Rubby hands, rubby hands! Here we go heeeere weeee goooo!!! Time to lay down any fears of the circuit or any negativity about the venue – this is the good stuff, the Nations always delivers exciting racing and this year will be no different. Assen as a track is a deep sandy beast, as a venue it will have a grandstand full of bellowing Dutchmen dying to see their team win! So let’s ‘ave it!
I’ve been to the Nations 4 times in the last 7 years – at Lommel, Teutchenthal, Ernee, and Matterley. I just love this event and the fervour of it all. Just brilliant Motocross. I’ll go through my predicted top five teams, my individual winner predictions, and give you a few select racers to look out for. I’m British, and European, so that’s my perspective. Feel free to comment, blast, dig at what I say, all debate is welcome.
1st Place – The Netherlands:
#4 – Herlings / #5 – Vlaanderen / #6 – Coldenhoff
I just can’t see past a home win. The home team and their fans will be happy with nothing shy of a first ever win for their countrymen in the Motocross des/of Nations. Think on that for a second. They have been in this event from the very beginning, lining up in 1947 alongside Belgium and Great Britain, who dominated for much of the early years of the event. No win, ever, for the Dutch, even on the treacherous sand which they grow up on. They came very close in 1991, during the height of America’s most dominant period, only to be denied by the monster that was Jeff Stanton on a CR500. On a home track, with typical Dutch sand, they go in as red-hot favourites with all three riders having delivered moto wins at the tail end of the MXGP season.
Herlings in particular is at his most dangerous. Getting stronger when most of the others are tired at the end of the season, he has a point to prove after losing the title he won at Assen 12 months ago due to a string of injuries. He wants this trophy and will be willing to dig deep into quite possibly the deepest well of talent any rider has access to. That said, I have a different individual winner to pick… later!
Coldenhoff has delivered this year with a string of GP and moto wins to claim a deserved bronze medal in MXGP as KTM’s top man in the series. He’ll be determined to not let the team down. Vlaanderen unintentionally did just that last year when his eye injury undoubtably cost Team NL the win at Red Bud. He won a moto in Sweden and will be there with probably just the one good moto required.
2nd Place – The USA:
#13 – Anderson / #14 – Cooper / #15 – Osborne
Team Manager Roger DeCoster was heard to say last year that his team will need to practise for weeks in the sand “just to not look silly”. And they have been doing the work necessary. While the MXGP boys were in Turkey and China making like pinballs in car parks, the stars and bars have been thrashing through the sandy circuits of Holland and Belgium. They’ve been bonding, and building, into a decent little team that may well do a France with six solid results. They have the mentality too.
Osborne is their star man for me. Few are more determined when the chips are down, and he was the standout American at Matterley Basin without a doubt. Two podiums for him, with Anderson probably backing him up. They are both Bakersville graduates, physically trained by the best, which will count at Assen. Cooper is young and has a point to prove as well. They’ll be the surprise package. The Nations has been better without their domination, but they all have staying power more than all three who represented Uncle Sam last year.
3rd Place – Belgium:
#16 – Van Horebeek / #17 – Geerts / #18 – Strijbos
Third and beyond are wide open, and don’t get me wrong I would love for Team GB to retain numbers 7-9 for the third straight year. However, no-one is talking about the team in yellow that fields two of the most solid old pros in World Motocross, and probably the most solid young pro as well. They are missing Clement Desalle but sand is not alien for them, and there will be plenty of local support as well. Van Horebeek actually improved his world ranking after losing his factory Yamaha berth to go onto a private Honda, and he loves this event too, as I saw personally with his passionate flag-waving following their win at Teutchenthal 6 years ago. Great to see. Strijbos will just keep plugging away, which is vital in the crowded Nations mid-pack and even one good result should be enough from him. Geerts took a moto from Prado this year and is a contender for MX2 individual honours. He just needs to whisper to the gate man and try to buy a start.
4th Place – Great Britain
#7 – Watson / #8 – Sterry / #9 – Simpson
Slight patriotic bias – this is allowed, right? Damn it, with the original healthy team we could have taken 2nd, no problem, however we probably have our second and third best sand riders out there in Simpson and Sterry – and Nathan Watson is a totally inspired choice for the MX1 class! For those who don’t know the Enduro half of the amazing Watson brothers, he won the Le Touquet Beach Race at the start of the year, took a WESS win at Hawkstone Park, and loves the soft stuff. Hell, an Enduro rider worked for France two years ago, why not for Team GB?!
Sterry will be out for the individual MX2 win and could well take it with decent starts. He loves the sand as well and is definitely strong enough to dig through the midfield crowd for a solid result. Simpson is another old pro who could well grind out some solid results with possibly his last chance to wear the Nations’ colours. If they get on the podium I will pop a cork. Go the Brits!
5th Place – France
#1 – Paulin / #2 – Renaux / #3 – Tixier
Did I forget the reigning champs?! The team with five-in-a-row, going for six?! Well, this year the bubble bursts. Surely! They have lived a charmed life in this event since Latvia 2014, and being at Ernee in 2015 was one of the best experiences of my life (first foreign trip with my future wife, which was definitely a factor!) with the French passion for that win being incredible to witness. From Kawasaki to Honda to Husqvarna, Paulin has steered the ship and been there for the entire reign, but I say this is his last time with the #1 plate. Without Febvre, they still could have competed. Without Vialle, and part of me just wants to see the French Federation pay for this stupid decision surrounding sponsors’ logos (make the French cockerel smaller to accommodate the Red Bull? Surely you would!), they simply don’t have the strength in depth. Tixier is mid-pack in sand at best, and Renaux is one for the future but I can’t see him shining through this field. Even Paulin is past his best and has had a long hard season, suffering a demoralising loss of his top three MXGP status at the last round. As much as I’ve enjoyed this streak, I think they just don’t have the quality to pull it off this time. But you never know!
Individual Winners:
MX1 – I’m calling it here – PRADO (#19) takes both motos!! This boy is the REAL deal, smooth as silk, Trials-level bike control, superfast off the line, fit as a flea. First ride on the big bike, and seeing the training videos makes me a believer. He might even push Herlings into a mistake and make the Dutchman think about the team deal. It will make for a very interesting winter. He’s the man. You heard it here first.
MX2 – Riding a gloriously high #107, I’m calling the Dane Thomas Kjer Olsen to take the MX2 win. He’s long and lanky and great in sand. He might not be great off the gate but the Nations won’t punish that too heavily, and he will want to prove a point. Cooper, Geerts, and Sterry will all be in the mix, but I think the MX2 world #2 will take it.
Open – A well-named class, for it is wide open! Although this will be where the home team will take their points with Coldenhoff being the winner here. Osborne in particular, and maybe #99 Pauls Jonass, in his first Nations ride for a long time, will put a challenge to him, but GC will shadow Herlings in the last race, and likely take the middle moto if he starts as well as he has recently.

Wildcards:
The Nations has always got those riders who aren’t in the team picture, but keen to show individual prowess in the World’s biggest race. These include Prado and Jonass, as mentioned above, and these 5 or 6 randoms:
#22 – Tanel Leok – Wherever you’re from, cheer for this old warhorse in his NINETEENTH straight Nations ride for Team Estonia! He is quite simply always there! Go Tanel!!
#55 – Jeremy Seewer – Devastatingly, Switzerland lost Arnaud Tonus to hand injury at the final MXGP round, otherwise I would have called the Swiss for a podium. As World number 2, Seewer is strong and consistent, and with one of the best factory bikes on the track will surely be around.
#91 – Tim Gajser – Three-time World Champion baby! He’s been there when others haven’t to mop up world titles, but he is a fantastic rider and if he shows the determination from the MXGP season before he clinched the crown, he could well make a nuisance of himself at the very top.
#103 – Arminas Jasikonis – The tallest rider on the grid, factory Husky man Jasikonis will be easy to spot and is wild in the sand. One blistering ride is not beyond him if his fitness holds out.
#88 & #90 – Ivo Monticelli & Alessandro Lupino – Team Italy will truly miss Cairoli, the biggest major MXGP name missing from this year’s Nations, so it will be great if the boys in Azzurro Blue could go against the grain and make their presence felt in the soft stuff. Both can get out of the gate well on good machinery and can be a headache to get past. Up the Azzurri!

So buckle up and enjoy this event. My predictions may be way off, who knows?! Forget the negativity about the circuit and venue, the crowd will make the atmosphere brilliant and the Nations hardly ever makes for a poor race. Find it online, pay the small fee, buy an airhorn, take the blade off your chainsaw and blast away! May the best team in red, white & blue win!

B.

It’s the build-up week for the biggest event on the Motocross calendar – unless you’re an American factory racing team, but more on that later – the Motocross of Nations, World Cup of Motocross, Olympics of Motocross, unofficial world team championship and the chance for one side of Motocross’ Atlantic divide to stick a middle finger to the other side for the following year… but more on that later. It’s my personal favourite event that in my view should never lose its importance and position as an absolutely massive boost to the profile of World Championship Motocross.

This should be an exciting week – who’s gonna win the team trophy, who’s gonna win individually, will the Americans even be competitive, which small-bike rider is gonna surprise the big boys, how is our country gonna do… these are the usual questions to get us salivating and the best part of all is that it hasn’t been at all predictable since the most recent American domination was ended in 2012. And there will be a blog entry from me on all of that later this week.

The Official MXGP Facebook page’s post at the start of this week, however, met with a response that asked none of those questions. The photo featured two spandex-wearing models (if it ain’t good enough for F1, stuff it we’ll still do it), flanking five people carrying shovels, three of whom were in suit jackets and two of whom had already dropped the charade and picked up the champers which they will clearly be sinking while the real shovellers get stuck in to the work itself. The work itself? Beginning the “creation” of the circuit for this year’s ‘Nations. For almost the first time, a completely artificial circuit will be built directly on top of a road racing circuit to host this prestigious event.

The backlash has been instantaneous, punishing, and constant. All of it blasting the use of this venue when there is a myriad of perfectly good permanent and historically awesome circuits already in place, that need no construction whatsoever besides the normal compulsory prep. One comment has rightfully pointed out the carbon footprint of this enterprise – why pump all this dozer fuel into the air transporting the sand in when other tracks have it there already? And why pump the Euros into a perfectly successful site that enjoys massive income from MotoGP, WSB, and in recent years (and just last week) even BSB, when there are Motocross clubs down the road or across a few borders that are in dire need of a major cash injection to even help them stay open? Is a hard-standing perfect-for-VIPs paddock really worth that much?

It is massively saddening for me to see this response. I love this sport and its history and I want it to thrive, for the world champions to be recognised as the superfit athletes they are, and for the series itself to be as prestigious as ever, especially as we are finally in a time when the GP racers can truthfully go against the best from America and regularly come out on top. For the first time in around 35 years we can honestly say the World Champion is the best in the world, and that is so important for the credibility of the sport. So why is the vast majority of the fanbase absolutely spitting about the state of the sport today?

I have to constantly defend the modern game on social media against comments like “it was real racing in them days, not like the show jumpers we’ve got today”. Or “back when Motocross was awesome”, “they were real men in them days”, and “proper tracks back then”. It drives me crazy. Yes, it was awesome then – but it still is now. Especially the racers themselves. There are many valid reasons to moan about modern Motocross, but leave our current racers alone. As a generation they need to have more physical preparation than ever before, and a level of bike control that stands up against anyone from years gone by.

I will gladly listen to anyone who does moan. I think the governing bodies of the sport need to listen as well. This is the fanbase. In a minority sport that is fighting for attention in an increasingly crowded world full of distractions, we need to look after the traditional fans that will pay to see the best if the show is good and it’s not too pricey. Here are the things that I see as serious negatives from the spectator’s point of view:

1. Jumps – The most spectacular thing a dirt bike can do that no others can is leave the ground, look amazing, and stay in control. It captures the public imagination – have you ever seen a Freestyle show at a fairground or amongst any crowd that hasn’t seen a bike in the air before? I did at the Bath & West Show this year. The reaction was pure astonishment. Eyes on stalks. Wows were heard! Hardened Motocross fans still have favourite memories of the best in the air – Stewart at Larocco’s Leap, Paulin at Lommel, Jobe at Hawkstone, Geboers at Namur, Noyce into the sandpit. However, a track full of them? Every time? Limiting the racing and the ability to switch lines, as well as necessitating the withdrawl of the fans to a safer distance, are all hitting the traditional fan in the guts. As well as the obvious danger that finds a lot of the world’s best on the injured list and reducing the competition at the very top through to the grassroots of the sport where Dads just won’t let their kids kill themselves over ridiculous and ill-prepared stunt ramps.
2. The moving back of the fans – Take a look at most old Motocross GP photos, especially the 500s in the continent, and the track is lined with fans a dozen deep at least. You even get that brilliant “wave” of fans sweeping from one side of the track to the next to follow the action. We just don’t see it anymore. The jump factor is part of it, increasing insurance costs surely another. But this year at Loket we saw people hanging over the fences, and a mega-crowd of Slovenian maniacs cheering on Gajser at Arco di Trento made for the best atmosphere of the year, that simply leapt out of the screen. Crowd numbers will naturally have dwindled because there is more out there for people to do these days. But if we are allowed in then please let us get next to the track and feel the roost bouncing off of us.
3. Advertising boards – I get that we need sponsors’ income, more than ever, but seeing the word “Monster” emblazoned on 15 boards down each side of the hills at Ernee adds nothing to either the spectacle, or my likelihood of buying a can of Monster Energy. A crowd of crazy French fans pumping their fists would add so much more. When you are physically at the race these boards make it impossible to see the corners in a lot of places. Did he pass him? I don’t know, they both disappeared behind a giant orange board with KTM on it! How did he crash? I don’t know, I’ll have to see it on telly later! Absolutely ridiculous…
4. Track preparation – this is where we started. Artificial circuits, or artificially groomed circuits, are killing the racing at the highest level. How can we get exciting, line-switching racing at every corner when there are only three ruts, at best, to choose from in the corners? Same for multiple tramlines along straights and going off jumps. I understand the need for watering and the fight against dust. Surely, however, we can scrape the ruts, remove these needless obstacles and let the guys race harder?

So there it is – what I think are the big issues that are hitting the traditional fans and driving them away from the sport. Not just at GP level but at British Championships and downwards as well. I confess to not having much knowledge of the AMA series in this department. From what I can see the Nationals have amazing circuits and the racing is better. Perhaps there is more space over there to be used or the tracks are done better. I would be happy to hear from anybody with their thoughts on any of the above.

I hope that the Assen MXoN delivers some great racing. The saving grace is that sand tracks normally do, and the Nations in general normally does too. The three “artificial” circuits like it that hosted the Nations – Jerez in ’95, Zolder in ’03, and Donington in ’08 – still made for great spectacles. Grandstands full of screaming Dutch fans who finally have a team that should win will help. So of course I will still be tuning in as an excited little fan. I just hope that many more look past the venue, and all the current issues, and just enjoy the racing as well. More on the positive side later this week. Cheers!

 

B.

Mainstream popular culture, especially if seen from national broadcasters in the UK, likes to link the perceived black-leather-clad world of motorcycling with the black t-shirt-wearing world of rock and heavy metal.  How many times “Born To Be Wild” has been used to backdrop a preview of the Weston-Super-Mare Beach Race on local news, for example, cannot easily be counted.  So, I may be bowing to a tired old tradition a little here, but there is a more 2019-inspired link between those two worlds that just can’t be ignored by someone with their waders firmly in both swamps.

This is a bike-based blog but I will explain the title line a little first as it will be the most obscure.  Anyone knowing of aggressive guitar-based music made since the 1990s will know of a massively-selling but little-known band called Tool.  If you don’t, then think maybe Radiohead, or even Pink Floyd, with the guitars heavier and the vocalist a little growlier, and you’re pretty much there.  Personally, I think they’re absolutely amazing.  And in 2019 fans such as myself have been treated to their first new album for 13 years.  It’s called Fear Inoculum, but seriously if they are new to you then find their old stuff first.  It’s well worth it.

So, on to the link with the two-wheeled world that is the whole point of this blog. On the new Tool album is a song called Invincible.  The opening lines grabbed me immediately on this morning of the Misano MotoGP.  The morning after the latest spat between Signor Valentino Rossi and his replacement as the alpha male of the series, Senor Marc Marquez. 

“Long in tooth and soul, longing for another win…”  Remind you of anyone?  “Once Invincible, now the armour’s wearing thin…”  Getting even more poignant now.  “Warrior… struggling.. to remain… relevant…”  Now, this could well be a personal note from the singer of a band whose best work was done nearly twenty years ago, which yet again links it so strongly for me with the man who is by far the most globally famous racing motorcyclist there ever has been.  Now the heckles will be rising beneath the bright yellow shirts of his fearsome fanbase so I must soften this by saying I am in awe of this legend of the sport.  What he’s done for the sport is incredible.  Not just the success, but the personality which has let him enjoy both the success of Michael Schumacher and the popularity of… well there isn’t even a four-wheeled comparison there.  Who can compare from anywhere?  Muhammad Ali?  Well, not even my Grandad liked him!

Picture this if you will.  It’s 1997.  Dominant champion mighty Mick Doohan has taken his fourth straight 500cc World Crown and is far from finished.  3^rd in this series, amongst the supporting factory Hondas of Tady Okada and Alex Criville, and ahead of the older two Aoki brothers, is the legend Kenny Roberts – Senior.  His son campaigned the Modenas this year but on the factory Yamaha that made his name, King Kenny gets third in the 1997 series, his 19^th year in the championship.  

OK, so it was actually Nobuatsu Aoki who got bronze that year.  Luca Cadalora was top Yamaha in a lowly 7^th. KRSR retired 14 years before this series.  However, if Roberts had lasted as long as Rossi has in the top flight, that would have been the story to parallel Rossi’s 2018 bronze medal in MotoGP.  Can you imagine?

Giacomo Agostini racing with Eddie Lawson.  Barry Sheene racing with Doohan & Schwantz.  Wayne Rainey racing with Nicky Hayden & Rossi himself.  Ideas reserved for pub discussion and fantasy video games.  It’s incredible to witness. Although what we are seeing now is a legend who hasn’t made way for the next generation, as most have before.  Roberts’ last year in GPs was a mere six years after his debut, when he was involved in a titanic tussle with the next American great, Fast Freddie Spencer.  Kenny very nearly took back his crown even then.  It was one of the few times where we have been treated to an overlap of legends, where the cruelness of injury hasn’t intervened and the old invincible did battle with the next top dog.  The 80s were brilliant for the battles amongst many of the very best coming all at once, where even an animal like Randy Mamola had to go without a title. 

Injury to Doohan meant that we never saw him against Rossi.  What a fight that could have been!  Can you imagine the stern Aussie’s reaction to the flamboyant cartoon character if the #46 had carved up the Repsol Honda #1 once or twice?  Valentino had relatively weak opposition in his early 500 years, partially due to machine superiority but also down to his sheer genius, and was able to establish his sunshine yellow brand with barely a mark on it until he tried to mix it with Ducati red.

The sheer speed of Casey Stoner and the up-yours mentality of Jorge Lorenzo got their world titles, but the circus element of MotoGP contributed towards shortening the #27’s career to a mere 7 years. Somehow people are surprised that 12^th-year veteran Lorenzo seems a little shy right now of being thrown skywards by his machinery for the umpteenth time. The incredible talent of Dani Pedrosa was even denied a title in 13 hard years of heartache and pain.  This is a very tough sport even now.  The riders may not have to contend with hair-trigger two-strokes that shattered bones with depressing regularity, but they do ride 50% more races than 35 years ago, with infinitely more travelling involved thanks to over twice the number of races outside Europe than even 30 years ago.

So the “Warrior” wearing 46 “struggling to stay relevant” has lasted an incredible amount of time, and that has to be applauded as a mark of his sheer ability on a motorcycle.  And he could still take a win in this crazy 2019 season.  It has to be acknowledged though that his best years have gone.  All those highlight reel races against Lorenzo, Stoner, Biaggi and Gibernau are over ten or even fifteen years old.  He tried similar tricks with Marquez and it exploded in his face.   The end of 2015 permanently scarred his image in this writer’s opinion.

The armour’s wearing thin, time to put the heavy shield down.  His continued presence on the grid, and the animosity towards Marquez in particular, could very well be doing more harm than good to the sport.  The Spanish sensation is Rossi’s natural heir – pushing the sport forward with his technique and style, showing incredible ability in all circumstances, and doing it with a genuine demeanour, a winning smile, and plenty of charisma to get behind.  My wife-to-be started watching MotoGP when we got together in 2015, and she is a genuine fan of the incumbent champ.  Yes, he is aggressive and there is arrogance there, but name me a champion without at least a faint streak of all that.  To hear boos for this incredible racer is unbelievable in the light of how hard he works and what he can do on a bike.  This is how the football-hooligan mentality that Rossi has brought to the sport is becoming a very negative influence.

It is now regular for even Marquez to be the oldest on the podium.  Yamaha have kept Rossi on, when in years gone by Johann Zarco would have been brought up to the factory team and moved all of them forward.  Instead I believe that Rossi is dragging Vinales, and the M1 itself, back from where they both should be.  I hope that this year’s results convince Yamaha to not waste the good fortune of a second fast Frenchman being available from the satellite team, and that Fabio Quartararo gets to join Vinales in a factory team that could surely take on the dominance of the number 93, whose bike really isn’t as good as he is making it look.

As for Rossi, it’s time to say Ciao.  His academy and team will definitely continue, and we do need a non-Spanish counterbalance in the paddock. Make way on the track for those who are ready to move the sport on again, and even help them to do so from a strong position on the sidelines.

B.

15^th Sep. 2019