Meet the men who define supercross success

Join us as we take a look at some of the most dominant performances in dirt bike history.

Ryan Dungey arrived in Glendale in dominant form © Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

By Aaron Hansel on 5 March 2016

In case you haven't noticed, Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey is currently on one of the hottest streaks in the history of the AMA Supercross championship. If you include last year's series, the Minnesota native has been on the podium for the last 22 consecutive races, including 12 wins. After six rounds of racing so far in 2016, he's already earned a 26 point championship lead and has won four of the six races.

With Dungey's dominance in mind, we took a look at a few of the sport's most dominant streaks.

Ryan Dungey

Since Dungey inspired this piece we'd be wrong to not include some of his other achievements. After wrapping up the 450SX title in 2010, his rookie season, Dungey went nuts in motocross, winning 10 of 12 races on his way to the title. Then in 2012, after taking second at the first two races, he won the remaining 10! 

Jeremy McGrath

No list like this would be complete without Jeremy McGrath, the man known as the King of Supercross. McGrath has all kinds of impressive records, including a list-topping 72 wins and seven supercross titles, but perhaps the most impressive is what he achieved in 1996. The King was on a tear that year the likes of which had never been seen, and as the season was starting to wind down, he still hadn't lost a single race. It finally happened when Jeff Emig beat him in St. Louis, but that was the only race he lost that year in 13 win streak. When you add in his two wins at the end of 1995, his win-streak extended a total of 15 straight races!

Ricky Carmichael

Like McGrath, we could go on forever about Carmichael. He's not nicknamed The G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) for no reason. We'll stick to a few that really stand out though. The first is his insane supercross winning streak, which actually equals McGrath's record of 13 wins in a single season. The second are his perfect motocross seasons. That's right, Carmichael won every single moto not once, but twice, in 2002 and 2004. He's also the only rider to have two separate motocross winning streaks that span three different seasons. No wonder they call him The G.O.A.T.

Ryan Villopoto

Ryan Villopoto went on quite a few streaks during his racing career, but the one most talked about – and most hated by his competitors – took place over four years, when he won four consecutive 450SX championships from 2011–2014, putting him in an exclusive club with Jeremy McGrath, the only other rider to have done so. Interestingly enough, Villopoto was at his prime and could have easily contended for yet more SX championships, but inexplicably called it quits in America and rode a few MXGP races before getting injured and retiring for good in 2015. 

James Stewart made lots of happy memories in 2008 © Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

James Stewart

James Stewart is hands down one of the fastest racers to ever to sit on a dirt bike, and in 2008 the competition felt his wrath all summer long. After missing the supercross season that year with a knee injury, Stewart came back with a vengeance in motocross, winning every single moto to log a rare perfect record. To put it lightly, it wasn't a good season for his competitors!

That perfect summer wasn't the only time Stewart has strung together an incredible string of wins. In 2009 he crashed out of the supercross season opener and was forced to make up a huge points gap on Chad Reed. Undaunted, Stewart went on a rampage that saw him win the next seven straight races, taking the points lead in the process. He went on to take the 450SX championship for the second time in his career.