The Best Motocross Riders of All Time

By the Motocross Trivia editorial team · Updated September 2026

Ricky Carmichael is the consensus pick for the greatest motocross rider of all time. He won 15 AMA championships and a record 150 AMA races, and he twice went through an entire outdoor season without losing a moto, sweeping all 24 in 2002 and doing it again in 2004. The debate stays alive because the sport is scored on two continents: Belgium's Stefan Everts won a record 10 FIM Motocross World Championships, and the Netherlands' Jeffrey Herlings now holds the all-time Grand Prix win record at 124 victories with six world titles of his own. Carmichael never raced a full world championship season and Everts never raced a full AMA season, so the argument can never be settled on track.

The ranking below weighs championships first, then career wins, then peak dominance, and treats AMA Supercross, AMA Pro Motocross and the FIM Motocross World Championship as equally legitimate. If the terminology is unfamiliar, our glossary of motocross terms and our breakdown of supercross versus motocross explain the formats these records were set in.

The greatest motocross riders of all time, ranked

1. Ricky Carmichael

Carmichael is the rider everyone else is measured against. He won 15 AMA championships: ten AMA Pro Motocross titles, three in the 125cc class and seven in the premier class, plus five premier-class AMA Supercross crowns. His 150 career AMA wins remain the record. The defining achievement is the perfect season. In 2002 he won all 24 motos of the outdoor championship, then repeated the sweep in 2004, something no rider had managed once, let alone twice. He never lost an outdoor championship he contested. His training program with Aldon Baker also reset the fitness standard for the sport, and every professional since has inherited that bar.

2. Stefan Everts

If the question is world championships rather than AMA titles, the answer is Stefan Everts. The Belgian won 10 FIM Motocross World Championships between 1991 and 2006: the 125cc crown at 18, three straight 250cc titles from 1995 to 1997, back-to-back 500cc titles in 2001 and 2002, and four consecutive premier-class championships through the MXGP and MX1 era. His 101 Grand Prix wins stood as the record for 17 years. The most audacious day of his career came in 2003 at Ernee, France, where he entered and won three separate classes at the same Grand Prix, on three different machines, in a single afternoon.

3. Jeffrey Herlings

Herlings holds the record that matters most in Grand Prix racing: 124 career overall wins, 61 in MX2 and 63 in MXGP, having passed Everts's total of 101 in 2023. He has six world championships, three in MX2 (2012, 2013 and 2016) and three in MXGP (2018, 2021 and 2026). The most recent came in his first season on a factory Honda, clinched at the Turkish Grand Prix with two rounds still to run. Herlings is at his most untouchable on the deep sand of northern Europe, where he has produced winning margins the series almost never sees. Injuries have cost him whole seasons, which is the one argument against ranking him higher.

4. Jeremy McGrath

McGrath did not just win supercross, he made it popular. Between 1993 and 2000 he took seven premier-class AMA Supercross championships and finished with a record 72 premier-class main-event wins, a total that has stood for 25 years. Across all classes he collected 10 AMA championships, including two 125cc West Supercross titles in 1991 and 1992 and the 1995 250cc AMA Motocross championship, from 89 AMA wins. In 1996 he won 14 of 15 main events and reeled off 13 straight victories, a streak only Carmichael has matched. The King of Supercross also brought style: the nac-nac, the whip, and the showmanship that took stadium racing mainstream.

5. James Stewart

Stewart was the most naturally gifted rider of his generation and the one who changed how riders take rough ground. The bubba scrub, his technique of flattening the bike over a jump to stay low and carry speed, is now standard practice. He won seven AMA championships, including 125cc motocross in 2002 and 2004, both 125cc regional supercross titles, and premier-class supercross championships in 2007 and 2009. His 50 premier-class supercross wins rank among the top three all-time. In 2008, back from a torn ACL, he won all 24 motos of the 450 Pro Motocross Championship, becoming the second rider after Carmichael to go perfect.

6. Antonio Cairoli

Cairoli is the most successful Italian in motocross history and sits second only to Everts on the world championship list. Over 18 seasons he won nine FIM Motocross World Championships, two in MX2 in 2005 and 2007 and seven in the premier class, including six in a row from 2009 to 2014 and a final title in 2017. He retired after 2021 with 94 Grand Prix wins and 179 podiums. Adaptability set him apart: titles on 250cc, 350cc and 450cc machinery, on hard-pack and sand, and contention well past the age at which most premier-class riders fade. Our guide to MXGP and world motocross covers the series he dominated.

7. Roger De Coster

Known simply as The Man, De Coster made motocross a global sport in the eyes of American fans. He won five 500cc FIM Motocross World Championships, in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976, and took 36 500cc Grand Prix victories. His performances in the Trans-AMA series in the early 1970s showed American riders how far behind the European standard they were, and shaped the generation that followed. De Coster's second career was arguably as influential as his first: as a team manager he guided multiple AMA champions and ran the United States Motocross of Nations effort for decades before stepping down from that role in 2025.

8. Ryan Villopoto

Villopoto owns the most concentrated run of supercross dominance since McGrath, winning four consecutive 450 AMA Supercross championships from 2011 through 2014. Across all classes he collected 10 AMA national championships, including three straight 250cc Pro Motocross titles from 2006 to 2008, the 2007 250cc Supercross West crown, and premier-class outdoor titles in 2011 and 2013. His 72 AMA wins place him in the all-time top ten. He raced with a blunt, physical style and a reputation for turning the last five laps of a main event into a war of attrition, and he retired in 2015 at the peak of his powers.

9. Ryan Dungey

Dungey holds a distinction nobody else has: in 2010, his first season in the premier class, he won both the 450 AMA Supercross championship and the 450 AMA Pro Motocross championship. He finished with nine AMA championships, made up of four premier-class supercross titles in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2017, three premier-class outdoor titles in 2010, 2012 and 2015, and both 250cc crowns in 2009. His 80 AMA wins rank fourth all-time. Dungey's reputation was built on consistency rather than raw speed, collecting podiums week after week while faster rivals crashed out. He retired in 2017 at 27 with his health intact.

10. Eli Tomac

Tomac has the longest sustained premier-class career of the modern American era. He has won eight AMA championships: the 2012 250cc Supercross West title, the 2013 250cc Pro Motocross championship, four premier-class outdoor crowns in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022, and premier-class supercross titles in 2020 and 2022, when he completed the double. He added the FIM World Supercross 450cc championship in 2024. His 113 AMA wins are second only to Carmichael, and his 57 premier-class supercross victories second only to McGrath's 72. His career has been defined by ferocious second-half charges and by winning deep into his thirties.

11. Bob Hannah

Hannah was the sport's first genuine American superstar, and the aggression he brought set the template for everyone after him. Nicknamed Hurricane, he won the 1976 AMA 125cc Pro Motocross championship, the 250cc outdoor titles in 1978 and 1979, and three consecutive AMA Supercross championships from 1977 to 1979: six AMA national championships in all, from more than 60 national wins. In 1977 he became the first rider to win races in all three displacement classes, 125cc, 250cc and Open, in a single season. His rivalries made supercross must-watch television exactly when the series needed a personality.

12. Rick Johnson

Rick Johnson, universally known as RJ, was the best rider in the world in the late 1980s and the clearest what-might-have-been story in motocross. He won seven AMA national championships and 61 AMA races, and he was dominant in both disciplines when he broke the navicular bone in his wrist in practice at the 1989 Gatorback National. The joint never healed properly. He fought back for two seasons, winning two more nationals in 1990, before retiring far short of the numbers his talent deserved. He later built a successful career in off-road truck racing. Many historians rank him as the greatest rider who never got a full career.

13. Jeff Ward

Ward's claim is unique and permanent: he is the only rider in AMA history to win championships in every division the series offered. Over a 15-year Kawasaki career he took the 125cc outdoor title in 1984, 250cc outdoor titles in 1985 and 1988, 500cc outdoor titles in 1989 and 1990, and premier-class AMA Supercross championships in 1985 and 1987: seven AMA championships from 56 wins. Ward was small, relentlessly fit and rarely the fastest qualifier, but almost impossible to shake over 30 minutes plus two laps. After motocross he moved to four-wheel racing and finished on the podium at the Indianapolis 500.

14. Jett Lawrence

The Australian is already writing himself into this list. Lawrence has won seven AMA championships: back-to-back 250cc Pro Motocross titles in 2021 and 2022, the 250cc Supercross East title in 2022 and West in 2023, the 450 Pro Motocross championships of 2023 and 2025, and the 2024 450 AMA Supercross title. He has also won all three SuperMotocross World Championship finals, in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The headline result is 2023: in his rookie premier-class outdoor season he won all 22 motos, the third perfect season in history and the first by a rookie. He finished 2026 as outdoor runner-up to his brother Hunter.

15. Chad Reed

Reed's case rests as much on durability as on peak speed, and that is a legitimate measure of greatness. The Australian won four AMA championships: the 125cc East Supercross title in 2002, premier-class supercross championships in 2004 and 2008, and the 450 AMA Pro Motocross title in 2009. He finished with 44 premier-class supercross wins and holds the record for supercross main-event starts with 265. Reed raced professionally from 1998 to 2020, contesting premier-class races across three decades and four generations of rivals. For several of those years he ran his own TwoTwo Motorsports team and beat factory efforts with it.

16. Travis Pastrana

Pastrana belongs on this list twice over. As a racer he won the AMA 125cc Pro Motocross championship in 2000 at the age of 16, the youngest ever to do it, and added the 125cc East Supercross title in 2001. As a freestyle rider he became the most recognizable figure the discipline has produced, with 17 X Games medals including 11 golds across Moto X Freestyle, Best Trick, Speed & Style and Rally Car racing. In 2006 he landed the first double backflip in competition, scoring 98.60 in Best Trick, and became only the third athlete to take three golds at a single X Games.

The best FMX riders of all time

Freestyle motocross is judged rather than timed, so its greatest-ever list looks different. Pastrana sits at the top for the same reason Carmichael does in racing: he won the most and he moved the discipline forward, and the 2006 double backflip is the most consequential trick ever landed in competition. The other benchmark is Nate Adams, nicknamed The Destroyer, who took 13 X Games medals between 2002 and 2012, six of them gold. Adams won Moto X Freestyle gold in 2004 and 2011 and Speed & Style gold in 2011, 2013 and 2015, plus the WFA world freestyle title as an 18-year-old in 2002 and multiple Red Bull X-Fighters events. He was also the first rider to beat Pastrana head to head in a freestyle final. Our guide to freestyle motocross and the X Games explains how the events are judged.

Who has the most motocross championships?

"Most motocross championships" has three correct answers depending on which series you mean.

FIM Motocross World Championships:

• Stefan Everts, 10 (1991, 1995-1997, 2001-2006)
• Antonio Cairoli, 9 (2005, 2007, 2009-2014, 2017)
• Joel Robert, 6 (250cc: 1964, 1968-1972)
• Jeffrey Herlings, 6 (2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2026)
• Roger De Coster, Georges Jobe, Eric Geboers and Tim Gajser, 5 each

AMA championships, all classes:

• Ricky Carmichael, 15
• Jeremy McGrath and Ryan Villopoto, 10 each
• Ryan Dungey, 9
• Eli Tomac, 8
• James Stewart, Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward and Jett Lawrence, 7 each

Premier-class AMA Supercross titles:

• Jeremy McGrath, 7
• Ricky Carmichael, 5
• Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey, 4 each
• Bob Hannah, Jeff Stanton and Cooper Webb, 3 each

One name outside those lists is Eric Geboers, who in 1988 became the first rider to win world titles in all three displacement classes, an achievement the modern MX2 and MXGP structure makes impossible to repeat. As for the current era, Ken Roczen took the 2026 AMA Supercross 450 title for Suzuki by three points over Hunter Lawrence, 349 to 346, becoming the oldest champion in series history at 32, while Hunter Lawrence won the 2026 450 Pro Motocross championship. Romain Febvre won the 2025 MXGP crown a decade after his first before Herlings reclaimed it. Test yourself in our Q&A archive or read the full rider profiles.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the greatest motocross rider of all time?

Ricky Carmichael is the usual answer. He won 15 AMA championships and a record 150 AMA races, and he twice swept an entire outdoor season, going 24-0 in 2002 and again in 2004. The counter-arguments are Stefan Everts, whose 10 world championships are a record nobody has approached, and Jeffrey Herlings, who holds the all-time Grand Prix win record.

Who has the most motocross championships?

Stefan Everts holds the world record with 10 FIM Motocross World Championships won between 1991 and 2006. Antonio Cairoli is second with nine. In American racing, Ricky Carmichael leads with 15 AMA Supercross and Pro Motocross championships, ahead of Jeremy McGrath and Ryan Villopoto on 10 each.

Who is the greatest supercross rider?

Jeremy McGrath, the King of Supercross, won seven premier-class AMA Supercross championships and a record 72 premier-class main events. Ricky Carmichael won five supercross titles, Ryan Villopoto took four in a row from 2011 to 2014, and Eli Tomac is second on the all-time win list with 57 premier-class victories.

Who is the best freestyle motocross rider?

Travis Pastrana is the most influential FMX rider ever, with 17 X Games medals, 11 of them gold. In 2006 he became the first rider to land a double backflip in competition, scoring 98.60 in Moto X Best Trick. Nate Adams is the other benchmark, with 13 X Games medals including six golds.

Who is the fastest motocross rider?

James Stewart was nicknamed the Fastest Man on the Planet, and his 2008 season, in which he won all 24 motos of the 450 Pro Motocross Championship, is the best evidence for it. In world motocross the equivalent is Jeffrey Herlings, whose sand-track speed has produced some of the largest winning margins the Grand Prix series has seen.

Who has won the most motocross races?

Ricky Carmichael holds the AMA record with 150 career wins across supercross and Pro Motocross. Eli Tomac is next with 113. On the world stage, Jeffrey Herlings has 124 Grand Prix overall wins, passing Stefan Everts's mark of 101 in 2023.

The argument keeps moving

Comparing eras is genuinely hard. De Coster's 500cc two-strokes and Herlings's factory four-stroke share almost nothing beyond two wheels, tracks have been reshaped for television, and season lengths keep changing. What survives is the shape of a great career: multiple championships rather than one hot year, stretches where the rider could not be beaten, longevity through injury, and enough influence to raise the standard for everyone who follows. Carmichael, Everts and Herlings clear all four bars. Think you know the records better than the next fan? Play Motocross Trivia and find out.