The Las Vegas Supercross finale had a little bit of everything in it, some high drama (supplied by the 250’s) and some pretty standard fare that didn’t do much to get the blood pressure up (the 450SX main event for example). But regardless, after 17 races in 18 weekends, the supercross season is over.

It’s a real grind for the riders and teams and by the end, the cream of the series rose to the top. Four out of the last six races in the 450SX class had the same top three and those three riders finished in the top three in the points. It takes a delicate balance of training, riding, rest and let’s face it, good old luck to make it through the series the whole way and we didn’t see that many riders who managed to do just that.

So with the series over, let’s take a look at the winners and losers of the 2013 AMA Supercross series.

Winner – Ryan Villopoto: Duh, of course the three-time Monster Energy Kawasaki rider is a winner! He won 10 races this year, put himself in the company of legends and basically, in a sort of quiet manner, set himself apart from everyone else this year. It wasn’t easy though, at one point he was 27 points down so this year’s title was well deserved. And guess what? He’s the favourite for next year’s title as well.

Winner – Ken Roczen and Wil Hahn: Duh, these are the two guys that won the two 250SX titles and in a weird sort of twist, both riders won’t get to defend the title next year as both guys are moving on up. Roczen didn’t qualify for one race and still won the title as Eli Tomac only gathered one point at one race when he crashed out. Other than that, Roczen was never off the podium. That’s amazing.

Ryan Villopoto wrapped up his title early again this season in the 450SX class. Image Simon Cudby.

As far as Hahn, sure the east coast wasn’t the strongest coast but when the favorite, Dean Wilson, was indeed in there Wil held him off for two races. And yeah he didn’t win after the third round but he was also never off the podium. Wilbur came from last, holeshot races, crashed and still made the podium, he deserved this title no doubt about it. His ride at the finale with a broken hand was something indeed.

Winner – Marvin Musquin: Yeah he didn’t win but if the Frenchman had been able to pull it off he would have been forced out of the class via his three race vacation in California in 2007. So not winning the title makes Marvin a winner as he’ll be in his third year and will be a favorite for the title next year no matter which coast he races. So by not winning, Marvin won. Got it?

Winner – Davi Millsaps: The Duke won two races, finished second in the series for the second year in a row and led the points chase for over half the year. It was a remarkable year for the newly signed Rockstar Racing rider. Millsaps has ditched the “under achiever” label with hard work, rides where he had to dig deep and he even beat Ryan Dungey in the points which I guarantee you no one had him doing at the start of the year.

I suppose the only bummer for Davi is that he’s out for the summer after having reconstructive surgery on his knee so he’s got some more work to put in to get back to his 2013 level.

Winner – Justin Barcia: The rookie won a couple of races and ended up fourth in the series. Barcia is taking the slow and steady climb to stardom and next year, he should be in the mix more. Guess how many races Ricky Carmichael won in his rookie year? None. RV? Two. This stuff isn’t easy folks and for Bam Bam to get a couple of wins is great.

Ken Roczen took out the 250SX west coast title in Vegas in an intense main event. Image: Simon Cudby.

Loser – The entire Pro Circuit team: Wow, the powerful Southern California powerhouse team didn’t win an indoor title for the second year in a row which is the first time in ten years. The teams big guns were Dean Wilson on the east and Blake Baggett on the west and both riders got hurt early.

After that it was Martin Davalos who sort of did what he’s always done, Tyla Rattray had a terrible year, Justin Hill was a rookie and got hurt and Darryn Durham didn’t even make a race. The team won two races (Wilson and fill-in Tyler Bowers won in Vegas) and it was an ugly scene around the truck most nights after the races. Don’t worry though, they’ll be back next year with amateur phenom Adam Cianciarulo.

Loser – Chad Reed: Ouch, that hurt just typing the word loser and Chad Reed next to each other but there’s no other way to put it. Reedy’s fifth in the series looks better on paper than it really was. The 22 didn’t win a race for only the second time in his career and only made the podium two times in 16 races (missed one with an injury).

When he was on it, he fell and when he wasn’t feeling it he couldn’t get a start. Reed couldn’t get used to the new Honda CRF 450 and wasn’t a happy camper for most of the year. Next year is a big one for Reed as he looks to rebound from his worst, start to finish, supercross season. But I’m not counting him out, are you?

Loser – Mike Alessi: The MCR rider was a pleasant surprise last season when he was up there a lot of weeks but this year, it didn’t work out. And it was weird, he looked to be, at times, riding as good as ever and his starts were there most weeks as well. But something was missing, starting the season with two straight DNF’s from crashes probably didn’t help much. It got so bad that Mike just threw in the towel and missed the last three races to focus on outdoors.

Wil Hahn clinched his first-ever 250SX title on the east coast. Image: Simon Cudby.

Winner – Red Bull KTM: Seriously, Dungey wins two races and gets third in the points, Roczen wins the 250SX title and Musquin wins a ton of races and gets second. Every single rider they had was top three in the points! And then look at what they’re doing over in the GP’s in Europe and you can see that they’ve actually been “winning” for a while now. The Austrians are on fire right now.

Winner – Kevin Windham: Yeah, KW14 retired this year after only three races but he went up to the booth and killed it, he was honored at each round before the races started and he got out of the sport while he was still a top 10 rider, has millions in the bank and every single fan loves him. After 19 years of racing, Windham is definitely winning in pretty much every aspect of life.

Winner – Weston Peick: It’s a weird world we live in where the old term of “privateer” is hard to define and pick out but there’s no doubt that Peick is as privateer as it gets in 2013. And finishing 14th in the series, the first guy with really no major help, was a great accomplishment.

Loser – The JGR Yamaha team: Josh Grant looked like last year he shook off the inury bug but nope, he was hurt again right away. Justin Brayton was in the battle for podiums last year on a Honda but this year, he wasn’t as good. He had some great races here and there but he couldn’t seem to break through and into the top five whrre he should be most weekends. There’s no way around it, the re-hires of Grant and Brayton didn’t deliver for the team this year like JGR thought they would.