I dont really want to another huge thread to beat up the US riders but felt strong enough to chime in.
After hearing every media outlet and bench racing with my circle a few things stood out that lead to the loss and even simply not even making the podium.
The biggest excuse i head that everyone points out is the track conditions. I know our guys have for the last many year have not been getting exposed to shitty tracks. They've been greeted with chocolate cake at every track instead of using the natural dirt each region has to offer. Apparently people dont like hard clay at Hangtown??
I dont know how much weight this carries into the loss but I think with the history of Des nations being held more over seas and our guys never seeing them I think this is minimal. The fastest guys will always rise to the top and our guys finished way too far back to say it was track conditions.
I think a bigger factor is the break from end of the series to the Des nations. The GP's ended the week before, so these guys didnt miss a step and didnt lose anything from a weeks difference, where as AMA ended a month ago and any trainer will tell you things start dropping a week out if you dont stay on top of a program. I guarantee our guys started some supercross prep or even some time off to recover.
I have also heard that our guys are more focused on SX prep and Monster Cup and i think this theory has a bigger play.
While i believe our guys were set on doing the event and were 'all in' but I know that its impossible to not have these other factors in the back of your head. The growing trend is these guys starting SX prep now just to get ready for Monster Cup as its a high dollar event and sets the tone coming into A1.
AP is prepping for his rookie 450 year and has a lot of testing to do, Eli has the stigma of losing the SX titles due to mistakes the past few years and is anxious to redeem and I feel Eli finally agreed to race due the immense backlash he would have faced with the race being on us soil. Barcia out of all of them i feel was the strongest based on his clutch qualifier
My honest take is these guys were not 100% mentally ready for des nations. National pride, 1000's of fans cant compensate for doubts that sit in the back of your mind. Someone not 100% mentally can go from podiums to top 10's.
with the terrible conditions, pressure to get ready for SX/ Cup, and pressure to perform on home turf, trouble on saturdays i dont see how they could have won. and truthfully when someone wants to win bad enough, they make it happen,
"If you feel in control, you're not going fast enough" ~Mario Andretti
