The 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship has been an entertaining series of clashes, dramas and battles from the first gate-drop. With the 450SX title decided and the 250SX east and west coast trophies up for grabs this weekend at the Las Vegas finale, Motoonline.com.au takes a look back on some of the most memorable and pivotal moments that shaped the course of the 2016 series.

1. Weston Peick beats up Vince Friese:
Fireworks erupted all over the place at the opening round of the 2016 AMA Supercross Championship at Anaheim 1, and none moreso than between the gorilla Weston Peick and one of the most controversial riders in the paddock, Vince Friese. After Friese sent Peick tumbling in the heats, Friese tried his luck again in the semi when he dove up the inside of the AutoTrader/Monster Energy/Yamaha rider, resulting in both guys hitting the deck. Peick lost it and whaled into the MotoConcepts rider with a flurry of punches into the back of his head, then shoved him off the track. While many people praised Peick for finally putting Friese in his place, he was immediately disqualified, issued a one-race suspension and a $5000 fine, while Friese was placed on probation.

2. That Webb versus Craig battle:
The championship’s second (and final) visit to Angel Stadium, Anaheim saw some of the best racing of the entire series as Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb and GEICO Honda’s prodigal son Christian Craig went hammer and tongs in the 250SX West Coast class. During the intense four-lap battle the lead changed a head-spinning 15 times before Webb finally made a pass stick and could build a margin over Craig. For the intensity of the racing though, both guys kept their cool and didn’t pull any dirty moves but kept it clean and aggressive. It was edge-of-your-seat stuff.

3. Stewart’s shockers:
Australian race fans will call it karma after being stood up by one of the sport’s biggest stars in November, but Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart had a season to forget before he eventually cut his losses and pulled the pin with three rounds remaining. He collided with Ryan Dungey at Anaheim 1 and was knocked out, tried to return at Oakland but pulled out with blurry vision. He sat out until Atlanta where he finished 14th (his best result of the season!), crashed out of Daytona, had a mechanical DNF at Santa Clara, sprained his ankle during practice at Indianapolis and sat out the Main, then clashed with Weston Peick in his heat at St Louis and suffered back spasms. Sometimes you just know when you’ve gotta call time out and reset, which is what Stewart has done to try and be fit and healthy for the outdoors.

4. Dungey doubles up:
We’ve officially run out of superlatives to describe just how good Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey has been this year. Seriously, what can you say about a guy who broke every record for the number of consecutive podiums finishes (31, eclipsing Chad Reed’s run of 25 between 2003 and 2004) and won eight of 16 rounds to date? There is no-one more deserving of winning the 2016 championship than The Dunge, who’s rewritten the script of how to be both win races and remain consistent all season long. Everything he touched this year seemed to turn to gold; he’s oozed confidence and at no stage did it looked like he’d lost control of the championship. Hats off to you, good sir.

5. Jason Anderson’s season starter:
Heading into Anaheim 1 all the chatter, hot tips and book-making had been about Ryan Dungey, James Stewart, new Monster Energy Kawasaki recruit Eli Tomac and of course, RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen. No one gave Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson too much more than a passing thought, but by the end of the opening night, El Hombre was the hot topic of conversation after claiming the first victory of 2016 – the first of his career and the first for Husqvarna. Making the scalp even more remarkable was that he’d had a ginormous whiskey-throttle crash in practice, then had to overcome a mediocre start in the Main and carve through the pack to take the win. Anderson is on-track to take third overall in the championship this weekend.

6. Visa hassles:
Having a round outside of the United States might be an FIM world championship requirement, but the 10th stop at Toronto, Canada, caused some major headaches for the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team. Both France’s Christophe Pourcel and Ecuador-born Martin Davalos having to stay at home because of visa issues that potentially could’ve seen them marooned in the Great White North. Adding insult to injury, Davalos was leading the 250SX East Coast Championship at the time and would’ve been seething at dropping 25 valuable points to the likes of Malcolm Stewart, Aaron Plessinger and Jeremy Martin. He’s currently fourth, but well within striking distance of making the championship podium.

7. Hayden Mellross’s huge stack:
Australia’s own Hayden Mellross was on the receiving end of one of the biggest crashes of the year at Santa Clara. Mellross snagged a decent start to the 250SX West Coast main event and was sitting in sixth in the opening lap when he tagged a downramp at the end of a rhythm section and nose-manualed about 25m into the corner. The berm ejected him and his bike off the track and he landed on top of some steel fencing gut-first, making millions of viewers around the world wince in sympathetic pain. Incredibly he got up and circulated to finish the race, albeit at a much slower pace than usual. Mellross is one tough bugger.

8. Cooper Webb’s mystery mechanical:
Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb came into the 2016 250SX West Coast Championship as the white-hot favourite, and he’s more than lived up to the heavy expectations placed upon his shoulders. The North Carolina-based kid carries a 16-point lead over Joey Savatgy heading into the series finale in Las Vegas this weekend, and that’s despite dropping out of the Oakland main event with a mysterious mechanical DNF. Webb was comfortably in the driver’s seat of that race with four laps to go when his bike decided to give up the ghost. In a short eight-round championship that’d usually signal a death-knell for any title hopes, but Webb bounced back to 2-2-1-1 round results and wrested back the series lead from Savatgy at Arlington.

9. Mookie makes good..maybe:
The 250SX East Coast title race has been one of the most entertaining, unpredictable championship fights we’ve seen in years. Five different guys (Martin Davalos, Jeremy Martin, Justin Hill, Malcolm Stewart and Aaron Plessinger) stood on top of the podium at the first five rounds and the racing has been stuffed full of action and entertainment. Finally though, it looks as though GEICO Honda’s Malcolm Stewart might take his first title this weekend in Vegas, although he’s still been prone to do “Stewart things” and have some shockers (such as St. Louis where he hit the ground multiple times in the main event). Mookie carries a 14-point lead over his Star Yamaha Racing dancing buddy Aaron Plessinger which might or might not be enough if the pressure gets to him and he has another St Louis shocker this weekend.

10. Kenny’s late-season charge:
Maybe Ryan Dungey backed the throttle off slightly to ensure he claimed the ultimate prize, but over the past four rounds, RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing’s star player Ken Roczen has found another couple of gears and put the 450SX class to the sword. The turnaround started at Indianapolis where he caught and passed the Dunge for the lead, only to make a mistake and let his KTM rival back past again. The same happened at St. Louis when the duo showed the rest of the pack a clean pair of heels and diced repeatedly before Dungey again claimed the win. Foxborough and East Rutherford were all about Roczen, though, culminating with a whopping 18 second victory on Sunday – the biggest winning margin by a rider all season. Coming into the outdoors, Roczen is looking very, very strong.