MXON Team USA thoughts

Listen to the vital mxon podcast. They are reporting RJ had a practice crash earlier in the week and would have backed out if there were any alternates available. 

He crashed earlier in the week because he rides on the edge: so you actually agree.

😄

Whatever, man.

I'm stoked for any team that shows up, wants to race and puts in the effort. (How about Slovenia!) Results fall where they may. It's always kind of a weird race. That's why it's the best race of the year. Our boys did great! 

this has probably been said before on here.

some of you boys need to cut RJ abit of slack, ok so he crashed here and there , why do you think that is? well probably because he was giving it 110%  and riding beyond his means, which is better than sat on the sofa , pulling your pud,like some the heroes on here 

Oo ook that makes more sense. I was super disappointed with him this weekend, he looked like he completely reverted back to 250 crash-o hampshire when the pressure was on. If he was riding injured then that changes things.

Its funny how everyone is disregarding RJ being super solid all summer on the 450. "He hits the dirt too often." Yeah, on a 250. I dont know if I can remember him crashing at all this summer. He was looking great his first moto when he moved into 2nd then the wheels came off. I dont know what his injury pre-race was but maybe it caught up with him finally. I know he wasnt jumping that finish line booter so something a hard landing would affect.

You cant just say he shouldn't have been on the team. You need to say who you would have sent. JCoop on a 450 and Marchbanks/ Hammaker on a 250? You think that was going to get it done?

Not sure the point of bringing up whether the Lawrence's raced prime Tomac either. They raced full gates of the baddest mx riders on Earth and handled them. 

If you're going to wear the red, white and blue, I don't expect you to win. All I ask is that, like an American, you show up, put in 110% and don't give up no matter what. That's all any of us could do in his shoes. He did exactly what he was asked to do. 

Sometimes that will yield results and sometimes it won't, but I would rather be represented by someone who crashed out while giving it absolutely everything he had than someone "playing it safe" and cruising around midpack. That's not what we do around here. Sometimes it will bite us in the ass but at the end of the day RJ made me proud as hell of our team we sent this year. 

They put it all out there and that's all you can ask for.  I like that they're not happy with second but honestly it's going to be tough to beat the Lawrence juggernaut in the foreseeable future . 

Let's say RJ finishes 5th in the moto he dnf'd.  They still don't win that event.  RJ had to basically beat a Lawrence for the USA to have a chance.  He sent it.  They still ended up second, which is exactly where they would have been if he rode safer.  

Only 6 other riders in the world were faster than RJ one moto. That he crashed in one of his two motos is a good case of shit happens on dirt bikes, lots of great riders crashed at that race. All the belly aching about USA's results in the race dismiss the absolute brilliance of the Lawrence family business, and the fact that every other team would have loved the USA's results except one. If second place in desNations is hard to handle for you as an American I got bad news about the next few years....

Yep, I finally got to see the rides I've been expecting from him all summer. Thanks, RJ!

Austin, Chase, Macadoo....

I'm not sure there is even such a thing as an Eli Tomac hater. Eli rode great Sunday. Nobody would say he underperformed Sunday. If someone thought he was going to beat the Lawrence's, they set their expectations too high and must not have watched the Nationals 

Lol...I've always called those %110ers that stay off the ground "lucky".🙃

We finished right where I thought we would. No matter who we would have sent, no one had anything for Australia. 

Unless of course you sent Deagan and he took out Webster multiple times.

 Funny, not funny.

Team USA rode hard all day, what more can you ask.

Shit happens at mxon, just ask every other country.

USA cant win every year, think yourselves lucky to be on the podium.

Tomac

We couldn't have done better. When you have Jett and Hunter on the same team, it's tough. What can you do? It was a pretty crazy week and I'm proud of RJ and Justin for stepping up. Personally, I felt like I was improving every time I rode. On Saturday, I was struggling during qualifying. I was really disappointed and, to be honest, I had trouble sleeping that night. I was very nervous. But Sunday was a lot better. The track was harder too. We could be more creative overall and jump gaps, especially in the second moto. I wouldn't say the track was more rutted than Pro Motocross. I would say the base was harder. I think they ran some smaller bikes on the weekend. They had to pack the track to allow them to ride and the ruts were shallower for us. We started the Nations on a more compact surface and then it became a really nice motocross track.  It was very varied, with slippery, hard and softer areas. I have this race among my best memories, even if only the victory counts."

JCoop

I crashed in every moto, but I fought as hard as I could. I really gave it my all. The weekend was very demanding, but it was a unique opportunity to experience an incredible moment. The atmosphere and the fans were incredible. Riding in a 250cc class against the 450cc class is really tough. You get bombarded for 35 minutes. But it was up to me to do the job. You always had to keep your speed in the corners. Otherwise, you had to take advantage of the slightest mistake to dive down the inside. In the second moto, when I crashed, Jonass passed me, and it took me the whole race to overtake him. I fought hard to get there, and I think that gave me second place. We gave it our all. Australia had a strong team. I gave it my all for the American team.