Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations - Looking back -ozzy go- mxlarge.com

It was true domination. Simply put Team USA showed that on
home soil nobody can match them. While the Grand Prix
supporters would have loved to have seen some good racing in
Budds Creek, is just didn't happen. In all three motos Team USA
riders took an early lead and shot away from the opposition like a
cannon ball from a cannon. I am not sure I have ever seen a
rider dominate an event like Ryan Villopoto did last weekend.

He didn't make a mistake all weekend, and obviously was fired up
after his moto defeat of World MX2 champion Antonio Cairoli at
last years MXoN. Same went for Tim Ferry, he has a good
memory and when he got hammered on european soil at the
2003 Motocross of Nations he didn't forget. That beating in Zolder,
Belgium was put into his memory bank and he wanted everyone
to see that he is a different rider when it comes to American
conditions.

For me it was a painful weekend. I wanted to see our boys go
there and give it to the often cocky American public. I wanted
Cairoli to come out firing and put some hurt on Team USA, and I
wanted our MX1 world champion Steve Ramon to show AMA
champion Grant Langston he is a true world champion.

From the moment we got news on Friday afternoon that the race
bikes of Antonio Cairoli, David Philippaerts and Tommy Searle
were not going to arrive (they eventually did arrive) I was
worried. Then when AMA regular Ben Townley crashed out on
Saturday morning and was ruled out for the weekend I started to
really wonder what would happen next.

Saturday morning did bring some good news as the bikes arrived,
but how could the riders be mentally ready with such a battle in
these conditions. That magic MX2 battle between Villopoto, Cairoli
and Townley was shot to pieces before it could even begin.

The three races on Sunday did have drama, Carmichael and Ferry
both going down early and having to fight through the pack. For
the American fans and team it was exciting, for the european fans
it was a little boring. Our leading hero's just didn't fire. Tommy
Searle did a gallant effort, racing at the front of the pack in only
his second MXoN, and showing that he is mentally prepared for
anything. He was punted off the circuit by Chad Reed in one race,
but he showed enough to give hope for the future.

It wasn't until the final race of the weekend, when Carmichael,
Ramon, Ferry and Langston all had similar starts when we
actually got to measure the speed of the leading riders. The AMA
based riders once again proved too strong, although Ferry and
Langston didn't have it all their own way against Ramon, that was
probably our only real reason to get excited from the weekend.

While Ken De Dycker looked good in the MX2/Open race, finishing
second. It was the lack of depth in all three races that made me
wonder what we need to do with the format to get some
excitement into the racing. With all respect to Carlos Campano,
he finished seventh in that MX2/Open race and he has been
struggling to get points in the GP races. With names like Stewart,
Coppins, Townley, Strijbos, Vuillemin, Tyla Rattray, Christophe
Pourcel, and Gordon Crockard all out injured the field seemed a
little thin.

We can't forget the domination of Team America though. Imagine
if James Stewart had ridden. It wouldn't have mattered who
arrived at Budds Creek, it would have been a lot worse for the
rest of the world. We can all think the depth in America is not as
strong as in Europe, but in this three man team event there is no
team as strong as the United States of America.
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