Since his return to racing full-time last Spring, Kevin Windham has (1) beaten Ricky Carmichael outdoors, more than once and (2) beaten Chad Reed indoors, more than once. Since a good argument could be made that Ricky Carmichael is the fastest outdoor motocross rider ever (particularly, after his defeat of Stefan Everts at the Motocross des Nations) and Chad Reed is the fastest supercross rider on the planet (with his string of wins over Carmichael at the end of the 2003 AMA Supercross series under his belt), Kevin Windham is certainly riding at a very high level, both indoors and outdoors.
Most top pros have opined that Windham is one of the most naturally gifted riders ever (if not the most naturally gifted rider). Stories abound about Windham’s practice speed, such as his dominance over Travis Pastrana at the Suzuki test track (when Pastrana was riding well, of course) and, during his Honda days, visiting Ezra Lusk’s personal backyard supercross track and breaking Lusk’s lap record on the first day. The rap against Windham, however, was that he couldn’t ride the same way during a race.
Windham has quite clearly buried his race day shackles, and seems to ride loose and fast just about every week these days. It is certainly wonderful to see. If we keep in mind that the “new” Kevin Windham has been racing full-time less than a year, we have to wonder how good he can get. Could he eventually dominate both outdoors and indoors? Indoors, of course, we will see what he has for Chad Reed as the series progresses. Windham does seem a bit quicker, and more confident, each week in supercross.
