61st Motocross of Nations Preview - Budds Creek, Maryland, United States

American motocross is on the cusp of witnessing he most
important race held anywhere in the country for the past
20 years. For the first time since 1987, the esteemed Red Bull
Motocross of Nations will be held within our borders Sept. 22-23,
and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Though the AMA series remain the premier racing divisions in the
world in terms of the level of competition, the World Motocross
Championships has been improving and gaining steam in the past
decade. The European contingent is as strong as it has been since
we first adopted the sport from them back in the 1960s. We
adapted quickly and it wasn't long until America established itself
as the strongest MX nation in the world, but the Europeans have
been working their butts off lately and the relationship between
better competition and a better series has been blossoming for
the FIM sanctioning body. While the Euros have traditionally
enjoyed a home-turf advantage, with the MXoN being held outside
of the continent on only three occasions before 2007, our
American squad will have a decided advantage this year with the
event being held at Jonathan Beasley's Budds Creek Motocross
Park in Southern Maryland.

Beasley's facility hosts an AMA National every Father's Day as
part of the AMA Motocross championship series. This year's 450
race was won by Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael, the
cornerstone of Team USA, and Ryan Villopoto took the Lites
division. RV will be contesting the equivalent class this weekend
against the world's best MX2 riders. Carmichael will lead the
squad in the MX1 (450) division and Monster Kawasaki's Tim
Ferry will be the MX3 (450+) rider. All three of these men have
represented our country before at the so-called Olympics of
Motocross.

The 2006 competition was supposed to feature the Dream Team
with RV, RC and James Stewart, but Carmichael wound up hurting
his knee in the final outdoor race of the season at Glen Helen.
Tim Ferry was on the squad back in 2003 but was defeated by
Belgium, who also won the 2004 event. In 2005, it was RC's
injury that left room for his teammate Ivan Tedesco to strap it on
and carry the Red, White and Blue in Great Britain, which he
proudly did. The same scenario has allowed Red Dog another
chance at winning a fabled MXoN overall. It was supposed to be
another season of the Dream Team, but James Stewart was the
injured rider this year and was replaced by the surging Ferry. Red
Dog has some big shoes to fill, but there isn't anyone better for
the job as the veteran racer not only has found ridiculous speed
late in the season, but is consistently the fastest rider at the end
of the race. Red Dog's tenacity and fitness make him an excellent
replacement rider for Stewart.

According to Team USA's Manager, Mike Fisher, there are five
powerhouse teams, including ourselves. That leaves four potential
contenders that our own head honcho is concerned with: Belgium
(Ken De Dycker, Jeremy Van Horebeek, Steve Ramon - MX1
World Champ) New Zealand (Daryl Hurley, Cody Cooper, Ben
Townley), Australia (Chad Reed, Andrew McFarlane, Michael
Byrne) and Italy (Antonio Cairoli - MX2 World Champ, David
Philippaerts, Davide Guarneri).

Perhaps the most highly anticipated battle will be in the MX2
class. Villopoto and his teammate for the year, Ben Townley, will
have to deal with Italy's Cairoli, who went 1-1 in 8-of-15 MX2
class, supposedly the premier division, is missing the one rider
who was dominant in the World series. Josh Coppins will not race
his factory Yamaha for New Zealand due to an injury, but there
are still plenty of fast guys to take a shot at Ricky. Keep in mind
that Carmichael won his 100th outdoor National at Budds Creek
this year before taking another three wins.

There are 35 teams registered for the MXoN and of those,
Iceland, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador
are all competing for the first time. The sport is healthy, growing
and the fact that America is hosting the Nations event for the first
time in 20 years is another sign that things are on the upswing.
We took a serious black eye for the 2002 debacle when the event
was supposed to be held in SoCal at a brand new track. Well, the
facility was never completed and land usage debates shut down
the entire operation just a week before the event leaving
thousands of ticket holders, this journalist included, wondering if
the U.S. would ever get another shot. It's here, and this time it
should be done right. motorcycle-usa.com/pictures from
tedescophoto.com