Tucker Hibbert - Motocross

Hibbert was born in Idaho, but moved to Minnesota in 1995 to be closer to the Arctic Cat factory in Thief River Falls. Because he was only 11 years old at the time, and because all his professional motorcycle racing took place when he lived in Minnesota, I have chosen to bend the “born in Minnesota” rule in this case.

Even though this site is about Motorcycle Racing, it’s hard not to lead with what he did in SnoCross (the most common spelling that I could find). Tucker began racing snowmobiles as an amateur at age eight. He won his first X Games gold medal when he was 15. He was the youngest gold medal winner in Winter X Games history until 2015. Hibbert won 14 total medals at the Winter X Games, including nine-straight in the SnoCross event.

He turned pro at the age of 16 and had an incredible career. Sometimes called the GOAT of SnoCross, Hibbert raced to 138 wins in 235 Pro National events. He is a two-time (2010, 2012) FIM SnoCross World Champion, and 10-Time United States National SnoCross Champion. There is still a website that bears his name, which has much more information about his SnoCross career.
www.tucker-hibbert.com

But what lands Tucker here are his efforts in Motocross and Supercross. In 2000, he was already starting to establish himself as one of stars of SnoCross, but he had a strong desire to compete professionally on a motorcycle. He hit 7 Motocross nationals over the next 4 years, but was never quite in the points. It was more off-season training than a concentrated effort.

2004 was the first year that he got a taste of success. He made the Main in the 125 class at Daytona. He then took his RM125 outdoors, qualifying for 7 nationals, but scoring points only at Broome-Tioga.

In 2005, his level of support increased when he was signed by the MotoSport Outlet Honda Team. Also important at this point was that he was riding the new CR250F. Other than James Stewart, the class had few 125s still running up front. The changes helped Tucker tremendously. He qualified for four 125 Supercross mains, finishing 8th twice. He again competed in a full schedule in Motocross, but was only in the points twice, his best result being at Millville. In 2006, now Yamaha mounted, his results were very similar. His season best was an 8th at Indianapolis (2 years in a row!).

Tucker had his strongest season in 2007, when he rode most of the 125/250 Supercross rounds, getting 2 top ten finishes on his way to 16th overall. His outdoor campaign ended after only 2 rounds, although he had his best finish to date, 15th overall at Red Bud.

In 2008, he did not ride Supercross, but did race 7 Motocross rounds, getting in the points every round, with a career best 12th at Millville. He raced 5 rounds of 125/250 Motocross in 2009, finishing in the top 20 in most rounds, his best being, again at Millville, a 15th. He then retired. Sort of.

Three years later, he rode the 2012 Steel City round on a Honda 450. He did not have a strong finish that race, but it was enough to motivate him to have another go of it the next 2 years. In 2013 and 2014, he raced 8 rounds of 450 Motocross, his only top 20 being a 20th at Washougal in 2013. His last race was on a KTM (no longer an unusual choice) 450 at the 2015 Indiana round. He was just outside the points both races.

In all, Tucker rode 75 AMA events. He also raced Canadian Motocross on occasion with six CMRC MX2 moto wins. Despite often struggling for results in Motocross, and being so successful at SnoCross, he kept trying, year after year, showing a real love for the sport. He retired from SnoCross in 2018, and his last reported location was Pelican Rapids.