Motocross Mecca is a results archive. Every statistic on the site traces back to a race result, so this page sets out where those results come from and how we keep them accurate.
Where the data comes from
Our race results are collected from the official series sources:
- MXGP and MX2: the FIM Motocross World Championship official results at MXGP.com.
- AMA Supercross: the official results at SupercrossLIVE.com.
- AMA Pro Motocross: the official results at ProMotocross.com.
For racing that predates online timing, we cross-check historical results against Wikipedia and published records, then reconcile them against the official series archives where those exist.
How it is compiled
Results are collected after each round and written into a structured database that links every finish to a rider, a race, a circuit, a championship and, where known, a team. That structure is what powers the profiles, standings, form ratings and head-to-head tools across the site.
How often it updates
During a live season, results are added after each round, usually within a day or two of the racing. Championship standings, rider statistics and form ratings then recalculate from the new results automatically.
Accuracy and corrections
The modern data comes straight from official timing, so it is as accurate as the source. Older results, particularly from the 1950s through to the 1980s, can carry gaps or small discrepancies between archives. We correct these as we find them.
If you spot something wrong, tell us on the contact page and we will check it against the source and put it right.
What you can rely on
We publish results and the statistics built from them. We do not invent finishes, add riders who did not race, or fill gaps with guesses. Where we hold no result, the record shows nothing at all.
How the MECCA rating works
Every rider on this site carries a rating. It starts at 1500 and moves after every race we hold a result for. The method is Elo, the system built for chess and since adapted for most head-to-head sports. What follows is the whole of it, so you can judge the numbers for yourself.
Every race is hundreds of comparisons
The common objection to Elo in racing is that a race has one winner and Elo only understands win or lose. That is not how we apply it. Each race is broken into every possible pair of riders on the sheet. A 40-rider gate produces 780 separate comparisons, and each rider is scored against every other rider individually.
For each pair we work out the expected result before the race from the two ratings:
expected = 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent rating − rider rating) / 400))
Beat a rider you were expected to beat and you gain very little. Beat one rated far above you and you gain a lot. Lose to someone you should have beaten and it costs you. Add up those small movements across the whole field and you get the change for that race.
This is why winning matters less than who you beat. A win in a stacked premier-class field moves the rating far more than a win against a thin one, without us having to hand-weight anything.
Field size does not inflate the score
A rider in a 40-man gate makes many more comparisons than one in a 12-man gate. Left alone that would hand out bigger swings for bigger fields, which is not the same thing as a better performance. We divide the adjustment by the square root of the number of comparisons, so a big field gives a more confident result rather than a bigger one.
The base K-factor, which sets how far a rating can move in a single race, is 32 before that scaling.
Which racing counts
Not every series tests a rider the same way. Winning a developmental class is not evidence of world-level pace, and early versions of this rating flattered riders who dominated feeder series. We now weight by series:
- Full weight. The premier world and American classes: MXGP, MX2, the older 500cc, 250cc and 125cc world championships, WMX, AMA Supercross and Pro Motocross in all their class forms, SuperMotocross, World Supercross, and the Motocross of Nations.
- Half weight. Strong secondary series that do produce future world champions: EMX250, EMX Open, SMX Next.
- No weight. Feeder, junior and amateur racing, including EMX125, the 65cc and 85cc European classes, Futures and shootout events. These races still appear in a rider’s results. They do not move the rating.
What the rating deliberately ignores
It does not look at margin of victory. Beating a rider by a second and beating them by half a lap count the same.
We leave it out on purpose. A rider managing a gap home safely has not performed worse than one pushing for a bigger one, and margin in motocross swings on things that say little about a rider: a bad gate pick, a rutted line, weather turning between motos, a bike problem in the closing laps. Most established rating systems leave margin out for the same reason, and the ones that use it apply heavy diminishing returns to stop blowouts distorting everything. We would rather the rating answer one question cleanly, which is how often this rider beats that rider.
Where the rating is weakest
An Elo rating only means something inside a pool of riders who actually race each other. Two riders who never share a gate can only be compared through the riders they both have faced.
American and Grand Prix racing are largely separate worlds. They connect through the Motocross of Nations, through riders who switch series, and through the occasional wildcard, but that is a thinner bridge than the one inside either series. So a rating built mostly in AMA racing and one built mostly in MXGP are compared with more uncertainty than two ratings built in the same paddock, and the further back you go, the thinner that bridge gets.
We do not correct this by declaring one series stronger than the other. Both carry full weight, and we let the results between them settle it. Where riders do cross over, their results pull the two pools into line. Where they do not, the comparison rests on fewer meetings, and it is worth treating a cross-series gap of a few points as noise rather than a verdict.
Two other limits worth stating. Ratings are dated to the year of the race rather than the day, so peak-rating dates are accurate to the season, not the weekend. And a rating reflects results we hold. Where our record of a series is incomplete, the ratings built from it are too.
Women’s racing is rated separately
WMX riders carry a second rating built only from WMX races. Women who take wildcards in MX2 or EMX are often classified well down the order against full-time professional men, and letting those results into a single rating told you more about the entry than the rider. The WMX rating keeps that competition on its own terms.
If you think it is wrong
The method is above in full, which means it can be argued with. If you can show the rating produces a result the racing does not support, tell us on the contact page. We have changed it before and we will change it again.
