it happened just a week later at High Point when Haiden Deegan led all the laps in both motos.
So how often has this happened and who has achieved this the most times?
I’m looking at both the 450 Class and 250 Class for this, both individual motos and then both motos on the day for the overall.
A few things to mention:
Outdoors lap data is only available back to 2004, and there are several rounds where lap data is unavailable/missing. This includes the following rounds:
- 2004 Spring Creek (250 Class missing)
- 2006 Hangtown
- 2006 Steel City
- 2007 Budds Creek
- 2007 Freestone
- 2008 Hangtown (250 Class missing)
On to the data!
450MX Most Motos Leading Every Lap
| Rank | Rider | Total Motos Leading Every Lap since 2004 |
| 1 | Ricky Carmichael | 36 |
| 2 | Ken Roczen | 27 |
| 3 | Jett Lawrence | 25 |
| James Stewart | 25 | |
| 5 | Ryan Dungey | 19 |
| 6 | Ryan Villopoto | 14 |
| 7 | Eli Tomac | 10 |
| 8 | Justin Barcia | 7 |
| Marvin Musquin | 7 | |
| 10 | Adam Cianciarulo | 5 |
| Chase Sexton | 5 | |
| 12 | Mike Alessi | 4 |
| Chad Reed | 4 | |
| 14 | Trey Canard | 3 |
| Zach Osborne | 3 | |
| Dylan Ferrandis | 3 | |
| 17 | Ivan Tedesco | 2 |
| Jason Anderson | 2 | |
| 19 | Davi Millsaps | 1 |
| Andrew Short | 1 | |
| Josh Grant | 1 | |
| Justin Bogle | 1 | |
| Jeffrey Herlings | 1 | |
| Blake Baggett | 1 | |
| Cooper Webb | 1 | |
| Hunter Lawrence | 1 | |
| Justin Brayton | 1 |
- No surprise to see Ricky Carmichael leading the way here and keep in mind this is just since 2004. This number is probably around 50 or even higher if we had data going back to 2000.
- Ken Roczen comes in second here. At this rate is it crazy to say Roczen’s outdoors career is almost underrated? Obviously he is a two time champ but he always seems to place very highly on lists like this.
- Crazy that in 20 starts Jett Lawrence is already tied with James Stewart.
- Kind of wild Tomac has so few relatively for a 4 time champion but then again starts have never been Tomac’s strong suite.
- Adam Cianciarulo having the same amount as Chase Sexton is surprising given how few outdoors rounds AC was at his true potential ability. With 2020 being shortened and then getting hurt partway through 2021, AC basically had 12 total rounds at his best ability.
- Within Mike Alessi’s four instances here, one was on a 350 at Hangtown 2010 Moto 2.
- Ivan Tedesco went 1-1 at Thunder Valley 2009 leading every lap.
- Jeffrey Herlings makes this list leading every lap in Moto 2 at Ironman in 2017.
- Justin Brayton also makes it with leading every lap in Moto 2 at Steel City 2009.
Okay but what about leading every lap in both motos in the overall?
450MX Most Overalls Leading Every Lap
| Rank | Rider | Total Overalls Leading Every Lap since 2004 |
| 1 | Ricky Carmichael | 11 |
| 2 | Jett Lawrence | 10 |
| 3 | James Stewart | 9 |
| 4 | Ken Roczen | 5 |
| 5 | Ryan Dungey | 2 |
| Ryan Villopoto | 2 | |
| Eli Tomac | 2 | |
| 8 | Adam Cianciarulo | 1 |
| Mike Alessi | 1 | |
| Trey Canard | 1 | |
| Zach Osborne | 1 | |
| Ivan Tedesco | 1 |
- Once again Ricky leads the way here and it would be much higher including his earlier years outdoors.
- But Jett already has more than James Stewart, crazy!
- Trey Canard led all the laps at the Utah National in the final round of the 2014 season.
- Zach Osborne led all the laps at Red Bud 1 in 2020 during his championship season.
Onto the 250 Class.
250MX Most Motos Leading Every Lap
| Rank | Rider | Total Motos Leading Every Lap since 2004 |
| 1 | Jeremy Martin | 16 |
| 2 | Ryan Villopoto | 15 |
| 3 | Christophe Pourcel | 10 |
| Justin Cooper | 10 | |
| 5 | Aaron Plessinger | 8 |
| Dylan Ferrandis | 8 | |
| 7 | James Stewart | 7 |
| Dean Wilson | 7 | |
| Haiden Deegan | 7 | |
| 10 | Eli Tomac | 6 |
| Hunter Lawrence | 6 | |
| 12 | Ken Roczen | 5 |
| Levi Kitchen | 5 | |
| 14 | Chance Hymas | 4 |
| Mike Alessi | 4 | |
| Justin Barcia | 4 | |
| Adam Cianciarulo | 4 | |
| Jett Lawrence | 4 | |
| 19 | Trey Canard | 3 |
| Andrew Short | 3 | |
| Broc Hepler | 3 | |
| Ryan Dungey | 3 | |
| Marvin Musquin | 3 | |
| Cooper Webb | 3 | |
| Joey Savatgy | 3 | |
| Alex Martin | 3 | |
| 27 | Josh Grant | 2 |
| Austin Forkner | 2 | |
| Tom Vialle | 2 | |
| Ben Townley | 2 | |
| Tyla Rattray | 2 | |
| Blake Baggett | 2 | |
| 33 | Grant Langston | 1 |
| Jason Lawrence | 1 | |
| Jessy Nelson | 1 | |
| Ryan Mills | 1 | |
| Ivan Tedesco | 1 | |
| Zach Osborne | 1 | |
| Shane McElrath | 1 | |
| Jo Shimoda | 1 |
40 Total Riders for the 250 Class!
Lot of different riders making the list here.
- Jeremy Martin and Ryan Villopoto led the way here.
- James Stewart would be much higher if we had data for his 2002 and 2003 seasons (I assume).
250MX Most Overalls Leading Every Lap
| Rank | Rider | Total Overalls Leading Every Lap since 2004 |
| 1 | Jeremy Martin | 3 |
| 2 | James Stewart | 2 |
| 3 | Dean Wilson | 1 |
| Chance Hymas | 1 | |
| Trey Canard | 1 | |
| Haiden Deegan | 1 |
Very few riders in the 250 Class here!
- Again, James Stewart would probably have a few more of these if we had more data.
- Jeremy Martin started the first two rounds in 2014 leading all the laps in both motos. His other instance was Thunder Valley 2015.
- Dean Wilson’s instance is from Pala 2010 here.
- Trey Canard’s is from Washougal 2010.
- Hymas and Deegan I mentioned earlier.
Thanks for reading! Any questions, hit me up on Twitter or Instagram: @MXReference
