The American squad to contest this year’s Motocross of Nations at Ernee, in north-western France, on the weekend of October 7-8, was named yesterday.
It was after much speculation, procrastination, gnashing of teeth and the furrowing of many brows, that the defending champions finally decided they really had no valid excuse not to enter.
Aaron Plessinger will represent Team USA in the MXGP category, RJ Hampshire has been tasked with running in the MX2 class, and the final Open Class spot has gone to Christian Craig.
Up until yesterday, it had been unlikely that a contingent would be heading over from the USA because their first-choice racers were not available for various reasons.
Thankfully, Plessinger and his buddies stepped up to the plate.
A no-show by this motocross powerhouse country, the reigning No.1 team, would have been seen as massively disrespectful to the MXoN, the concept, the organisers, the FIM and the sport in general!
As it now turns out, however, Plessinger, Hampshire and Craig will represent the United States of America as the defending champions at this year’s 76th edition of the “Olympic Games of Motocross”.
The Americans won it on home turf last year, taking the crown at RedBud in Michigan, but now that the great event is back in Europe and, until yesterday, it seemed they were not so keen to race, or perhaps, if you believe all the reports, were actually unable to field a team this time around.
That win on home turf broke a drought for the Americans, traditionally among the favourites but, sadly, without a win at the MXoN for nine consecutive MXoN events between 2011 (when Team USA won at Saint-Jean-d’Angély, in France) and 2022 (when they won at RedBud in Michigan).
It had actually been 10 years between drinks for the Americans, but we obviously can’t count 2020 as a win for anyone because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the MXoN being held at all.
Claims they could not send US supercross champion and US motocross No.4 Chase Sexton because he was “between teams” (due to switch from Honda to KTM in the New Year), had a hollow ring to it, but they’re sticking to their guns on that one.
But let’s take a closer look at this …
Firstly, the MXoN has never been about the money, or only sending well-supported, fulltime professional racers. Almost all the teams that do show up at the MXoN are there simply to proudly represent their countries.
Think of the traditional “minnows” like Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Ukraine, Croatia, Denmark, Cyprus, Greece, Norway, Poland, etc.
They’re all there with brass bells on, courageously flying flags, smiles on their faces, but without much real hope of winning.
Most, if not all, are there on their own coin, or perhaps are partially/marginally funded by their home federations or the governing bodies in their respective countries. Many teams have had to run cake stalls or sell raffle tickets to find the cash to travel.
Secondly, how could a country like the USA, with around 332 million people (and therefore a proportionately larger number of talented motocross racers than almost any other country on the planet), not find three individuals who are prepared to pull on the old Stars and Stripes jersey and give it a crack?
Thanks to the integrity of Plessinger, Hampshire and Craig, the Americans will “give it a crack” next month and could even spring a surprise, although it’s unlikely they’ll win against the might of Team France at home (winner of the MXoN for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2018) or Team Australia (containing US 450cc No.1 Jett Lawrence, US 250cc No.1 Hunter Lawrence and their domestic MX1 champion Dean Ferris).
It would truly have been unthinkable if Team USA did not make the effort to attend.
For a comparison, tiny New Zealand, with a population of around 5 million (fewer people than reside in many US cities), do usually send a team.
The Kiwis have maybe only two “fulltime professional” racers (although we’d struggle to identify them and, by professional, we mean they possibly get free bikes and tyres).
When the Team New Zealand riders launch their campaign, they are geographically further away from Europe or the USA (the traditional host places for the MXoN) than teams from every other country and therefore also have greater expenses (in terms of travel time and associated costs) to endure when they do mount a bid.
Team New Zealand doesn’t send a couple of hundred staff and crew to make it all happen. If, by some miracle, Team New Zealand won the MxoN, they’d probably have only five or six people joining the riders up on the podium.
Have you ever seen the big podium hoorahs when Team USA wins this thing? Hundreds of Team USA support staff clamber onto the dais.
But credit where it’s due – Team USA has won this event more times than any other country, 23 times in total (with Great Britain second on 16 wins and Belgium on 15).
For this year at least it’s a case of “welcome to our world Team USA”, when you too have to dig a little deeper down among your motocross glitterati to find volunteers to wear the red, white and blue.
It is the case with many nations that they always struggle to find three world class riders.
New Zealand, for instance, has managed to offer up a world champion or two on occasion (think Shayne King and Ben Townley) or a nearly-world-champion or two (think Darryll King and Josh Coppins), but usually it’s a struggle.
We recall the times that New Zealand’s cream of the crop weren’t available to race and they sent a “development squad”, at huge expense, just to be able to fly the flag.
The Americans were forced to have a bit of a rummage around in their basement this year and still came up with a trio that we’d have to tip for a top-five finish.
Meanwhile, here are the teams that have so far entered the 2023 edition of the MXoN:
Team France: Romain Febvre (MXGP), Tom Vialle (MX2) and Maxime Renaux (Open);
Team USA: Aaron Plessinger (MXGP), RJ Hampshire (MX2) and Christian Craig (Open);
Team Australia: Jett Lawrence (MXGP), Hunter Lawrence (MX2) and Dean Ferris (Open);
Team Netherlands: Calvin Vlaanderen (MXGP), Kay de Wolf (MX2) and Glenn Coldenhoff (Open);
Team Belgium: Jago Geerts (MXGP), Lucas Coenen (MX2) and Liam Everts (Open);
Team Germany: Ken Roczen (MXGP), Simon Längenfelder (MX2) and Tom Hoch (Open);
Team Great Britain: Ben Watson (Beta), Josh Gilbert (Honda) and Conrad Mewse (Honda);
Team Italy: Alberto Forato (MXGP); Andrea Adamo (MX2) and Mattia Guadagnini (Open);
Team Spain: Ruben Fernandez (MXGP), David Braceras (MX2) and Jorge Prado (Open);
Team New Zealand: Cody Cooper (MXGP), James Scott (MX2) and Hamish Harwood (Open);
Team Portugal: Luis Outteiro (MXGP), Afonso Gomez (MX2) and Paulo Alberto (Open);
Team Norway: Cornelius Tøndel (MXGP), Kevin Horgmo (MX2) and Hakon Osterhagen (Open);
Team Slovenia: Tim Gajser (MXGP), Jan Pancar (MX2) and Jaka Peklaj (Open);
Team Slovakia: Šimon Jošt (MXGP), Tomáš Kohút (MX2) and Pavol Repčák (Open);
Team Ireland: Martin Barr (Husqvarna), Glenn McCormick (GasGas) and Jason Meara (GasGas);
Team Canada: Dylan Wright (Honda), Ryder McNabb (KTM) and Jess Pettis (KTM);
Team Iceland: Máni Freyr Pétursson (Fantic), Eiður Orri Pálmarsson (Yamaha) and Alexander Adam Kuc (GasGas);
Team South Africa: Camden McLellan (Honda), Cameron Durow (KTM) and Jesse Wright (Yamaha);
Team Switzerland: Jeremy Seewer (Yamaha), Valentin Guillod (Honda) and Arnaud Tonus (Yamaha);
Team Latvia: Pauls Jonass (Honda), Janis Reisulis (Yamaha) and Karlis Reisulis;
Team Estonia: Tanel Leok (MXGP), Jörgen-Matthias Talviku (MX23) and Harri Kullas (Open);
Team Poland: Jakub Barczewski (MXGP), Damian Zdunek (MX2) and Jakub Kowalski (Open);
Team Lithuania: Domantas Jazdauskas (MXGP), Erlandas Mackonis (MX2) and Dovydas Karka (Open);
Team Finland: Miro Sihvonen, Emil Weckman (Honda) and Jere Haavisto;
Team Sweden: Alvin Ostlund (MXGP), Filip Bengtsson (MX2) and Isak Gifting (Open);
Team Denmark: Mathias Jørgensen (MXGP), Magnus Smith (MX2) and Glen Meier (Open);
Team Austria: Marcel Stauffer, Michael Kratzer and Johannes Klein;
Team Czech Republic: Jakub Teresak (MXGP), Julius Mikula (MX2) and Vaclav Kovar (Open);
Team Puerto Rico: Rodny González, Jack Chambers and Edwardo Morales.
Team Chile: Bimbo Pavez (MXGP), Benjamin Garib (MX2) and Nicolas Israel (Open);
Team FIM Latin America: Miguel Cordovez (MXGP), Marco Antezana (MX2) and Joaquin Poli (Open).
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
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