Background and career
Mike Alessi (born May 19, 1988), sometimes known as “Mr. Holeshot”, is an American former professional motocross and supercross racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 2004 to 2019.
Alessi began riding motorcycles at the age of three and became a professional racer at age sixteen. His rise through the amateur ranks began at age six, when he won his first national championship at Loretta Lynn's in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. After ten years, Alessi had tied James Stewart Jr.'s all-time Amateur National championships with eleven. Mike Alessi's talent has been overshadowed by his family ever since.
When Alessi first turned pro in 2004, he made an appearance in two races in the 250/450cc class. His first race was at Spring Creek Motocross Park in Millville, Minnesota. He failed to score any points and was 30th overall. Three weeks later, at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pennsylvania, Alessi proved that he could compete at the professional level when he scored a third overall finish behind Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham in his second professional race.
Alessi elected to sit out the 2005 Supercross season in order to prepare himself for his first full season as a professional motocross rider in the 125/250cc class. He had four podium finishes that year, two of which he finished first place overall. An on-track incident at the final race at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California led to his disqualification from the event. As a result, Alessi was put on a year long probation by the American Motorcyclist Association and finished third overall in the championship.
The beginning of 2006 marked the first season of Supercross in which Alessi would be contesting. He struggled the first few rounds of the Supercross Lites West Region series, but began to find his rhythm towards the end of the season. He scored a top five finish in the last five rounds of the series that included two back to back third-place finishes at San Francisco and Anaheim. Alessi finished the West Region championship in fourth place. The final Supercross race of the season did not count for the Lites championship, but that did not stop Alessi from finishing a career best second place overall at the Las Vegas Lites East/West Shootout. Riding the season ending success he experienced in Supercross, Alessi looked poised to win his first professional championship in the 2006 Motocross Lites National Championship series. Alessi opened the series with a first place overall finish at the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Sacramento, California. He went on to score eight additional podium (top three) finishes. Unfortunately, his consistent success was not enough to best his counterpart Ryan Villopoto. Alessi finished the season second overall. In 2007, Alessi moved over to contest the Supercross Lites East Region Championship. After one top three performance and two DNFs (did not finish), Alessi finished eighth in the championship.
Alessi had announced early in 2007 that he was stepping up to race in the premier Motocross Class for the 2007 AMA Motocross Championship. Many critics felt that he was abandoning his chance at a championship in the Lites class, but Alessi was confident that he was making the right choice for himself. After finishing the first two races just barely inside the top ten, Alessi recorded six podium finishes and finished second place overall in his rookie season in the Motocross class.
