Observations: MXoN
Wednesday, October 3, 2012 | 3:10 PM
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PrintThe 2012 Motocross des Nations (not going to call it “of Nations” no matter what anyone says) has come and gone for another year, and the race that some people call the biggest of the year once again produced its share of surprises. With it being staged in Lommel, Belgium—an old-school sand track if there ever was one—it was going to be tough for Team USA to hold onto its eight-year winning streak, but most everyone I spoke to before the race thought that they could eke this one out with consistent results. After all, Team USA is always pretty incredible with its depth of talent, while the other countries always seem to have at least one weaker link. USA’s strength has always been its one-through-three consistency, and some years it just plain has the three fastest riders out of anyone there!
It’s weird because, as most of you know, I’m Canadian. I was born there and lived there for 22 years before coming down to the USA and beginning a career as a mechanic. And so I’ve been here for 16 years now, and starting the process of becoming a citizen (but not losing my Canadian citizenship—it’s a win/win!) and all the USA team guys are people that are my friends … or at least tolerate me in some way. So I do root for Team USA a bit because they’re my friends, but I also have friends who are working for other teams at the MXDN year after year. And this is not to mention my own country (when we show up), which I also want to do well. All this confusion results in when I’m talking about Team USA to people referring to them as “We” or sometimes “They” or some mishmash of that. Generally speaking, I don’t care who wins that much. I just want to see a good race and some drama and awesome riding.
But then again, seeing USA on top of the podium at the end of the day gets me assurances that the after-party will be rocking.
The European fans flooded the 66th Motocross of Nations at Lommel.
Ray Archer photo
Before I get to the race, first a rant. The under-24 years of age rule for the MX2 Class is not helpful, in my opinion. What they wanted to do when they put it in was get the riders to move up to MX1 because of the lack of depth in the classes all –around. With only approved teams who pay a lot of money to race the GPs being allowed in, a lot of good riders were left to race in England or other places for prize money or simply not race the GPs because they didn’t have the funding to get in and once they did get in, they didn’t get paid much (because the teams have to pay so much to get in) and there’s no prize money at the races. So this left the depth of the field thin (remember, several fast young guys were going to America too) and the age rule was instituted to get the teams to be forced to find young kids while the MX1’s depth was improved. But all it’s really done in my opinion is create situations where the lesser MX1 racers now have to buy rides or don’t make much money at all. If you’re a top-ten MX1 rider, you’re struggling and underpaid, but if you’re a younger kid with even a bit of speed, you’re now vastly overpaid until you’re 24-years old and have to leave the class. I have a lot of friends that are managers in Europe and they’re not happy at this bidding war for potential podium finishers in the MX2 Class. Because in 2013 it’s going to be the Jeffrey Herlings show in MX2 but someone has to get the other two podium spots, right?
Ok, so now that I’ve outlined the many reasons why that age rule is ridiculous in the GPs, it’s even more amazing that the rule is not removed for the MXDN. Think about it: It’s the Olympics of Motocross and there are rules preventing the three best riders from going. Why would you ever want to prevent the absolute three best guys from going as well as take away a ton of interest from your race? Think about a big bike guy dropping down onto the 250F and all the interest, intrigue and hype that would bring for the MXDN so we can see more “Johnny O’Mara/Jeff Ward/Bob Hannah on a 125s” situations in the coming years of MX2.
Just my two Euros on someone else's business model.
Okay, so as most people know, Team USA lost. The streak is over—seven years of winning have come to an end with America’s third-place finish. Also, a personal little weight off my shoulders has been lifted as I no longer walk around with the shame of being a member of the last Team USA to lose (Zolder 2003). As a matter of fact, the last three MXDNs that have been held in Belgium (Lommel 2012, Zolder 2003, Nismes 1997) have all seen the USA lose. So take notice, USA: Belgium is bad!
Ryan Dungey didn't have the week many expected him to have.
Ray Archer photo
Having gone to Lommel to practice before that MXDN in ’03 as well as having gone to the GP there last year, I knew the USA guys were going to be in trouble in keeping this streak going. The track is deep, deep sand and rough as hell. Add into that fact a lot of the European racers ride the Lommel track quite a bit, as they live around there and it’s been a regular GP race for years, and if USA was to pull this one out, it might have been it’s greatest feat since, well, since 1981 when USA won its first MXDN at this very location. I still thought the USA was going to win, though, just because as I outlined before, the team’s depth was ridiculous and USA always seems to come through in that last moto. The last two MXDNs saw Team USA trailing going into the third moto but they always come through. That’s what they do!
Congrats are in order to Team Germany for winning their first Motocross des Nations. What in the name of Rolf Diefenbach is going on with Germany becoming a world motocross power? Well, it’s a combination of a few things, really, one being that Ken Roczen absolutely rises to the occasion at the des Nations. The last three years he’s dominated—actually, let me put that in caps because just saying it lowercase doesn’t do it justice—DOMINATED the MX2 Class and no one has been close. And remember last year Herlings was close to him or beat him at many GPs and this year in America, he trailed Baggett many, many times. But sand or hard pack, Roczen brings his game to a new level in the Olympics of motocross. His teammate Max Nagl has had a trying year with injury and being let go from the KTM team next year, but he’s very good in the sand and according the Euro media guys, was VERY motivated to show KTM that they made a mistake in letting him go. “Mad” Max finished second overall in MX1. And Marcus Schiffer, who doesn’t even race the GPs (again, why? Because he can’t make money doing it) is the weakest rider on the team but the team needed one solid finish from him and his seventh in the first MX2/MX3 moto was enough to get it done.
But if I’m being honest, I was surprised at how much USA was off the pace. And from the very first practice I thought that it was going to be even tougher than I first thought. We all know that Italy’s Antonio Cairoli and Holland’s Jeffrey Herlings were going to be tough to beat but that's okay—neither one of those guys have the teammates to grab the win. Let ’em go and be the sand masters of the weekend, no worries there. But the other guys—riders like Ken Roczen, Max Nagl, Clement Desalle, Tanel Leok, and Evgeny Bobryshev—were more than capable of hauling ass in the sand and matching (or exceeding) our guys’ speed.
And that’s ultimately what did the USA in. Let’s take a look at the USA guys and their race:
Going into the race, Ryan Dungey was thought to be the one rider that was our (see? There I go again) rock. There’s no doubt that Dungey’s one of the very best racers in the world no matter what, and although I expected Cairoli and Herlings to beat him, I didn’t think anyone else could match him, and I was very sure that his incredible fitness could carry him to the front if his speed didn’t.
In his maiden MXoN appearance Justin Barcia landed the only moto podium for Team USA.
Ray Archer photo
But this weekend was a rough one for Dungey. A crash in each moto and a lack of speed in the sand was surprising. And this from a guy that rarely crashes and even his fitness, the one thing I counted on-didn’t help him much this weekend. He was just off this weekend, even in the Saturday qualifying race when he went backward. I never thought that Ryan would struggle the way he did, and I also thought his bike looked like an absolute handful out there. And afterwards my suspicions were confirmed in talking to Team USA—some team members thought the same thing and manager Roger DeCoster admitted to me that it was off. Ryan also looked like he sat down and near the front way too much compared to Cairoli and Herlings, who both sometimes looked like they were trying to pull Trey Canard air wheelies out there.
In the all-important third moto, with USA trailing and needing some incredible finishes to pull it out, Dungey and Justin Barcia started 2-3 behind a rapidly disappearing Cairoli and I was thinking that I’d seen this movie before. The USA was going to go 3-4 (because let’s face it, Herlings was going to pass both of them unless abducted by aliens during the race) and pull through in the clutch for the win once again. Even the track announcers were remarking on America’s penchant for clutch rides was showing itself once again. But Dungey went down early in the race and then couldn’t do much. After he picked himself up, he was 11th and by the end he got up to 9th. 9th! That’s not really a fitness issue either, it’s just Ryan not being on pace. His lap times indicate that it just wasn’t his day in Belgium but not to worry, he’ll have a chance in 2013 to redeem himself and I’d bet he does just that.
The decision was made to give the inside pick to Blake Baggett in the second moto and I’m not second-guessing that move at all—I would’ve done the same thing. To me Dungey was the best rider on the team and he could move up from a bad start, Baggett, on the smaller bike, needed the help. But when Blake went down first lap and was 23rd (thereby negating the inside pick) and Dungey couldn’t even see the front pack and was unable to make up time on the guys that we all thought he had covered (Paulin. Desalle, Nagl, Bobryshev), the USA’s strategy was in trouble. Fifth overall for Dungey in the MX1 Class was a very unexpected result indeed.
Blake Baggett would finish a distant second in the MX2 Class behind Ken Roczen.
Ray Archer photo
I thought that Blake Baggett did very well, much better than last year. Baggett didn’t have anything for Ken Roczen but he did get second overall in the MX2 Class (a ways back of Roczen but a ways ahead of Marvin Musquin) and he went from 23rd to 14th in the sand on a 250F. Second moto he definitely looked a little winded at the end (as there was just an hour in between the motos for the MX2 and MX3 guys, who had to go back-to-back) but he got a 6th overall beating some solid riders on 450’s. Blake’s first moto was tied for the worst one on the team but in that moto he was impressive. He ate some serious sand and I thought that late in the race, his fitness helped him tremendously compared to the guys around him.
I thought that Justin Barcia was tremendous for Team USA. He’s not a regular 450 guy but on the factory Honda, he was pretty good. In the first moto he tried to stuff it in on Ken de Dycker and went down catching his front wheel in Ken’s footpegs (and while I’m at it, spare me the “De Dycker cleaned him out!” talk that was going around by some American media guys after. Ken had control of the corner and maybe he did move down but that’s racing and let’s leave the patriotism at home shall we?) while trying for the pass. Barcia knew his front wheel was jacked up and backed it down a bit to try and save it. And once he saw that it wasn’t going to lock up, he picked it back up some looking at the lap times. Unfortunately, the spokes eventually broke and bent enough that they hit the front caliper and prevented the front wheel from even moving. This was with two laps to go and Justin was forced to DNF but he was far enough ahead that he was still awarded a 14th.
As well, Barcia’s Honda got so hot in the sand that the oil filler cap blew off at some point and oil poured out of the bike. So I’d look for an aluminum filler cap on the bike at the next sand race. Either way, Barcia dodged one bullet but another got him.
In his second moto Barcia knew he had to let it all out and ended up a strong third in the combined MX1/MX3 moto. Or he actually won the “First Human” race as Cairoli and Herlings were amazing and on another level in that moto. Even though he was a rookie, even though some thought he shouldn’t have gone, even though some thought he wasn’t reliable enough on the bike, Barcia proved that he was the real deal. Yes, he should’ve waited for de Dycker and tried his move somewhere else but hey, what are you gonna do? He’s a racer.
What this race did for me, besides fill my belly full of waffles, is give me even more respect for Team USA in 1981 who came here and won. This was back in the day when the Europeans were very much superior for years and we didn’t even send the best USA racers. Basically thanks to Roger DeCoster and Dave Arnold, we sent Team Honda. How these kids went over and beat the Belgians in the sand is even more amazing when you think about it. Incredible!
Ken Roczen was all smiles after leading Germany to its first MXoN overall win.
Ray Archer photo
And one of those team members, Chuck Sun, was in the house. Unfortunately for Chuck his desire that fueled him to win in 1981 was still there in 2012 and he helped out Justin Barcia get out from a tricky situation in Saturday’s qualifier when he lifted a fence up. This resulted in a disqualification of Barcia for outside assistance. Yes, Chuck Sun just happened to be standing by the track and yes Justin Barcia got stuck right there and he lifted a fence and got a Team USA rider DQ’d. I couldn’t even make this up folks.
I’ve been to three GPs in the last three years and every time I come back and tell people about this guy named Antonio Cairoli. Then this guy shows up at the Motocross des Nations in Budds Creek or Lakewood and gets beaten. Then the people I told him about laugh at me and say I’m an idiot. Cairoli is one of the very best racers in the world, either side of the ocean, and I’ve seen it enough with my own eyes to know this: his unfortunate luck at the MXDN hiding his true ability. But this weekend he was incredible, he went 1-1 in his motos and was so far in front of everyone else not named Jeffrey Herlings, it was ridiculous. Twenty-one seconds in the first moto and him and Herlings had almost a minute in the third moto!
Yeah, he lives near the track, and yeah, he’s a great sand rider, but I’m just happy to see him finally do what I’ve always thought he could do. Last year when I went to Lommel, Herlings and Roczen were super impressive but Cairoli was by far the best rider there in my eyes. In the third moto, he was caught from over a ten second lead by Herlings and knowing what I know about these two guys, there was no way AC was going to let Herlings get by him. And he didn’t, the old guy cracked the kid when Jeffrey ran out of fitness near the end (and he was incredible coming from the back) and held on for the win. Great job to Antonio Cairoli and now the people there and the people that watched the race on CBS Sports know what I was talking about.
Oh and I’m pumped that the race was on CBS Sports no doubt about it, and you know who else was pumped about this? Youthstream! The promoters of the MXDN had the at-track announcers talk about it over and over again. Like any of the 10,000+ Europeans even knew what in the heck CBS Sports channel was or like any of them were going to rush home from the track and check their DVR’s for it. Weird.
Jeffrey Herlings put on a show at Lommel.
Ray Archer photo
And on the level of Cairoli was Holland’s Jeffrey Herlings. The wild child of European motocross decimated the field in his first moto (almost a minute margin of victory) and as I said, had a hell of a battle in coming through the pack in the last moto of the weekend. Herlings is the MX2 World Champion and most likely, he’ll be the 2013 MX2 champion as well before being forced out of the class by winning two titles and although I don’t think we’re going to see the 18-year old anytime soon in America (his supercross skills are lacking), he’s on his way to being one of the very best in Europe, sand tracks or hard tracks—it doesn’t matter.
This is three years in a row that Ken Roczen has won the MX2 Class pretty easily. The 18-year old German was amazing at Lommel as he somehow got great starts on his 250, even more amazingly passed to the front and was basically the third most impressive rider on the day. I predicted beforehand that Cairoli, Herlings, and Roczen would win their classes but I didn’t think each of the three would be that dominant. Roczen was at home in the sand and because they score the event by your actual placing and not where you placed in your specific class. Kenny’s rides were so huge for Germany in taking the win.
There was another American-ish team at the Motocross des Nations and that would be Team Puerto Rico! Yeah, who knew? But PR regular Zach Osborne as well as real, live Puerto Rican Gino Aponte lost their third team member Jimmy Albertson when he crashed just days before the event. Needing a last-minute fill-in from America, the call went out to a bunch of people (including me) to see who would be willing to come over at the last minute. My choices were Bobby Kiniry and Kyle Chisholm because both guys were on the East Coast, wouldn’t need much preparation, and are low-maintenance. Both guys committed to it and were working on getting the details sorted when Chisholm became the first guy to actually get everything sorted. So he was in!
On Thursday afternoon he flew out to Belgium and got in Friday night. Twelve hours later he was in Lommel trying to figure out WTF happened to him. His suspension never showed, he was riding Sebastian Pourcel’s bike with different bars and stuff than his normal setup, and then there was the small part of him not really riding much since the last National. Chisholm loves the sand and actually wanted to race the GP at Lommel last year—that’s how much he loves the soft stuff. Well, after struggling through the weekend, I’m not sure if Chisholm will ever go back! Team Puerto Rico was held back by crashes from Chiz and Osborne and didn’t make the A main. What a trip for Kyle, though!
Team Germany will defend their title on home turf in 2013.
Ray Archer photo
There are so many surprises at the MXDN each year, riders put in amazing rides, some powerhouse teams struggle and all in all, it’s a crapshoot many times. One very surprising country this year was the green and gold of Australia. With injuries taking Reed, Byrne, Metcalfe, and Moss right out of the running, the Aussies fielded a team of complete rookies and riders who only race in Australia. Lawson Bopping (again, early leader for name of the year), Todd Waters, and Luke Styke were solid in every moto and brought home a tenth overall. Considering there was talk beforehand about the Aussies being lucky to make the A main, I think that was a more than respectable finish. All rookies and in the top ten at the MXDN? Hells yeah.
Must be all those laps at Manjimup.
The neighboring country to Australia, New Zealand, had quite an adventure at this MXDN. With Cody Cooper, an unknown MX2 rider Kayne Lamont, and the last-race-in-his-career Josh Coppins, the Kiwis had to go to the B Main on Sunday morning due to a bad qualifying race on Saturday. And in a good/bad move, they dominated the B main Sunday morning. That's the good. The bad is that they now had to do two more 30+2 motos in the A main! So three 30+2 motos at Lommel is really equal to torture than a race but that’s what the guys had to do. Early on in the first moto, Coppins was inside the top ten from a terrible gate pick!
But the dream scenario wasn’t to be as both Coppins and Cooper visibly tired throughout the day (wouldn’t you?) and by the third moto, they were just hanging on. Still, they beat five other countries that didn’t have to ride a moto that morning and Coppins went out proper with three motos. In his last race as a professional, Josh didn’t leave anything on the table! Congrats to him on a fantastic career, and I’m very happy to call him a friend—class guy on and off the track and he’ll be missed. All hail the Lizard!
That’s it from another MXdN and an interesting race to say the least. Team USA will be back next year in Germany (good luck with those 1, 2, and 3 plates in the home country—no pressure!) and looking for revenge on another track I visited in 2009. It plays more into the USA’s hands and will be another great race, I’m sure. Congrats to Germany on their first MXdN win—they were the best team by far and deserved it. Email me at [email protected] and share your thoughts on all this.
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The track was too hardpack. Put the des Nations on a sand track and the US sand riders will whoop up.
@ Jesus - I don't know if you watched the race or not, but it was far from hard-packed. It was sandy and chopy as shit = A very rough, sandy track. That my friend was a "real" sand track. Southwick isn't a sand track when you compair it to Lommel. Southwick is more hardpack with sand as the top base.
Bring the Motocross of Nations down to New Zealand.
No home track advantage for the Euros or USA
Townleys home track in Taupo would be epic!
I love how the USA has lost for the first time in 8 years, and now all of a sudden the Euros are better.. And the GP's are better.. Sorry, dont thin k so.. The usa has won 7 of the last 8 years, so we all know who is better.. But I take nothing away from some of the Euros when it comes to riding Lommel, some of them have that track dialed for sure. Congrats to the German team for thier first ever Des Nations win..
Give Barcia credit for trying but.......
DeDycker 6'2" 190 lbs
Barcia 5' 8" 150 lbs
Probably not going to push this guy off his line
JimM
Pala374
Passed on the "Barcia twitched Dungey into crashing issue," eh? It may not be the 600lb gorilla in the room, but it's going at at least 520. Your call to pass, but it's there anyway.
@pukaskid - you tripped over sarcasm at the front door.
Regarding our loss at the MXoN...even a blind squirrel sometimes gets a nut. Next year RV, JS and Tomac will make sure the Chamberlain is back home where it's been 2/3rds of it's life.
lol you're right Tigole, but you won't hear the old "track made me loose" crap coming from whoever's in third. Instead you'll hear the classic "damn those guys are fast".
It's hard for a clear visioned squirrel with a mouthful of nuts to be humble.
One off weekend and RD is a disappointment?? How quick you forget what he has done in all MXON's before. Congrats to Germany, Belguim and USA. No one got hurt it was agreat show.
Apparently, Cody Cooper was given a 1 minute penalty after the qualifying heat because his bike failed to pass the post race sound test. That is why team New Zealand didn't qualify and had to ride the b-final.
Look, Germany did great as a team and TC is a great rider on his local track. Lets go to Red Bud now and have all of the same riders race there....different outcome I am sure. Lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill.
@Misoheye; You're probably right about the Euros. But not because they are jealous, but because they sick of being paid off as second rate riders because the US is "the best in the world bar none". Just take a look at the posts on this site pre-MXoN and post and you'll see.
barcia did not have anything to do with dungey's crash - watch it again - pay no attention to anyone named Jeff or Ralph - they search for things to say and what comes out is bullsht
sorry - i meant bullshit
That under 24 yrs. rule is totally stupid.By the time some of the riders get to that age they have 9 yrs in that class.Some of the riders strarting ridinfg the class at age 15.
Way to go Germany! As an American, of cource I was rooting for us (US).
But seriously, if racing was based on speculation then Bubba would have a ton more championships and the US would have won this years Motocross Des Nations. This is why I love racing. You never know who is going to win and in in this case Germany was the team to beat.
MXDN has been run into the ground on here lets move on.Show us lots of pictures from the Colonge bike show.Don't show us pictures of Renthal and KN air filter stands.We see that stuff everyday.I'm sure there are ton's of cool bikes there that we will never get to see here in America.Shows that stuff and maybe explaine what it is.Crap!
Another great write up - it's nice to know someone has the integrity to convey the facts and not some skewed, corporate bullsh*t.
But I cannot believe no one from the US media has mentioned the Barcia/Dungey incident (too embarrassing maybe). Go watch the moto again. Barcia passes, then gets jiggy, Dungey panics and grabs a fistful of front brake. Just sayin'.
In the past they tried flattening the corners, taking out the big jumps and removing the berms, but nothing worked. We still won the mxdns. But now they found our kryptonite, and I am sure trucks are moving all over Europe loaded with sand to cover all their tracks!
By far the best article of the MXdN 2012, thanks Matthes
Nice job Mathes, except for ducking the Barcia/Dungey issue (and I don't know what happened) you got it covered.
Congratulations on starting your process to become a citizen. Your the kind of aliens we need more of.
k.....nuff about the MXoN...
Watch this cool video from another site.......dude buys a 94 CR500 off Craigslist and goes racing against Tim Ferry......awesome
http://www.vitalmx.com/videos/member/500cc,7588/tcoscia,35782
@ Ripdown Thanks for the flick................I knew there was a reason for your existance! LOL !
@ Tigole - My bad on the sarcasm; Although I must say I'm pretty good at catching humor, it would help if it was funny to begin with. Oh, and your dreaming of Stewart being on the USDN next year. That dude has lost it mentally, and his confidance is gone. You can only tell in his riding; he keeps making big mistakes and crashing. I love the guy, but what the hell? All that time off he took after 07 has bit him in the ass. Everyone else caught up. I hope he proves me wrong.
Good article Matthes. I also think the under 24 rule is BS.
If nothing else, the voices that discounted Roczen throughout the 'nats and Carioli pretty much always, will be quieted.
I agree 100% on the age restriction and think nothing short of a cranial enema is going to straighten out Luongo's many failings of running a successful World Championship. I will give him this, he's running a great for-profit (his) racing business.
I've said this before but, having the racers paying to race is akin to having clowns pay to get in to the cicus.
Maybe someone needs to get a # from Mike Goodwin and straighten this whole "Luongo issue" out. With him as public enemy #1 and their TOTALLY corrupt long-term stranglehold on the G.P.'s, getting him to come around might take a horse-head-in-the-bedsheets type of wake-up call for the series as a whole to move forward.
Seriously, Max Anstie is worth more than Max Nagl on a contractual basis? What "backwards day" school calendar are they stuck on?!?!?!
It is spelled Tony Ciaroli when he is in Europe, but it is more like Toyota Carolla when he is imported into the states. just sayin...
Where's sef? I guess all the negativity(honesty) in the article about RD's lackluster performance must've driven him over the edge.
Seriously though RD is a great rider and this obviously doesn't mean his career is over. I think people are disappointed because they have unrealistic expectations. Every week we hear about all his wins and how he is on pace to match RC, but the truth is he's not RC. RC went over and beat Everts in Belgium so folks just assume RD can do the same. As good as RD is he's not the GOAT. To use a Spinal Tap analogy RD is great a riding at level 10 but RC could go to 11.
Didnt read all the post so don't know if already been said; but what a wake up call. I watched all 250 nationals this year and thought those top 4 guys (bag, roz, barc, tom) were the fastest in the world atm in any conditions and could even take the top 5 in 450s (incl. Dungey). It just shows there is a world of MX happening outside of AMA and needs to be respected.
Suprised by how much they got left though; Dungey went down in Race 3 and was back to 11th and only climbed to 9th. The Dungey I have been watching for the past 4 years would have charged to a top 4 spot. People say its the sand and I agree, but to what end... These guys are the best in the world and even if they don't win, they cant afford to be 1min off the pace of the leaders!.
Probably been said elsewhere in the posts, but would RC ever let himself be beat by a full lap. I know he was the GOAT.. but Dungey is a Goat in the making and he just got a 'bitch slapped' a lesson in riding.
@ texag SEF WAS murdered at the hands of jesus,carlsbad and the rest of the euro zozos holigans
WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA! Compairing Ryan Dungey to Ricky Carmichael is just REDONKULOUS! First off, while he may have 20+ wins, let me remind you of the competition he's going up against each year he's dominated. 10' AND12' the 450 class was decimated with injuries; his top competitor's were out. That being said, of course "you have to be in it, to win it." But that's like compairing apples to oranges. DUDE, Carmichael DESTROYED his competition by lapping well into the TOP 10 RIDERS and his lead's were MINUTES, NOT SECONDS!! That's just preposterous!! Who does that? NO ONE but him! HE IS, AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE GOAT! DO NOT GET THAT TWISTED! I don't care if RD passes RC in wins, I doubt it, if anyone can Villapotto will. Don't even begin to called RD the GOAT!
decoster should have picked js7 byass hes one of the best sand riders around if rv and js7 were there its over
@ pukaskid You Euro still cant spell " Its PUNK ASS KID "
@ Jean-René-Helmut de la Rapapopulous
Steve I like you but when are you going to sac up and call it the way it went down. You work in the US motorcycle industry. I know Racer X tries real hard to be liked by everyone but come on. The Euro fans at that race can go F themselves cheering when Barcia was having issues and the boo's on the podium. We don't boo Musquin, Rattray, Reed, or any of the other Euro riders here. Roczen I like but he got man handled all year by the US riders and then goes faster then Dungey in that deep of sand on a 250F. I call out BS and team USA should have had his bike stripped especially after they disqualified Barcia for a fence that is a danger to the riders. But we hold our heads high win or lose. I only wish Barcia went all Bam Bam on them but he has grown up from that. Barcia never ran it in on de Dycker. Watch the race over ten times and you can clearly see Barcia held his line and de Dycker moved over and hit the brakes. A bit of blocking going on there I don't care what you say. I am disappointed in this article. You are a totally different guy on your show which I love by the way. I guess Racer X dictates what and how you write about things so they can try and be friends with everyone. Coombs has you on a short leash. Speaking of I am very sorry to here about your dog I know that is a tough situation so I will stop giving you crap. Make sure Watson reads this because I am going to call in next week and ask him if he thinks this was a BS article to. Lots of love for you on PulpMX but not for you at Racer X. Oh and the debate about the 800 going instead of Barcia look how well he performed even with all the bad luck he had. He was the star of team usa and the MXoN. I was more impressed with his desire and determination then I was with the speed of Herlings which was amazing. Everyone gets their 5 minutes of fame. Germany has never won and probably never will again. So let them enjoy it until we send our best riders there and start a new win streak. Next year RV Barcia and Tomac. I sill believe that RV would have beat Cairoli and Herlings. Send those two over here and I bet they get lapped. Why do you think Cairoli wont come to the AMA?
This is why we need a national back in the southeast. A deep sand track in Florida. There are plenty down here. This would give more variety to the nationals and if we were better trained for the sand we would have had a better chance. We did good regardless and if barcia didn't mess up his front wheel he probably would have finished top 3 in his first moto also. Would have made it very interesting if we replaced a 14 place with a 3rd. Either way I would love to see a 13th national in the southeast
Pukaskid: I didnt say he was the goat, i said he was starting down the path of the goat. If you look back at RC's career, he too at age 23 (or whatever) was in the same position. Won the 250s (125s), and was into his 450 (250) career of taking titles. I'm not saying that Dungey will continue to win, I very much doubt it because I too think that 1 on1 RV has him covered. I was just making the point that we all start somewhere and he is walking in similar footsteps. Especially RD's ability to ride hard for 30+2 and never give up attitude. He is even being mentored by RC. I am a CR22 fan, but I was just saying you have to give credit where it is due, and most suprisingly (the hole point of my post) was to say that someone walking the same line as RC, got his ass kicked. Even if RC lost a race (which rarely happened) he would have still been right there.
Now that's a sober story on the Des Nations Matthes!. Must say i'm pleased that you also mentioned the political/greedy story that goes on behind the scenes at the GP's. Can't say this have been in the "motocross media" alot, not what i've seen at least, perhaps job well done by Youthstream i suppose. Can't remember wich round but at one of the last GP's of the year i think there were 28 guys lining up for the first 450 moto, thats not doing anybody any good.
With that said, the GP's has come along way in the past 5-6 years and i also think that the level of riding has improved alot, not just on sandtracks!. Hopefully the euro guys can continue to improve and i think in years to come they will be able to put up a serious challenge to Americans, yes even at the hardpacked stuff.
Note to CBM-Racing: Are you for real? Cairoli being lapped?. Are you seriously putting that big of a questionmark at a 6 time World Champion, not all rounds of the GP's are ran in sandy conditions. If my memory is not failing me i think Cairoli showed some good pace at Des Nations in Colorado in 2010, wich if i'm correct is "over here". The big reason Dungey was able to gap him was beacause Cairoli couldn't clear that silly quad jump, wich did cost him about 1 second a lap(again my memory might pull a fast one on me). Maybe he doesn't want to go race in America beacause he got absolutley nothing to prove to anybody.
cwymore159: Cairoli at he's local track?. You are talking about a guy who's got i think 50 overall GP vitories under his belt. Not saying he would win if he ever raced at Red Bud, but he would most likley battle at the top end of the leaderboard.
Obviously you haven't seen him ride that often have you.
@Marcus 119 - I was right at that Quad Jump at Lakewood in 2010 MXDN and Cairoli was just ever so barely coming up short - looked like the 350 just didn't quite have the ponies to get it done. Didn't stop him from trying it every lap though!! Very impressive. What a lot of people don't know is he injured his ankle on the landing one time in the qualifiers and rode hurt. The Dunge rode great non the less that weekend, but there was very little separating them. And that was at 5800 feet in Colorado.
Cairoli is the REAL DEAL. Any one eyed person on here who thinks otherwise is really just blinded by their misguided patriotism, fear or hate.
@CBM-Racing
You should have that rant published! Seriously thats a 'No.1 Comedy Best Seller' right there.
I Think It was in 07 that rv and townley Said in a interview that they didn't work there as of in the of season to ride on easy tracks. Maybe the tracks are to smooth so the racing can be closer. The its hard to race a rough track. Lommel is getting even worse when its gp. More laps during 2 Days and not maintenance.
To CBM-Racing: Just to confirm all of your stupidity:
"We don't boo Musquin, Rattray, Reed, or any of the other Euro riders".
You made 1 out of 3. Musquin is french...which is in Europe.
You should be proud of the US guys that was here because they worked hard, and I think DeCoster knows better than you whom to send.
That said, USA should win this because they have the same population(almost) as europe in total. Maybe Europe team could be: Cairoli,herlings & Roczen..
Could be fun...
Congratulations to Germany! Cant wait until next year...
Oh my god, everythiung Matthes writes is one third "I'm from Canada eh', I was a factory mechanic eh', Tim Ferry eh' , bla bla bla". Whomever edits his stuff is got to be thinking of jumping off a bridge!
@ Flower87 - Your point was made and understood. The fact you "think" RD is on the path to "the GOAT" is wrong though. RC won EVERY MOTOCROSS TITLE HE EVER COMPETED FOR. In that sense, RD AND RV have already fallen behind. So you see, neither will ever, in my view, be the GOAT. You don't start down the path of the GOAT when there is no way in hell you will ever match up to him. You see what I'm saying? Not taking anything away from either rider, they are both great, but RC will always be a level above them, AND Stewart for that matter.
@ flower87 - I do agree with you though on the MXDN. He was suppose to be THE guy for the US, yet he didn't show up. Barcia was our best guy while everyone scratched their heads wondering why he was picked. Hell if it wasn't for his broken wheel he probably would've podium-ed in both races. Even Carolli said Barcia impressed him.
@ pukaskid EQUALS CARLSBAD
Runka
@ Jean-René-Helmut de la Rapapopulous
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TOOLS AND SQUIDS
@FORMODO.....I think what CBM-Racing was alluding to was that the Euros, at the trophy presentation, booed the Americans when it was being given their third place trophy.
I had forgotten about this, as I had thought (at the time) what F@@k heads the Euro Fans were for booing any team on the podium.
In all the trophy presentations held in the US, no Euro racer has been booed to my knowledge.......The MXdN is better than that and our commentators / media reps should capture "ALL" of what takes place, comment on it, then leave it to the people to discuss it.
Matthes' article failed to mention the booing episode, and the Barcia / Dungey near miss. Both are worth a mention. Otherwise...as always, Matthes writes good articles with lots-o-good points.
As with all things that we do, an "after action review" must be conducted to ensure that occurances that are ab-normal are identified, discussed, and solutions identified to ensure it is not a re-curring deficiency.......
Listen...our boys got schooled in the sands of Belgium. We need to accept the loss and congratulate the teams that beat us....and the individual performances by Carioli and Herlings. Team USA lost to Team Germany and Team Belgium...and still wound up on the podium. USA had some crappy luck for a change....and Dungey must have struggled a bit with bike setup. Our boys got homered....big deal. The other teams that beat us....did just that...they beat us. They were better and faster on this track this day. No changes need to be made anywhere in the program. The 1981 team won there....and the 2012 team certainly could have too....they just did not ride well enough. I think it is good for the event that someone else did win. Sure, as a US citizen, I would be OK if we won the next hundred years straight.....but that is bad for the sport....and it makes us just bigger arrogant a%#holes! Let's give the current champs a run next year on their home turf. If i can save enough dough....I'm going! Now I need to make some German friends so they can show us around their country when they host....anyone? I come from German descent.
ahahahahahahah|| "CBM-Racing" you are a joke!!!
Next year will be great: hard-pack, and the fasters will be France, Belgian, Usa, Italy and Germany!! Don´t matters who wins, but i'ts gone be epic!!
@ Peabodybill, you're an ignoramous.
Anybody can see by your posts that you are a potty-mouthed adolescent. If not in age, certainly in developmental function. My guess is nobody respects you in real life either.
@ FrickNFrack, showing mutual respect to the competition (euro racers) is what men do. Like Peabodybill, you know nothing of this.
carlsbad yeah really bad you euro zo zos
Frick got more frack than you............ peabody and rommney rules tell it to your mexican friends LIVE MAS !!!!!!
@clyde935.......you are correct, Team USA was beaten fair and square. There were incidents, that usually don't happen, that took place during the races that need to be assesed. Without these incidents (Barcia too much in a hurry) (Barcia, Dungey almost collide) (Dungey suspension set-up not correct) which if these had not occured would have been the difference between 3rd and 1st.
By all means, hats of to Team Germany and Team Belgium as the rode the most consistent, and definately they were fast in the sand. They won and thats that, race over.....However, as mentioned above, certain instances that were possibly self-inflicted, certainly warrant discussion to ensure that these are not re-curring issues. BamBam was certainly fast, but maybe too much in a hurry to pass (both DeDyker and Dungey) and was not as clean as he should have been with his attempt. Team KTM had the set- ups correct for so many KTM racers...what happened to Dungey's set up?
There is certainly nothing wrong with looking within to ensure that some things don't go un-questioned by the team.
Thats all I'm say'in.............
Awesome writing Steve. Have not read all the above comments but New Zealand had qualified 15th then Cody Cooper took a one minute penalty when the factory Suzuki failed the noise test. That put them back to 20th.
Re Marcus Schiffer comment. He won the German ADAC Motocross Masters Championship in September and been around the Euro scene for some years.
Good video link here: http://www.moto-media.net/?id=2061
Cheers mate, again well done.
I love all your negative comments guys keep them coming. Just make sure you read my post so you don't look like a idiot when replying. You probably have never worked in the MX industry but still think you are a expert. I guess by your comments you watched the US broadcast. Yes I do believe if Cairoli lined up at A1 RV, Stew, Reedy and Dungey would lap him! We lost Germany won congrats blah blah! That was one race. I thought Steve should have been more supportive of the US riders instead of pointing out how much better the other riders rode. He does live and work hear. These guys are his supposed to be his friends. Well Dungey hates him but thats besides the point. Let the German websites talk up their riders and how well their average was. Yes I said average because not one of them actually won a Moto. Show some pride in how our riders handled themselves. Their bad luck, how they never gave up (even with a locked up front wheel) and how they had nothing bad to say about the other riders. Steve after this article your application for citizenship in the US has been denied. Stamp It! Kenny will be taking your 75% and tits will get his 20.
Here CBM-Racing, let me help you out...
1. 'We don't boo Musquin, Rattray, Reed, or any of the other Euro riders here.'
Um, remember when Trey Canard took the mic and appealed to the crowd to show more respect to Christophe Pourcel on the podium?
2.'Roczen I like but he got man handled all year by the US riders and then goes faster then Dungey in that deep of sand on a 250F. I call out BS and team USA should have had his bike stripped'
Are you for real? How about we strip every 250 that beats a 450, like RV's in 2007, or Roczens bike in 2010 & 2011?
3. 'they disqualified Barcia for a fence that is a danger to the riders'
No, he was disqualified for outside assistance, which is a rule for every rider at the MXdN.
4. 'I only wish Barcia went all Bam Bam on them but he has grown up from that'
So you promote overly-aggressive riding, instead than passing using skill and speed alone. Nice one.
5. 'Watch the race over ten times and you can clearly see Barcia held his line and de Dycker moved over and hit the brakes.'
What you can see is Barcia goin for a gap that wasn't there and not slowing down. Why the hell would DeDyker hit the brakes at the end of the fastest straight on the track when Barcia was about 10 metres behined him and a big, wide, sweeping corner to negotiate? Chop the throttle? Maybe. Brake deliberately? No way.
6. 'Everyone gets their 5 minutes of fame.'
Well so far in his short career Herlings has won a World Championship, beaten RV in a moto in France and lapped the AMA 250 Champion and Runner up one of the toughest tracks in the world. Quite a long 5 minutes I'd say.
7. 'Germany has never won and probably never will again'
Actually I'd say they have a pretty decent chance next year on their home track.
8. 'I still believe that RV would have beat Cairoli and Herlings.'
Don't make me laugh! Had the races been the usual GP length Cairoli and Herlings would have lapped Dungey in the 3rd race. He was next in line and they were closing him down rapidly before the time ran out.
9. 'Why do you think Cairoli wont come to the AMA'
Cairoli has spent his whole career honing his Motocross skills in all types of conditions, including deep sand as you witnessed on Sunday. He has never shown any interest in racing Supercross in America. Despite the few young riders that come over (Musquin, Roczen etc) few European riders actually do. Not that you will accept this fact.
10. 'Steve should have been more supportive of the US riders instead of pointing out how much better the other riders rode.'
WTF? He's a journalist and called it exactly the way it went down. Its called being objective, something you obviously struggle with.
11. 'You probably have never worked in the MX industry but still think you are a expert. I guess by your comments you watched the US broadcast.'
Actually, I was trackside. I could sell stickers and say I work in the MX Industry. Saying you work in the industry doesn't mean shit!
12. 'Oh and the debate about the 800 going instead of Barcia look how well he performed even with all the bad luck he had. He was the star of team usa...'
Agree 100%!
13. '...and the MXoN.' Pffffft! Take those Star Spangled Micky Mouse sunglasses off and close the door on the way out will you.
And on point no.1 again... ask Reed about animosity!!!
@Jamma10
BOOM!!! You've said what a lot of us were thinking. Well said.
CBM-Racing = OWNED!
No jamma10 let me help you out...
Motonut to...
1.) Do I really need to reply to that. It is Pourcel! His own country boo's him. They didn't even let him ride the MXoN. They replaced him! Have you ever had to deal with that guy. They don't make helmets big enough for his head. David Vuillemin got him a great 450 ride after he had no other offers and he just left his bike on the side of the track and flew back to France. Come on. You are stretching it there. Now Canard on the other hand is just a class act no matter what happens. Plus Pourcel did give him the Championship by crashing out of the last race. But Canard is on a whole different level when it comes to respect something the fans at Lommel knew nothing about.
2.) No I wasn't serious about stripping his bike down. I was just pointing out that the fact that in that deep of sand a 250F just doesn't have to power to pull on a 450. I was also trying to get the point across that the FIM was all over what the US was doing but not the other riders. Ken had a great day as expected but the truth is in the numbers about him getting beat badly over here. But he is young and I thought he did decent for a first year Euro rider racing in the AMA. You can throw that well he is a world champion thing right out the window when you come to race the AMA. Adam Cianciarulo could probably go win a Championship over there right now.
3.) In the US you have to physically touch the riders bike for it to be called outside assistance. Not lift a mesh fence that shouldn't have been there to begin with. Shows once again how far behind the times you guys are over there. We use track markers and have eliminated as much of the fencing and banners as possible for the riders safety. Some people even think that the FIM was looking for a reason to penalize the Americans. But who really knows and I don't want to believe that they would be that desperate. They know they made a bad call on the whole fence deal. They wasted the penalty in the qualifier instead of the race where his front wheel locked up. You could call that outside assistance if you want to get all technical. He has to be in the pits for his bike to be touched and he was right outside. If the FIM had disqualified him again there would have been issues.
4.) Barcia's overly aggressive riding style is pure skill and speed. He grew up racing in New York same place I did. Those guys are very aggressive. The Lites class as a whole in the US is like that. Why do you think we are so fast. They are kids they have no fear. You have to ride like that. Justin is known for pushing back when he gets pushed and I was just pointing out how much he has grown up over the last year. What I don't promote is throwing your bike down in the middle of the track to celebrate!
5.) Barcia did nothing wrong. He held his line and was moved over on end of story. Actually there has been news coming from over there that there were team orders to try and hold up the US riders as much as possible. Also there are rumors of using a mic and a ear piece. But they are only rumors lets stick to the facts.
6.) I wasn't talking about Hearlings or Cairoli. Hearlings will have a lot more then 5 minutes of fame if he stays in the GP's just like Cairoli has. So they got lapped on a track that is like no other, that they have never raced at and add crashing to the list. That is impressive to lap a rider with all of those issues. But that is not the point! I was talking about Team Germany. You forget they have never won a MXoN. They were also dominated by the likes of Hearlings and Cairoli. Team Germany's riders didn't even win a Moto. Not to mention that a lot of countries besides the USA were missing their top guys. I would have put my money on France or Great Britain over Germany. But Wilson and Pourcel were not there. I have to say Roczen looked good but it will be business as usual for him when he comes back to the States.
7.) Actually the odds and statistics are not in their favor. So no I doubt the Germans will win next year. Hopefully Team USA will have all their best riders healthy and so will the other countries. You forget that Wilson, Reed, Byrne, Pourcel and Rattray were not there.
8.) Well RV wasn't there so I guess we can just move on. Oh wait you just compared Dungey to Villopoto. So we have to touch on that real quick. I am not insulting Dungey in anyway because he is a amazing rider but he has never beat Villopoto for a Championship in SX or MX when they were both healthy yet. I say yet because Dungey is a very talented rider. I bet you also think they could both beat Stewart as well. Now you may as well throw Reed and Canard in the mix to. Let them come here and prove it! Neither one of those riders have ever won a MXoN Championship.
9.) First why would he come here to get beat when he can easily win there. He has won what the last 8 Championships in a row. Look at the our Champions from the last 8 years. Never had a chance. Now to the second part a few young riders are you kidding? I can give you a huge list of riders in the last decade that came over and failed in SX. Let me just highlight the riders that have actually won a SX Title. It will be a much smaller list. Now let me get this right out of 30 SX Titles up for grabs the International riders were only able to win 8 of them. To make things even worse only 2 of the 8 were in the Premier Class. (Which were won by Reed who has lived in the USA longer then Australia.) Your SX average isn't looking good.
Here is your glory list!
Christophe Pourcel | France
2009 LitesE & 2010 LitesE
Chad Reed | Austrailia
2002 125E, 2004 250 & 2008 450
Ben Townley | New Zealand
2007 LitesE
Grant Langston | South Africa
2005 125E & 2006 LitesW
Now Team USA won 8 out of the last ten MXoN we competed in.(remember due to the stupid terrorists attacking the US we were unable to race in 2001 & 2002) We also hold the most wins out of any other Country with 22. That really looks worse then I thought for you guys when it is laid out on paper!
10.) No Steve played the politically correct part of journalism there is a difference. I don't believe that a US publishing company that has made millions from its talented riders should highlight another countries success while our team was straight out disrespected. It got to the point where the guy calling the race said there was no need for that. Yes point out the great rides of Cairoli and Hearlings. Also congratulate Team Germany but end it there. Then show some support for your own guys who not only lost but were treated like CRAP by the fans. Team USA fought harder for that 3rd then they ever had to fight for a 1st due to issue after issue. I would have been proud of them if they finished 10th after all they had to go through. My point to Steve is if there were no US riders then there would be no Racer X or PulpMX. Then he would not have the great life that allows him to travel the world, be a host of a major radio show and write articles for the top MX publishing company in the world!
11.) You were track side I am impressed. Did you get Dungey's autograph or maybe Barcia's. I can tell by your lack of respect and foul language that you don't work in the industry not over here at least. Working in the industry gives you connections to information that the average fan would know nothing about. By the way good luck selling those stickers!
12.) I am not going to debate with you on that. Barcia exceeded everyone's expectations!
13.) Alright I will take my US made Oakleys off to look at the facts that Team USA is still the single most successful team in the history of the MXoN.
BOOM!!! EUROPEANS=OWNED
I love getting you guys all worked up when I am bored. It is so easy. So keep the negative comments coming. So the next time I am waiting for my videos to finish rendering I will respond again!
As Bob sang, Lommel Race is for rats!
Oh, what a rat race! TC is awful, JH a b@stard, KD a hooligan, Oh, what a rat ray-e-yace!