After professional career spanning over 19 years, GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham announced last night at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium that he would be officially retiring from the sport, wrapping up a career which included more than 200 supercross starts and 19 wins.

The veteran also scored himself two supercross titles in the former 125cc class, along with three runner-up premier class supercross points finishes.

Windham, a fan favourite and possibly the most well respected rider amongst his competitors and throughout the industry, said the choice to retire was a hard one and he had put a lot of thought into the shock announcment.

Windham had planned to stretch his career through the 2014 supercross season, but he said after a crash in Houston that ended his 2012 season and a concussion at the Monster Energy Cup last October, the dangers of the sport weighed too heavy on his mind.

“I would love nothing more than to ride forever, the choice [to retire] was going to be hard no matter when I did it,” said Windham during the Anaheim 2 opening ceremonies. “To the fans of supercross, this might seem to be a hasty decision, but I’ve been talking to a lot of people for a lot of months.

“I thought I would be able to come into the season and ride myself out of that funk and that mental hurdle I was having to overcome. With every passing lap – be it at the test track, my home track, or the stadium – it became more and more difficult to ride with the clarity I needed to be safe, fast, and successful.

“The common from the people I’ve spoken to was that if you aren’t riding with clarity, you are asking your fears to come upon you. It wasn’t the storyline I wanted to write or the final chapter I envisioned, but it became obvious, and we’ll try and figure out what’s next.”

Windham’s final win came at the Monster Energy Supercross Salt Lake City round in 2010, the second of back-to-back victories he had for GEICO Honda that season.

“The whole GEICO Honda program along with sponsors MSR and DVS, their support has been great,” Windham said. “I’m in a good place with a good team. My team and sponsors are behind me with this decision, and I hope the 40,000 people in the stands tonight will be, too.”

The veteran rider, who had become a universal fan favorite over the last few years, said that connection with the sport’s loyal following will be what he misses the most about racing.

“The fans of supercross have been amazing to me,” Windham said. “Those trophies aren’t made of anything, and they’ll just sit there and collect dust. When you have people who come up and share their favorite moments that you gave them, it’s a huge part of why I stuck around as long as I did. It means something to them, and in turn those memories mean something to me.”

Windham plans on spending time with his wife, Dottie, and children, Madelyn, Annabelle, Elizabeth, and Kevin Jr. However, he doesn’t plan to wander too far from the sport that’s been such a large part of his life.

“I’ve been racing motorcycles for 31 years now, and I expect I’ll keep riding on some level,” Windham added. “I’ll ride with my son, who wants to start to ride right now. I want to help all my kids do everything they want to do. I don’t know what I’m going to do next. My Planet Fitness clubs are doing great, and I’ve got a great family.

“When I was 16 years old, I felt like I was losing my weekends because of racing. It didn’t take me long to realize that my weekends were already being spent with my family – my racing family. We’ll find that next chapter, and I don’t think it will be too far away from where I’m at right now.”

GEICO Honda team manager Mike LaRocco said he saw the first signs of Windham seriously contemplating retirement starting at the first race of the season.

“He was kind of coming to the races stressing about things that guys don’t normally stress about,” LaRocco said. “I knew at that time that when you think that way, it’s the beginning of the end. He was worrying about things he shouldn’t be worrying about, especially considering his experience and talent.

“Having been there [myself], you just can’t get it out of your head. So when you are comfortable with what you’ve done and what you have, it’s hard taking that risk.”

Before announcing his retirement, Windham gave his fans one last show, performing his infamous transfers throughout the course during the opening ceremonies, maintaining the title of the true fan favourite right to the end of his impressive career.