Estonia's Decade of MXoN Awesomeness! (and other cool stats I found...)

moto804
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Edited Date/Time 10/1/2019 1:12pm
One of the things from this weekend's race that I think is getting underpublicized is Estonia's amazing run to 4th overall! No articles on RacerX yet, no topics that I have found in here. I did see some mention around page 24 of the race day discussion - and even that was from a couple people that were surprised. But should we be surprised?

NO! They have been doing this for a long time! Their record in the 2010's decade is quite spectacular.

Here are a few stats to blow your minds:

- 9 out of 10 years finished in the top 10 (Only France, USA, and Belgium top that - with Great Britain tied at 9)

- Average finish in last 5 yrs - 6.6 (Only France, Belgium, USA, and Netherlands are better)
- Average finish in last 10 yrs - 8.4 (add GB and Australia to the above list leaving them 7th best in decade!)

- One of only 10 Countries to get a top 5 overall - twice: 2015 & 2019

- There is only one country that has not been beaten by Estonia at least once in this decade: Belgium
(beating the USA in 2017 and 2019)

- Through the entire decade Estonia has only had 6 riders represent their country!
- it is fairly well known that Tanel Leok has been to 19 MXoN in a row - which is AMAZING
His Teammates:
- 2010-2012: Gert Krestinov & Priit Ratseep
- 2013: GK & Erki Kahro
- 2014: GK & Harri Kullas
- 2015-2017 & 2019: PR & HK
- 2018: HK & Hardi Roosiorg

- This was the 4th year for this year's team to go along with a team that started the decade on a 3 year run.
- The USA has never sent the same team twice this decade - even on non-consecutive years
- We have also used 16 different riders on our team in that same time!

Please don't take this as another bash session on our team or another reason for why the race has passed us by and isn't relevant anymore. This is meant to giving major props to Estonia. A country that is smaller (in both land mass and population) than the state that I live in, but manages to keep figuring out how to support their team that keeps delivering results! I do wonder if there is any lessons from this team that our guys can take? Maybe leave the team together for a couple years???

Also, props to RacerX for putting up the stats for the last 15 yrs of the MXoN. I had no intention of digging this deep into this when I started this morning, but I got hooked the deeper I dug...

I think if you guys dig a little deeper into this, there is probably a really good story to be written here. Maybe Matthes or DC can have someone follow their team around next year and put together a longform piece in celebratioin of Tanel Leok's 20th straight MXoN!!!
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moto804
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9/30/2019 8:34pm
Here is a little snip from my excel file for those that want to get a visual representation of the stats and maybe check out some other trends:


6
FWYT
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9/30/2019 8:38pm
Yeah, it's amazing! After the usual powerhouse countries, it's Estonia that is right there. Pretty awesome!
I wonder if their fellow countrymen were just loosing their minds watching the race, or what?
1
moto804
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9/30/2019 9:02pm
As I mentioned I got a little hooked while digging into this, so, here are the rest of the teams that had at least 1 Top 10 finish plus a few teams that caught my eye while stat surfing:




Key points that caught my eye here:

- Ireland has managed to make 9 out of 10 A-finals, but never got a top 10!

- Czech Republic is like the B-final champ! Only made 4 A-finals, but average finish of just over 20. Only missed 1 race during the decade - 2010 Colorado

- South Africa only made 2 A-finals, but got 6th in one of those 2!


In case anyone is wondering, for races that teams missed, I just took the total # of teams + 1 for their score for that year (hence Netherlands 31 for 2010 when they did not come). Not sure if that is the most fair way to represent it or not, but its what I used...
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SLAPAHO
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9/30/2019 9:17pm
stoked for Tanel Leok, he's been trying forever. 4th place is quite the accomplishment. i remember watching him doing the mxdn's when he was just 19 on a zook, very cool to see him still at it and ripping
4

The Shop

BMc914
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9/30/2019 10:16pm Edited Date/Time 9/30/2019 10:29pm
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years of history on the excel sheet???

Am I missing something?
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Boomslang
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9/30/2019 10:25pm
Interesting read and thank you for your time and effort.
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Bosco
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10/1/2019 2:49am
moto804 wrote:
As I mentioned I got a little hooked while digging into this, so, here are the rest of the teams that had at least 1 Top...
As I mentioned I got a little hooked while digging into this, so, here are the rest of the teams that had at least 1 Top 10 finish plus a few teams that caught my eye while stat surfing:




Key points that caught my eye here:

- Ireland has managed to make 9 out of 10 A-finals, but never got a top 10!

- Czech Republic is like the B-final champ! Only made 4 A-finals, but average finish of just over 20. Only missed 1 race during the decade - 2010 Colorado

- South Africa only made 2 A-finals, but got 6th in one of those 2!


In case anyone is wondering, for races that teams missed, I just took the total # of teams + 1 for their score for that year (hence Netherlands 31 for 2010 when they did not come). Not sure if that is the most fair way to represent it or not, but its what I used...
You could argue that Ireland is the B-final champ.
- We've won it 7 out of the last 15 years (earlier records not on MXGP website).
- Perhaps more cruicially, we were only in the B-final 10 times in the last 15 years. So we won 7 of the last 10 B-finals we were in.

If we're in the B-final, there's a 70% chance we'll win Laughing
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keinz
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10/1/2019 3:21am

Twenty years in stats. In 2004 we lost the podium spot, because Tanels bike clutch give up just two laps before checkered

2000-2019

1
10/1/2019 3:25am
BMc914 wrote:
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years...
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years of history on the excel sheet???

Am I missing something?
There was no such things as excel spread sheet, computers or even paper back when Tanel started racing.
4
keinz
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10/1/2019 3:28am
BMc914 wrote:
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years...
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years of history on the excel sheet???

Am I missing something?
moto804
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10/1/2019 3:57am Edited Date/Time 10/1/2019 3:57am
BMc914 wrote:
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years...
You say Leok has been in 19 mxon in a row and next year will be 20th straight mxon for Leok but only have 10 years of history on the excel sheet???

Am I missing something?
keinz wrote:
Well if I had found that link I may not have wasted as much time at work yesterday. 😀

To the original question, I just grabbed my stats from here: https://racerxonline.com/results/2018/motocross-of-nations/combined

I only went back 10 yrs due to time, but have been following Leok's story for a while as he is only a few years younger than me and still kicking ass! That link only goes back 15 yrs, not sure if the mxgp site lists rosters back to his first race or not.
crusty_xx
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10/1/2019 4:32am
And he raced with a torn ACL to support his country and keep his streak alive.
Man it would be so awesome to see them on the podium next year in Tanels 20th participation
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TriRacer27
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10/1/2019 4:54am
That's awesome, thanks for pointing it out. I would love to see an in-depth on Estonian motocross.

Did you know Tanel's been racing the world GP circuit longer than Regan Duffy's been alive?
2
10/1/2019 5:03am
Great story, great history.

Shame no "moto journo" (in "" because no such thing exists)..
does a story on them or even seeks an interview.
1
colintrax
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10/1/2019 5:28am
shkapars wrote:
Population of Estonia is 1,3 million
That's about the same as Montana Woohoo
moto804
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10/1/2019 10:33am
Since Keinz posted the wiki link, it made it a little easier to go back a few more years.

Here is the top 10 going back the past 15 yrs:



Big shift here is the change from when the USA was dominating.
This is also pre-Herlings, so the Dutch slip down (also impact by them missing both US races in 07 and 10).

Overall Estonia is still rock solid all the way back and as Keinz showed, last time they missed the A-final was 2000!
2
moto804
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10/1/2019 10:42am
Here is the rest of the list - no major shifts with the addition of 5 more years - NZ moved up a little...


1
moto804
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10/1/2019 10:51am
One last stat, then I'm done...

Estonia's years of experience at MXoN:

Tanel Leok - 19 yrs
Priit Ratseep - 7 yrs
Harri Kullas - 8 yrs (6 w/ Est & 2 with Finland - 2010 & 2013)

That is a combined total of 34 years at the MXoN! That has to be some kind of record!

I think the most for any US rider in history is Jeff Ward with 7 (all wins!) and he just matches the least experience of this group!

Also, to cover the team all the way back to '05 you only need to add 2 more teammates: Juss Lannsoo and Aigor Leok.
So, 8 riders over 15 years which resulted in 12 top 10 finishes!

3
FWYT
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10/1/2019 10:55am
Man, that's incredible.
1
keinz
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10/1/2019 12:39pm
crusty_xx wrote:
And he raced with a torn ACL to support his country and keep his streak alive. Man it would be so awesome to see them on...
And he raced with a torn ACL to support his country and keep his streak alive.
Man it would be so awesome to see them on the podium next year in Tanels 20th participation

4
G-man
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10/1/2019 12:51pm
moto804 wrote:
One of the things from this weekend's race that I think is getting underpublicized is Estonia's amazing run to 4th overall! No articles on RacerX yet...
One of the things from this weekend's race that I think is getting underpublicized is Estonia's amazing run to 4th overall! No articles on RacerX yet, no topics that I have found in here. I did see some mention around page 24 of the race day discussion - and even that was from a couple people that were surprised. But should we be surprised?

NO! They have been doing this for a long time! Their record in the 2010's decade is quite spectacular.

Here are a few stats to blow your minds:

- 9 out of 10 years finished in the top 10 (Only France, USA, and Belgium top that - with Great Britain tied at 9)

- Average finish in last 5 yrs - 6.6 (Only France, Belgium, USA, and Netherlands are better)
- Average finish in last 10 yrs - 8.4 (add GB and Australia to the above list leaving them 7th best in decade!)

- One of only 10 Countries to get a top 5 overall - twice: 2015 & 2019

- There is only one country that has not been beaten by Estonia at least once in this decade: Belgium
(beating the USA in 2017 and 2019)

- Through the entire decade Estonia has only had 6 riders represent their country!
- it is fairly well known that Tanel Leok has been to 19 MXoN in a row - which is AMAZING
His Teammates:
- 2010-2012: Gert Krestinov & Priit Ratseep
- 2013: GK & Erki Kahro
- 2014: GK & Harri Kullas
- 2015-2017 & 2019: PR & HK
- 2018: HK & Hardi Roosiorg

- This was the 4th year for this year's team to go along with a team that started the decade on a 3 year run.
- The USA has never sent the same team twice this decade - even on non-consecutive years
- We have also used 16 different riders on our team in that same time!

Please don't take this as another bash session on our team or another reason for why the race has passed us by and isn't relevant anymore. This is meant to giving major props to Estonia. A country that is smaller (in both land mass and population) than the state that I live in, but manages to keep figuring out how to support their team that keeps delivering results! I do wonder if there is any lessons from this team that our guys can take? Maybe leave the team together for a couple years???

Also, props to RacerX for putting up the stats for the last 15 yrs of the MXoN. I had no intention of digging this deep into this when I started this morning, but I got hooked the deeper I dug...

I think if you guys dig a little deeper into this, there is probably a really good story to be written here. Maybe Matthes or DC can have someone follow their team around next year and put together a longform piece in celebratioin of Tanel Leok's 20th straight MXoN!!!
Great post at Budds Creek we befriended a bunch of kiwis and every time Leok came by they would go absolutely insane! 😲

These Kiwi’s blew my freaken ears out! lol







1
10/1/2019 1:12pm
TriRacer27 wrote:
That's awesome, thanks for pointing it out. I would love to see an in-depth on Estonian motocross. Did you know Tanel's been racing the world GP...
That's awesome, thanks for pointing it out. I would love to see an in-depth on Estonian motocross.

Did you know Tanel's been racing the world GP circuit longer than Regan Duffy's been alive?
About 50% of the Estonian motocrossers are Leok’s. Seriously, they are everywhere Laughing and there is a new generation of them coming up.

I’ve been over there to ride before, and they have some sick tracks over there to go with some serious deep sandpits. No wonder they learn how to ride dirtbikes fast over there.

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