Supercross in 2005 promised the greatest season anyone had ever seen. Three great, championship-proven racers were all going to square off for a season long championship fight, and there wasn’t an end in sight to the potential. With Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Chad Reed all in the mix, there seemed a better chance that the world would explode than any of those guys settling for anything less than a number-one plate. It was going to be good.

It was. 2005 and 2006 featured tons of epic battles between those three, culminating with the spectacular “week we were tied” heading into the finale in Las Vegas. After that race, the era was moving to a close, as Carmichael admitted ’06 would be his last season fighting for a title.

But there was still some fight left in these three, and the San Francisco supercross of 2007 ended up being the last great battle between all three of the big three. And what a race it was.

Much like the circumstances that spawned the perfect storm before 2005 (and we’re talking about the line up of talent on the track, not the torrential rains at Anaheim), San Francisco 2007 had its own perfect scenario brewing. First, Carmichael was back in the game after skipping the previous race at Anaheim. Second, Reed was actually staying true to his word of getting faster as he got healthier. After his big crash leading up to Anaheim 1 a month earlier, Reed had been riding the “I’m just trying to ride through pain” mantra week after week. Reed was saying it, but not everyone was buying it, because in this sport the line between Truth and Excuse doesn’t even usually exist.

But in San Fran, Reed showed he could grow back into a threat, because he jetted out to the early lead and held his ground, with Stewart and Carmichael chasing. San Francisco’s tough track led all three riders to pick their spots instead of going for a gravity-defying blitz to the front. This makes an easy case against the theory that easier tracks lead to better racing. But it wasn’t a jump filled rhythm section that gave the riders trouble here, or deep whoops. It was the mud. Some moisture had fallen on the open-air stadium, and while this event wasn’t an all-out mud bog like it was last year, the dirt was just soft enough, and featured ruts just deep enough, to lead to mistakes. That kept all three on their toes, which put the crowd on its feet.

It wasn’t just the tough track that kept Reed out front. He was riding much, much better here than he was earlier in the season, and each time Stewart planned another blitz to the front, he would make a mistake and lose more time than he gained. He passed Reed in the whoops, but made a mistake and gave it back. The next time around Reed was ready to block another pass attempt around the outside, but found himself getting blocked. Enter Eric Sorby.

Sorby has never won a supercross race, but the Frenchman has made a name for himself over the years as one of the wildest most unpredictable riders on the tour. And he is friends with James Stewart. So when Reed went to the outside to lap Sorby, Sorby went for the same line, allowing Stewart to easily slip underneath and take the lead.

“He looked back at me, stopped, and I thought ‘Okay, I’ll go around the outside,’ and he went straight there,” said Reed. “We’ll remember that.”
With Stewart’s speed, he doesn’t really need the help of friends in traffic, and all season long Sorby maintained that he was not blocking anyone at any time. But regardless, Stewart was in the lead. Soon after the track bit him again, though, as he packed his foot pegs with mud, and then had another clump of goo knock his shift lever up. James’ KX450F hit neutral, and he went over the bars in a hurry.

Reed was in the lead again and the fans loved it. Already the race had seen three lead changes, and Carmichael was still back there waiting to make his move. After a few classic Carmichael saves, including a magical encounter with a tough block that somehow didn’t put him on the ground, he was all over Reed at the half way mark and looking to make a pass. Reed made it easy when he grabbed a bunch of traction and got launched off of his San Manuel YZ450F. By the time he got up, Stewart had gotten around. And meanwhile, Carmichael was gone and headed for a win the weekend after he had taken a race off (can one’s mind even comprehend how ridiculous that is?)

The real winners, though, were the supercross fans. They had just witnessed the last great Stewart/Carmichael/Reed supercross battle, and it was good to see the era close as spectacularly as it began.