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I mean what a I said...this generation of GP riders is faster than this Generation of AMA riders...but that will change as this generation of GP riders starts to retire-starting with cairoli.
And there are some exceptions to the weak MX2 field...but not enough to field three strong riders for any one countries MXdN team like you are seeing now.
But it could be another 10 long years for team USA before that happens...then USA will be on top for a generation again. And back and forth the pendulum will swing.
(And this showing was awful for team USA...run this same race 10 more times, and USA will probably win at least one, but they won’t finish this bad again. The Tomac that smoked everyone at the two America GP’s isn’t all the sudden a top 10 guy in the GP’s...so this isn’t indicative of the talent disparity between the series, even though the MXGP class is still faster/deeper at the moment.)
P.S.: don't forget 2015 and 2016 were the years that Cairoli lost the championship and was never comfortable during the entire years. He came back stronger in 2017 at 32 years old and you know what happened to Jacksonville 2017, so it's not "all the sudden" or "mud race" as you may think.
Team USA is what it is, we are not the fastest outdoors anymore, not even close...... but, here in America, SX is simply more important (read- that's where the real money is at)....... it looks like we'll keep taking our lumps outdoors at Des Nations while our guys continue to rake in more money indoors.... that just seems to be the long and short of it to me...
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Use Jeff as an example on Honda or other brand and the result is the same. It's not KTM's fault they invested so much in their program and riders.
The Japanese factory effort is less from all of them and that is the reason, HRC for fucks sake have only just realised they need a proper 250 again hence the Vlaanderen effort, why it took so long to remember after Tim did it on a factory supported effort I'll never know. This is HRC we are talking about and they should know better, so should the rest.
I think Anderson should have been the pick over Barcia and I think it hurt Plessinger that he had been testing his 450 for the last month then had to jump back on a 250.
I am not sure if the US needs to change much, other than figure out how to start, and not shit the bed on your home soil.
Had the US riders gotten better starts, they would have been in podium contention, and as close as the podium was, that would mean they were in contention for the win. The depth of talent in this race is bigger than the average US National, which means it is harder to pass riders and make your way to the front. Take away either Plessinger's crash or Tomac's mechanical on Saturday, and the US likely gets better starts, which means better finishes.
Sometimes luck goes your way (France), and sometimes it goes against you (Netherlands and USA). In the races I watched, I saw a bunch of competitive riders from many nations, all of whom were close on skill and talent. Netherlands, Italy, France, USA, Belgium and Great Britain all had teams that could have won. Australia, Spain, and Germany could have ended up on the podium.
The US team didn't embarrass themselves. They are still among the best in the world, but a little bad luck and they had a worse than average weekend for them, which happens sometimes. Replay the whole weekend 10 times and the US probably wins at least one of those. (NL probably wins 4 or 5, though).
I look forward to next year. I hope the US sends a team that wants to be there. I hope that Slovenia sends a team so we can see Gajser. I hope that Febvre is healthy. Even if none of those things happen, I'll watch it, and I'll enjoy every minute.
We're not as good as the Euro's in outdoor motocross. Plain and simple.
Pit Row
This is the answer right here.
I think it is unrealistic to expect the dual focus (SX-MX) AMA racers to be competitive with the single focus (MX only) MXGP racers.
If one divides their focus among multiple activities, logic dictates that one would not become as proficient at said activities as would one who applies all their focus on a single activity.
This weekend the MXGP racers proved that they are better at their speciality. If they weren't better it would surely be quite humiliating.
To answer the topic question: Seems unlikely there will be any radical change in the foreseeable future.
I actually fear that america will stop showing up. And that would be extremely sad.
When they were $5k new, it was much more reasonable than $10k! Then to go out and bash it up... it costs a boatload!
Post a reply to: Team USA: Where do we go from Here