Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but paid users have great benefits. Paid member benefits:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2024 SX, MX, and SMX series (regularly $30).
I was at the race and saw all of this first hand, much different then you jackasses that weren’t there and that were watching the web coverage which didn’t show the whole story.
Quit ripping on Blake for MX of Nations, and quit pumping Kenny up more than he should be. Kenny is an awesome rider and is world champ and he will find that intensity he currently lacks a couple of percentage points of. He will get there. Also as an FYI, last year was pretty much Baggett’s first year racing the nationals as he got hurt very early in 2010 while riding for Rockstar Suzuki and didn't race after the first couple of laps of moto 1 at Budds. A number of the tracks he won at last year was his first time there.
If you’re going to make comparisons then do it correctly and compare apples to apples.
Carry on..!
The Shop
go all out 45 mins plus 2 in the GPs........Here it's all out for 30mins plus 2 as soon as the gate drops !!!
If you're going to make comparisons then do it correctly and compare apples to apples. he has been racing as long as Tomac outdoors......
Kinda like canard being pro since '08 but didn't get a full season of racing til '10.
Two points, the Americans are not racing for the personal win, they are racing to keep the trophy in the US.
Last few years our lites guys have had bad holeshots.
No excuses, but regardless of the individual win, we won the trophy and that is what we set out to do.
No Roczen is here, he can now see that when the Americans race for the moto and overall win, they come from the back of the pack to pass the world champ as if he was standing still.
If the GP riders weren't at least comparable in speed to the AMA riders then every MXDN would be like 2007. Every one off AMA appearance for a rider like Desalle would surely end in disaster. It's also not unreasonable to surmise that the difference in format and tracks WILL have weakened Roczen somewhat. If the USA (and other AMA riders) have an abominable MXDN appearance in Lommel then I will say the same. Where you ride, your routine, how comfortable you feel makes a huge difference! Of course it does.
I also agree that Ken has to learn the American sprint riding style (the whole way) but as I said earlier, given the way the GP tracks are, you wouldn't last long with that sort of riding style. After riding GPs for the last 3 years it's no surprise that KR has retained a style which is better suited to those tracks and format.
If you crash and don't race then you can't really count those races where you weren't even on the line as experience.
Blakes only competiton in the MX2 class at Saint Jean d'Angely was Roczen, Musquin and an injured Wilson.
Here is the overall MX2 World Championship results from 2011 and the riders who were racing that class at the MXdN...
1 Roczen MX2 Germany
2 Herlings MX3
3 Searle MX3
4 Paulin MX3
5 Tonus MX3
6 Anstie (Wasn't racing)
7 Aubin (Wasn't racing)
8 Osborne (Wasn't racing)
9 Kullas (Wasn't racing)
10 Roelants MX2 Belgium
11 Nicholls (Wasn't racing)
12 Charlier (Wasn't racing)
13 Tixier (Wasn't racing)
14 Butron MX2 Spain
15 Lupino MX2 Italy
16 van Horebeek (Wasn't racing)
18 Rauchenecker MX2 Austria
19 Teillet (Wasn't racing)
20 Triest (Wasn't racing)
The track was nice and dry on Saturday and all it took for Baggett to win that qualifier was a good start. Roczen had a bad start but had passed his way into second within about four or five laps and was visibly catching Baggett before getting caught up in a rut at the far end of the circuit and dropping back down the order again. On the day it mattered, on a tricky surface, Ken finished 2nd and 4th, while Blake went 17-17.
They are the hard facts.
Pit Row
I am Jack's uncontrollable urge to call you an idiot...
Pray tell old fellow, what does constitute the fastest man in a motocross race, if not the results?
MXdN in Europe:
Roczen beats all MX2 riders very convincingly including AMA no.1 & 2,(to be fair Wilson was riding injured
MXdN in USA:
Roczen beats all MX riders very convincingly including AMA no.1 and 4 (2 & 3 placed "Euros" absent)
These are the only times the top riders from the class had previously met Outdoors,and this year again will see 2 if those top 4 AMA riders race some of the top GP riders in the same MX2 class so we'll see how that turns out
(Roczen might be called AMA and not a Euro by then by then :laugh
I also don't buy the not racing to win BS,Bagget had 2 bad rides and RV was going all out to get to Paulin and Herlings,he laid down his fastest lap on the final lap,actually the fastest of the race,however Paulin and Herlings did too,almost matching it.The only time it could happen in late in the last race if the overall is in the bag
K-roc is now being compared while racing and now living the opposing series full time and he's doing very well,the class has the strongest top 4 or5 in years too,if they all raced the GP series last year,or this for that matter I'm pretty certain the AMA guys would be struggling to get to grips a with the tracks and race format too.Kenny's a class act as we know,he has the speed over here and over there and I'm sure he'll adjust to the US racing,just like the 3 class American guys would over here
When Villopoto scored third in his opening moto in 2011 he did that because he couldn't keep the pace of a Frenchman (Paulin) on a French track and a super quick Jeffrey Herlings.
Remember Cairoli beating both Reed and Dungey at the 2009 MXoN in Italy. Hey, in front of his own crowd.
Same as Roczen struggles against American riders on America tracks. It isn't rocket science, just simple fact. Herlings is the King of the sand in Holland, his hometrack.
It's been like that for year, and every time a euro/ South African/ Australian/New Zealander goes to America the American public and press like to tell us, see, "we have the fastest riders in the World". Of course you do, on your own tracks, in your own country. So actually you have the fastest rider in America.
It's a stupid way to shape up a riders quality saying our rider won at home, so he is the best in the World. We all do it, because we all want our riders to be knowns as the best. But there is no even way of finding out who is 100% the best. In my opinion Villpoto shows enough in Europe and America to say he is the fastest rider in the World, but until he races Cairoli on a number of occasions, and with a mix between Europe and America, and in one series, then we don't really know who is the fastest.
MXoN motos are usually split between AMA and GP riders, so I will say the Americans are great at producing good results away from home, but that doesn't surprise me. Americans are the proudest country in the World and their sportsmen always impress, no matter what sport. Just like the Aussies I guess.
Thankfully Europes series does reward some of your riders, like Mike Brown, Zach Osborne, both who were able to race in Europe and then find their feet again in the AMA series.
Life in Europe is much tougher for non-euro's and believe me I know, because I have lived in both USA and Europe for many years.
The tracks are very slick and stop start type tracks. I have never raced at a high level, but I can't imagine how difficult that is to then turn it around and run full gas for a complete moto. Can't wait to see Roczen at places where the circuits are slower and slicker. Musquin will do well at UNadilla I think, but his style really isn't suited to AMA tracks.
RV was reeling them in pretty fast towards the end of the race and Herlings and Paulin had to step it up quite a bit for those last two or three laps. I don't think it was because RV couldn't keep the pace, he just had a bad start. He looked (to me anyway) as though he was the fastest rider in France that weekend. He is absolute class and was at the very top of his game having just clinched the 450 Outdoor title. In comparison Cairoli had just missed the last GP of the season due to his mum passing away and five of the top 10 MX1 riders (including 2nd & 3rd in the championship) were not riding.
But in general I do completely agree with you about the way European riders are only assessed by American fans when they're racing on US soil. Its always going to be biased in favour of their American guys and racing (alone) in a foreign country is tougher than most US fans appreciate because they have little experience of it.
Man, what is Team USA going to be, Dungey, Short and Baggett?? How is Alessi in sand? Who are your sand riders??
Ever since Motocross in America developed to such a level that it rivalled the World Championship the USA have had the strongest team at the MXdN and probably always will. Euopean riders prove time and time again that they're capable of race wins (even if some chose to dismiss these) but its going to take something special to grapple the trophy off of them, wherever the race is held. You certainly can't beat them with malfunctioning mousse tires and other freak incidents though!
Im English btw - my avatar is only a bit of satirical fun
The thing that is inaccurate, is saying that Roczen is the "fastest MX2 rider on the planet" right now. Maybe last year you could argue he was but this year he isn't. Tomac and Barcia have gotten faster this year and Baggett is more consistent. Roczen is ONE of the fastest MX2 riders on the planet, along with Baggett, Tomac, Barcia, and Herlings.
Given there has been 4 races and 3 different overall winners (and Herlings winning most of the races overseas), I think there isn't a single standout 250 rider. There are 5 of them... with Marvin and Searle right behind them.
Damn why don't we have a mini series with three round in USA and three in Europe, or even better 10 rounds mixed throughout the World. Australia, USA a couple, Belgium, England, France, Brazil, New Zealand and some other cool places. Now that would be the best series in the World.
All we would need is another 3 months in the year and it's possible.................
Post a reply to: Emig's intensity comment...