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The redbud mud race where Tomac was the only one with decent results on a new bike and the other two had bad days. Yes the USA as a team had a bad year and has not won this event in six years.
When we win again is will be cool but this race isn’t as important to the USA riders factories etc as it used to be. Holding two mxgp races in the USA yearly would probably help that.
The Shop
DC
Racer X
I certainly was on the US bandwagon right up to the point when RV went to Europe and yes was competitive but also was beaten handily most weekends. Guys were beating him I didn't really know. I really thought RV was going to go over there and wax everyone and I was certainly proven wrong. And I get it that RV wasn't 100% into the whole thing but I would have bet that even an 80% RV would have won handily. That certainly opened my eyes a lot more to what was going on over the pond.
So this certainly has not happened over the last 2-3 years if you have been following the sport. US dominance has been slowly eroding to the point we are happy with just a podium now. I can't recall a time previous to when that would happen.
Just to stir the pot a bit, since 2015 when the GP came to America till now. The country with the biggest variety of winners in a FIM MX event (GPs/MxDN) is.... America. America is the last country to sweep a Moto podium and that was without the “top” riders. The last country to have guys go 1-2 in two diffrerent classes in a GP was America. These were both done deep into the “losing” MxDN streak. In a three span in from 15 to 17, Six different Yanks won a GP O/A plus another one won a Moto and two guys won an MXDN Moto. That makes 9 diffrerent winners.... of course the US is not as strong as 14 let’s say when you had RV,Stew,RD and canard retire. Three of those being in there 20’s. Hard to replace guys that quick, Even for the USA.
The US was never has dominant indvidually as Matthes and Weedge like to say. Filling people with disallusion. Ward and Bailey had motos in the MxDN outside of the Top 5 where they were complete non factors, obviously they won some too. Bradshaw never did well there. After the second most dominate MxDN ever in 96 the Us team was Outside of the top 5 for 2-3 years. The US media is the problem and the sheep eat it up. Stanton had to basically singe handley bail us out for wins like Febvre for France. Had the the US won the MxDN In 13 and 16 like they probably should have these conversations don’t exist.
To fill people in on how clueless the American Media about the GPs is, I just heard Pingree say Coldenhoff is not having a great year. Had no idea he just won back to back GPs and is riding better than ever.
2) Yes, racers of the past like Marty Smith and Bob Hannah trained as hard as any rider of any era. Hannah did things no racer today would do I am sure. Like keep the a/c off in his hotel room in Florida and ride his bike until it ran out of gas and then push it back to the truck.
3) RV2 probably would have won the GP title had he not gotten hurt. He would have raced himself into shape by series end. Too bad he did not go there in top shape but...
4) It is impossible to know who is faster Herlings/Tomac, Euro/USA because they don't race each other in a whole series.
Tomac destroyed the MXGP guys in 2016 at the two USGP's. He won all 4 motos. and it wasn't even close. That was accomplished when Tomac was not at his peak. This is what has lead to the MXGP fans piling on against Tomac when he doesn't win. They just have to prove to themselves that what Tomac did to the MXGP field was an anomaly. It wasn't. Tomac, when he is on, can beat anyone in the world including Herlings.
Webb also came from way back to beat Herlings when Herlings completely dominated the year in MX2. Forkner also beat Herlings in a moto.
Same goes for Herlings ride at Ironman. The guy absolutely destroyed the AMA field regardless of what excuses are made for the Americans. He did it on a borrowed bike and visiting the track for the first time. At this point in time IMHO Herlings is the best outdoor rider in the world. Unlike Tomac, Herlings doesn't even need to be at his best to win against the rest of the field.
But that's where the domination stops. The top 5 AMA riders would have no problem competing against the rest of the MXGP guys. The same can't be said for the top 5 MXGP guys competing against the Americans at Anaheim 1.
Pit Row
...both Osborne and Anderson have already raced in years where other riders turned it down.... Anderson in 2016 and ZO in 2017.
Why are they just now your favorites?
Not understanding the logic unless you didn't know they have already been in this exact scenario. No big deal... I always become more of a fan for those that give this race a go... especially when it is held outside the US.
Post a reply to: John Tomac and DC