(Note: I have this rich Uncle who lives in England. He's a very biased pro-European motocross fan. From time to time he sends me stuff to post on this site. It usually gets people very mad. I suggest you just laugh at it. Here goes.)

Well E’llo! Lord Alfred Weigandt here awakening from a glorious slumber. Many have asked where my realistic visions on sport have been hiding. Well, after watching King/God Stefan Everts systematically dismantle American motocross at Matterly Basin in 2006, I took it as a sign that my work was done. The world now truly understood the blatant superiority of European talent in comparison to their Yank counterparts, who are more interested in freestyle jumping, cross ups and clickers than being true sporting champions.

I basically fainted after Everts made his glorious pass and haven’t woken up until now.
No worries, I knew fellow patriots Beckham and Searle would do my bidding anyway. Becks has launched the popularity of soccer so soundly in the States that teams from Europe are just begging to bring him back. I’m sure thy fear that his European influence will make the U.S. the main world outpost for soccer, just like real men like DeCoster and Robert launched motocross in the States fortnights ago. Spain, though, will have to wait. Becks will first eclipse Michael Jordan in popularity by the end of 2010 and then he can return to the Continent with American hearts tucked into his deep pockets. Don’t worry, folks, you have satellite TV now, so you will still be able to watch him. Hearts will only bend, not break. Bend it like Beckham, as we say. Haha!

We can combine Becks’ success with the one-two British Formula 1 punch of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who by next weekend will have delivered back-to-back world driving championships for mighty GB. We have now truly brought world sport to a new level, and as such, even Richard Carmichael II has chosen to abandon motocross and take up car racing. No doubt, Lewis’ spectacular rookie F1 season in 2007 gave Carmichael that idea.

So now let me focus on my favourite topic of sport, motocross. The Searlinator come second in last year’s MX2 World Championship chase only to “The Accomplished Colonist” Tyla Rattray, and they set up a double-edged attack on American scrambles for 2009. Searle ended up sixth and Rattray was ninth in the final points, an amazing run for their first year in the U.S. Keep in mind these two world-class sportsmen had never raced on the American tracks before. I can’t imagine another rider coming over from the GPs and doing any better in his very first season racing over here.

Searle and Rattray will surely dominate American racing next year (even stadiumcross). So set, in fact, is Searle’s path to dominance that the all-mighty King Kurt Nicoll has left his post at KTM, content knowing that Searle has orange dominance locked in for the next decade. Now it’s on to the last bastion of American existence, freestyle. King Kurt is now running the show for Travis Pastrana and his band of merry imbicles in the nac-nac circus. The takeover has begun!

But taking down the Yanks at their own game begins next season. This year at the Trophy des Nations, a trap has been set across the Atlantic, and three over-confident American lads are walking right into it. This is the moment I have been waiting 23 years for, and I’ve already booked a return flights to Italy and Australia so I can visit the Peter Chamberlin trophy again in a few months (that is, if it doesn’t just return to its rightful place here in GB. Go Searle! Go Simpson! Go Billy Mac!)

An Italian Trophy of Nations (what I like to call it) brings up bad memories for we Brits. The tragic events of Maggioria, Italy, in 1986, rank up there with bombing raids during the Great Wars. It was on that day that grown men wept, women cried, and children, soaking in their parents tears, asked, “would this be the right time for me to enjoy my first pint?” And it was. At the Trophy des Nations of 1986, the Septic Tanks (Yanks) won every moto, punctuated by Johnny O’Hannah, on a 1-2-5, passing King/God David Thorpe in a sorry second moto. This was a sad set of circumstances for Thorpey, who had lost the brakes on his monster CR500 and chose to merely hanging back and score solid, consistent points for his team. Back then, the 1-2-5s and the 500 bikes were scored separately, and hence Thorpy, ever the wise, knew he didn’t need to mess with that annoying nat on the buzzing bike. O’Hannah, as with any other cocky American of that era (and any other), risked his team’s success and instead focused on individual glory. Proud Englishmen like King Kurt Nicoll would never stoop to such levels! Consistency is why King Kurt is known as one of the greatest vice champions of all time!

Anyway, there are many reasons why Thorpe struggled that day, some stories which will never go told since David the Golliath doesn’t make excuses. I’ve heard he lost his brakes. Or he was tired from carrying an entire family out of a burning building a few days earlier. And remember, he was actually helping the Americans by developing future Hondas with his works bike, whereas the inferior Americans had to ride production bikes that year.

Surely Ricky Johnson, who won the 1987 and 1988 500 Championships in America, can thank Thorpey for taking one for his company and developing the future production 500 in September of 1986! Just imagine how strong Thorpe could have tuned in a Triumph of BSA. Oh I’m bloody soiling myself thinking of that scenario…it would have been a triumph indeed.

Anyway, Great Britain took its revenge on the Yanks at Roggenberg in 1994 and the rest is history. Just like the USA’s win streak, which ended then and will end again this weekend.

Yes, motorsport can be a cruel mistress, bringing the rush of victory and conquest, but also the crushing heartbreak and cold revenge of a woman scorned. Indeed in this case, England is the woman (a very tough, strong, manly type woman, however) and the fury will be unleashed on the Americans.

Of course, they are not aware of the trap that has been set for them in Italy. Any smart American racer wouldn’t go near this event, but smart American racer is an oxymoron, and as such they found three willing to try. From what I hear, Mr. O’Hannah himself has been linked to both Tedesco and Dungey as a physio trainer. No surprise.

I give credit to a few American riders, namely Bubba Stewart, who wisely decided to not in this year’s event. Bubba saw the motocross writing on the wall and it said, “Searle is coming.” You believe it’s a coincidence that he bowed out of natural-terrain racing at the very same moment Tommy boy arrived?

In 2008 Bubba again expected victory, coming in overconfident after winning every single moto in the States. He of course wasn’t used to the speed of his European challengers, and after Sebastien Pourcel applied lap after lap of relentless pressure, James crashed. Broken in spirit by a Frenchman! Incredible. Bubba hasn’t raced a motocross race since.

So I applaud James for making the right move and bowing out. Same for little Villo, who wanted no part in taking on his arch rival “Super” Tony Carolli in Italy. Caroli delivered a championship in his first season on a 450 this year. I look at the results and see Villopoto finished 24th in his first 450 season in the U.S. Run, run away, Ryan.

That leaves Dungey, Tedesco and some MX2 guy I have not heard of. Cockiness runs in the American blood, and Dungey will race motocross on a 450 for the first time here. He will taste O’Hannah’s medicine when Searlinator runs him down on the 250F! Tedesco was flat whipped at the conclusion of his last moto at the ‘of Nations back in 2006, exhausted from trying to run the GP pace. And the other guy, what’s his name, Wimmer? I predict he will be not a Wimmer but a loser when it’s all over. Oh how I make myself laugh sometimes!

Meanwhile, the hot-blooded Italians have a veritable super-team, led by Super Tony, backed by last year’s MX1 Champion David Phillapearts, and featuring David Guarneri in MX2. Like the moments before a well-cooked Italian meal, this team is hungry. Don’t expect any seconds, either.

The Italians made the right decision to join the Brits in the second Great War, and now they will win another battle this weekend. If they falter, we have the always-strong Belgian team, with Clement “American Podium” DeSalle leading the way. If anyone is hungry, it’s the MX Panda!

As for the Brits, we have recently added Shaun Simpson to the team. With Searle heading to dominate the U.S., Simpson was set to dominate MX2 this year, proving that you can, indeed win wars while fighting on two fronts. Injuries forced Simpsy out of the chase, though, and a Frenchman named Marvin Musquin snuck through. French fans beware, though. Their last major star-to-be was named Christophe Pourcel. He won the MX2 Championship in 2006, was beaten down by Super Tony in 2007, and then disappeared from the rankings altogether after that. I honestly have no idea what Christophe is up to nowadays but I note he’s not on the entry list for Team France this weekend. Surrender probably has something to do with it.

The rest of our team includes Searlinator, of course, and the venerable Scottsman, Billy MacKenzie. Yes, Billy Mac is racing for Team GREAT BRITAIN. Get it? Scottsman Jeff Ward was a traitor for winning eight Trophy des Nations for the U.S. team, and now Canada will make the same grievous error by putting Scottish-born Dean Wilson on their team. Line up Wilson with Simpson and Searle and you’ve got the strongest young trio in the motocross world. That’s Great Britain!

(At least Canada still respects the Queen so I’ll give Wilson a free pass for the weekend).

Last but not least (and certainly not last, either) comes me Australian mates, Reedy, Byrnie and Metty. Take a look at the Aussie flag and you will see the Union Jack proudly embedded in it. The Aussies simply take what they like: our flag, and America’s 450 motocross championship! With Reed and Byrne aided by DeCoster, chances are that the Land Down Under will finish up top!

Allow me to make a prediction for this weekend’s race:

1. Great Britain
2. Italy
3. Australia

Truthfully, I haven’t been myself lately, and by lately I mean the last 23 years. Our proud British Empire has been rocked and ravaged before, and we have always proven to return to form even stronger, and I have a feeling in me bones that this year, we will rise again!

A lot of fans are buying stock in Team Australia for this year’s Motocross of Nations. Oz has had talented teams for awhile now, but for some reason things never seem to go their way at the big race. I’m just a pundit and a wag, so I not sure why, but I can guess. Maybe teams that don’t race on the continent week in and week out are at a disadvantage unless they have some major experience at the helm (in contrast, the U.S. has DeCoster running the show, and 25+ years of victories to draw from). But Reed and Byrne race for DeCoster, too, so I bet they will be treated well, and Reed should be a lot better outdoors than he was last year. But then, would RD help those guys just to help them beat his own team? And how can a Belgian guy end up running Team USA into battle against Belgium anyway?

Anyway, the Reed/Byrne/Metty team looks strong on paper, but the pressure in this race is extreme, and we’ll see if these guys can go out and get it. Reed is proven in the clutch, but we’ve never seen Byrne or Metcalfe really have to carry a load before.

Meanwhile, I do recall an international race where the Aussies actually did come out on top, and two thirds of the team was actually the same as it is now (Reed and Byrne). The race? The now-nearly-forgotten World Cup of Motocross in 2002, which was probably the most fun race I’ve ever been to. The event rose from the ashes of the ’02 MXoN, which was supposedly supposed to take place in California at a brand-new Competition Park facility. That brand-new Comp Park never really got built, and then the Soboba Indian tribe that owns the land locked the gates. Blame it on the Indians if you want, but it sure didn’t seem like the place was going to be ready, anyway, and I’m not sure if anyone who bought tickets ever got their money back.

They certainly didn’t get reimbursed for their travel. I had already bid for a plane ticket to California on Priceline (no refunds) so even after the MXoN got cancelled, I was going to California. Same for my British co worker, Jason Berry. We were both newbie employees back then, so we weren’t getting any expenses taken care of, but this was just a fun trip as pure fans. Plus, even though the MXoN was off, an “international race” was planned at Glen Helen, so the riders and teams that did make it to the U.S. could race, and the fans would have something to watch.

When we landed in Cali, we headed straight for Comp Park first. The race had been cancelled a week in advance, but it sure didn’t look like they were a week away from completing construction. Behind the locked gates we saw a field with a few jumps and some small sheds. Not a world class facility in my mind.

Then the visitors showed up. First, a mom and son from England. Then a husband and wife from Japan. And a couple from Tahiti, believe it or not. None of them knew the of Nations were cancelled. They were driving down a dirt road in a rental car with purchased tickets to the race in hand, expecting to see all the grandeur of American motocross. Instead they saw a locked gate, a few jumps, a some sheds.

JB and I tried to explain why the race was off. The Brit lad immediately launched into a swear-laden tirade, and his mom seemed okay with that. The Japanese couple, well, we couldn’t explain anything to them. The Tahiti folks simply took off. We eventually established communication with the Japanese (t-a-l-k-i-n-g s-l-o-w-l-y) and explained that Glen Helen would be hosting an international race on Sunday. We wrote a note and hung it on the locked gate, and our new friends even wrote the same message in Japanese. By the way, there wasn’t a single sign anywhere saying the MXoN was cancelled. In the two hours we hung out at Comp Park on Friday, we saw 20 dazed and confused world travelers. Can’t imagine what Sunday would have been like!

As for the World Cup race at Glen Helen, the event went from nothing to something in one week, thanks to the internet. Things happened fast thanks to simple and effective posts like “James Dobb is here from England, if he can find two teammates he will race for Team Great Britain.”

Major credit to the guys that made it happen, and I’m not really sure who, but I think Rick Doughty of Vintage Iron, mega-collector Gregg Primm, and Glen Helen’s Bud Feldkamp were the main dudes. And DC always tells me that this race was the birthplace of Wonder Wharthog Racing. Lots of internet power at work here.

Glen Helen was the perfect place to race, because every foreign rider in the U.S. lived within driving distance of the track. It might not have been every nation’s Dream Team, but teams they were. While driving into the front gate, for instance, we saw Eric Sorby cruising in with his KX125 in the back of a pickup. That was one third of Team France right there. Seb Tortelli had just signed with Suzuki, he drove up the road to race, too. (Seb would later crash out hard. A recurring theme for him, sadly).

As for Team USA, there weren’t many options. Once the real race was cancelled, two of the original team members, Ricky Carmichael and Mike LaRocco, chose to stay home. Then the virtual floodgates opened on Ricky. Back in ’02, the guy basically couldn’t do anything right, and the message boards exploded with vitrol for the man who wasn’t known as the GOAT yet. RC took quite a beating by the public for not racing the World Cup. LaRocco, meanwhile, no one said anything about him.

Tim Ferry, also an original Team USA member, decided to race. The other Team USA riders were basically guys who lived close to Glen Helen: Suzuki replacement rider Sean Hanblin and privateer hero Kyle Lewis.

Ferry was then anointed captain America, and he was expected to dominate the event. He was even armed with a new weapon, as Yamaha’s first-generation YZ400F/YZ426F bike had spawned the all-new YZ450F for 2003. This would be Ferry’s first race on it, but he had been Yamaha’s main man on the previous machine for a few years. Plus, he finished second to RC in the 250 nationals that year. His only weakness, one would think, was his Canadian-based mechanic. What was his name again? That guy was probably torn between Red Dog and team Maple Leaf.

Chad Reed, who had raced a YZ250F for Yamaha of Troy that year, was also going to race the 450. Reedy had said all year that he wanted to race in the big bike class, but this would be his maiden 450 voyage in the U.S. (even when he raced the 250 class in Europe the year before, it was on a KX250). I didn’t expect him to challenge Ferry until I watched practice. I couldn’t believe how fast and aggressive Reed looked on that new bike, attacking corners as if they were the villain in an action movie and they had killed his family. He would find a line, put the bike in it and then within .0000003 seconds, dump the clutch and unleash 450cc of fury like no man I had seen before. The berms were begging for mercy. Ask anyone who raced one: those 2003 YZ450Fs were absolute fire-breathers. This was a potent combination.

Isn’t it funny how much faster someone looks when they’re the fastest guy at the track that day? Watching Reed in practice at Glen Helen, I was sure that no one on the planet could possibly go faster. And remember, RC had completed the first perfect season in the history of the sport. Later, RC would prove himself faster than Reed outdoors, too. But without RC there to guage, it sure looked like Reed was the man. Kind of like watching Mike Brown and Ryan Hughes duke it out for the 125 win at High Point the next year. Everyone was saying, “I don’t think it’s possible to ride a 125cc motocross bike faster than those two rode it.”

Two weeks later James Stewart returned from injury at Budds Creek and absolutely dominated the event. Brown and Hughes weren’t even close on speed.

The World Cup race turned out awesome. I kind of saw it as a flea market for motocross. You didn’t know what you were going to find until you showed up. What countries would have team? Who was on them? What were they riding? You had no clue what you would find, and after watching a steady diet of Carmichael/Stewart domination all summer, it was a nice change. Their was an electric atmosphere at Glen Helen, and it was good.

The fans really liked it, too. There was so much internet furor and power churning up from the event that when I got home and wrote a column about the race, saying it was cool to see something different, I got ruined. Different wasn’t enough. The rabid fans wanted me to say it was the greatest thing that ever happened. Sorry, guys, it was. There.

In the race, all three riders on each team rode all three motos. Ferry looked to have Reed covered in the first moto, but then he started making mistakes and Reed got him. Then Ernesto Fonseca (riding a 250 outdoors for the first time) beat Reed in moto two (so much for Reed being the fastest man on earth that day). Ferry crashed out, and Hamblin and Grant Langston got into a take-out fest that spilled over into the third moto. Seems pretty funny now, since they’re buds. Ferry struggled in moto three from the affects of the crash in moto two. And according to Ferry’s Canadian mechanic, a Canadian (Blair Morgan) took Timmy out in moto three. Mixed emotions there in the Yamaha pits.

Reed won moto three, Byrne, I believe on a Honda CR250, finished fourth, and combined with consistent rides from Craig Anderson, Australia had won the event. Team USA finished second and Canada finished third, which means the top three teams were all north-American based. At a race put together at the last minute, the home-field advantage really helps.

The typical European powers were non-factors because they weren’t even there. Belgium didn’t have a team, England had their Team Manager Rob Herring hop on a bike just to have a third guy, and the French were done in by Tortelli’s big crash (Not sure if the World Cup counts in the official record book, but I swear Tortelli holds the career record for first turn crashes). Heck, Mike Metzger even raced the event as part of Team New Zealand, if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, it was all a little wacky, but that made it fun. And Australia did win…something.

A month later, a rescheduled MXoN took place in Spain, and Alessio Chiodi, Alex Puzar and Andrea Bartolini won the event for Italy. 

So, can Team Australia get it done this year? In a crazy, randomn, barely connected to MXoN history kind of way, I guess you could say they have gotten it done before.

So what do we make of Matt "Beef" Goerke winning at Southwick? And what do we make of 44-year-old John Dowd finishing second?

There are two ways to go here: anyone younger or with better support than these dudes should go stick their head in the muddy Southwick sand and drown themselves in tears. Beat straight-up by a 44-year-old? Not sure if you can be proud of that. And then Georke wins on Josh Hill's bike, meaning he has proven, unfortunately for Hill, that both his Thor pants and his factory Yamaha YZ450F are fine.

If you're Hill, Michael Byrne, Andrew Short, Ivan Tedesco, Davi Millsaps, or any other factory rider in the field, should you be embarrassed?

Or, do we just chalk this up to the magic of sports? You just never know when an epic event will take place, when a dream scenario, a one-in-a-million underdog story will come true.

Let's do the right thing and just give the credit to Georke and Dowd, who have shown that motocross is one of the few motorsports where someone can really change the results just by getting fired up and inspired. Georke is simply pumped to be on that bike and it has turned him into a different rider--Matt has the same talent level he had when he was struggling the last few years, and the YZ is the same bike Hilly was struggling on for the last few months. But to Matt the bike respresents opportunity, and that has lit his fire.

As for Dowd, just getting fired up, and all of that knowledge of the Southwick track, carried him much further than a 44-year-old body and a privateer Kawi should be able to do. NASCAR has had a few crazy wins at just the right time, but that just ignites the conspiracy theories. No doubt that Georke and Dowdy's efforts were all real.

Plus, Chad Reed crashed out of the race for the first time since....when has Chad EVER crashed out of a race while leading? I know he went down in the Millville whoops a few years ago and busted his shoulder. And one time at Southwick he jacked his shoulder and had to ride in crazy pain. That's about all I can remember. The most consistent guy ever just crashes out? The motocross Gods just seem to go crazy on some days.

In 2005, Doug Henry rolled up to the GNCC in Florida on a beat up Honda with duct tape numbers. He went out and beat Juha Salminen straight-up in a ridiculous all-out battle for the win. They were something like seven minutes ahead of third! Henry wins, and then collapses at the finish line. Exhausted. Couldn't speak, at all. Couldn't stay up on the podium. After the race, he was just laying on the ground, his back in the sand, exhausted. He was DONE. But he won.

While watching this drama unfold, all-time classic MX and SX announcer Larry Maiers appeared next to me. I really think Larry was just beamed down by the announcing Gods for this event. I don't know where he came from of why he was there. I turned to him and said "Larry, Henry is retired and he just beat the entire GNCC pack down. That doesn't make those guys look good."

Larry responded "It doesn't make anyone look bad, because this is Doug Henry! This is what Doug Henry does, he does the impossible. A lot of motocrossers have tried to win this race, Larry Ward, Travis Pastrana, Ryan Hughes, and they couldn't do it. He didn't win because the other guys are bad, he did it because he's Doug Henry! So go ahead and use that. Free of charge."

And with that Larry beamed away, as if his appearance was just a dream.

The point was to take what Henry did as great, and don't diminish the accomplishment by investigating everyone else. By the end of that 2005 season, everyone realized Salminen was the GOAT off-road, which only further validated Henry's win.

And if Doug had been able to race Southwick this year, he might have been up there, too. Would we think any less of the current factory talent if they were beat by him? Probably not.









 

 

Wait! We have more trouble with this blog! I've been trying since last week to post this blog about Hill and Goerke's pants, and for some reason the photo I took of Georke in practice simply and completely will not upload to this site. And no one can figure out why. We've now passed the problem on to the tech team that built the back end of our site. Meanwhile....the photo I took, the one proving I discovered this before Matthes, remains un-uploaded.

Worse yet, I posted an updated version of this blog but the text has dissapeared, replaced by some odd HTML code on some internet browsers. Weege is not happy about this.

So anyway, enjoy reading this week old blog without a key photo.

I'll be back with more later.

We have proof! For years, the debate has raged. Why do Josh Hill’s pants always fall down? Is it the pants? Is it him? And why, in general, have pants started saggin so often at the races? Back in the 80’s and 90’s, when kidney belts became a rule instead of an exception, jersey’s stayed tucked. But then for some completely mysterious reason, the kidney belt went away. Gripper seats showed up. Then hump seats. 450s. Now jerseys are hanging out on a variety of riders. But no one sports the sag like Hilly.

Last week I was standing in the staging area before 450 practice, and noticed Matt “Beef” Georke’s pants. His butt patch had the Yosemite Sam “Back Off” motif, but oddly, Matt had a 75 printed inside Sam’s hat. Was this some kind of message to Hill, #75? “Back off, Josh, I have your bike now?”

So I asked. Turns out Matt forgot to bring a fresh pair of Moose Racing pants, so he just took some Thor pants out of Josh’s locker. That’s all there was to it.

After that convo I realized the real story here. God had bestowed a one-in-a-million chance on us. Another rider was wearing Hill’s pants! We could now test the theory—is it the pants, or is it Josh?

Folks, it’s Josh. The longest lower back in the game today simply can't be contained.

This was such big news that Matthes battled to beat me to the punch by posting this on his www.pulpmx.com site on Monday. Don't listen to him, though, I took the photo before practice even began so obviously, I got the scoop first.

I’m so pumped on this I’m bringing the Blogandt noun of the week back and saying it’s Josh Hill’s pants.