Image: Simon Cudby.

Yamaha’s Cooper Webb has officially selected number two as his new career number ahead of the 2017 American supercross and motocross seasons, taking over from retired US icon Ryan Villopoto.

After initially being recognised as ‘King of Supercross’ Jeremy McGrath’s chosen number, after he retired Villopoto selected number two in 2008 and had used it until he retired last year.

This year’s championship win for Webb in the 250MX Pro Motocross series made him eligible to select a single digit career number for 2017 and – as suspected – he has been confirmed as the next rider to wear number two nationally.

Other riders who have now earned career numbers by finishing within the top 10 on combined overall points include Aaron Plessinger (23) and Alex Martin (26), while Joey Savatgy used the one-time rule to switch his career number from 37 to 17 after it was vacated by Webb.

Aside from Chad Reed’s customary career number of 22, national numbers (non-career) within the top 100 to be held by Australians in 2017 include Hayden Mellross (64), Luke Clout (82) and Jackson Richardson (83).

2017 American supercross and motocross numbers:
1 Ryan Dungey (450SX)
1 Ken Roczen (450MX)
1 Cooper Webb (250MX)
1 Cooper Webb (West Coast 250SX)
1 Malcolm Stewart (East Coast 250SX)
2** Cooper Webb
3* Eli Tomac
4* Blake Baggett
5* Ryan Dungey
6* Jeremy Martin
7* James Stewart
10* Justin Brayton
11* Kyle Chisholm
12* Jake Weimer
14* Cole Seely
15* Dean Wilson
16* Zach Osborne
17** Joey Savatgy
18* David Millsaps
19* Justin Bogle
20* Broc Tickle
21* Jason Anderson
22* Chad Reed
23** Aaron Plessinger
24 Austin Forkner
25* Marvin Musquin
26** Alex Martin
27* Nicholas Wey
28 Mitchell Oldenburg
29* Andrew Short
30 Martin Davalos
31 RJ Hampshire
32 Weston Peick
33* Joshua Grant
34 Benny Bloss
35 Arnaud Tonas
36 Adam Cianciarulo
37 Phillip Nicoletti
38 Shane McElrath
39 Colt Nichols
40 Fredrik Noren
41* Trey Canard
42 Kyle Cunningham
43 Matthew Bisceglia
44 Jordan Smith
45 Mitchell Harrison
46 Justin Hill
47 Malcolm Stewart
48 Christian Craig
49 Anthony Rodriguez
50 Luke Renzland
51* Justin Barcia
52 Tyler Bowers
53 Cole Martinez
54 Gannon Audette
55 Jessy Nelson
56 Kyle Peters
57 James Decotis
58 Chris Alldredge
59 Noah McConahy
60 Tristan Charboneau
61 Vince Friese
62 Jesse Wentland
63 Alexander Frye
64 Hayden Mellross
65 Paul Coates
66 Michael Leib
67 Jimmy Albertson
68 Heath Harrison
69 William Hahn
70 Dakota Alix
71 Justin Starling
72 Cole Thompson
73 Marshal Weltin
74 Bradley Taft
75 Nicholas Schmidt
76 Scott Champion
77 Ben Lamay
78 Nick Gaines
79 Darryn Durham
80 Cade Clason
81 Henry Miller
82 Luke Clout
83 Jackson Richardson
84 Daniel Herrlein
85 Thomas Hahn
86 Trevor Reis
87 Chris Howell
88 John Short
89 Austin Howell
90 Dillan Epstein
91 Jacob Williamson
92 Jason Brooks
93 Joshua Cartwright
94* Ken Roczen
95 AJ Catanzaro
96 Vann Martin
97 Ryan Sipes
98 Matthew Babbitt
99 Chase Marquier
377* Christophe Pourcel
800* Mike Alessi

* Career numbers
** New career number for 2017