Honda men gear up for 2011 Motocross of Nations

The 2011 MX1 World Championship season may be over but the party has
certainly not finished! This weekend (17-18 September), the 65th edition
of the FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN) will be hosted in Saint Jean
d’Angely, France and will provide national motocross heroes the chance
to represent their country on the world stage.

MXoN attracts
the very best riders from around the world to compete in the three-man
team event, across MX1, MX2 and open lass categories. Most
interestingly, provides an opportunity for the very best from the
American series to race shoulder to shoulder with the best from Europe
and the World Championship series. The only time in the season that this
mouth-watering prospect becomes a reality.

No fewer than 18
Honda men have been selected to represent their country at the event.
Both Honda World Motocross Team riders have been given the call up.
Evgeny Bobryshev will represent Team Russia, with team-ma
tes
Alexander Tonkov and Sergey Astaykin. Rui Gonçalves will be riding for
Team Portugal, lining up next to team-mates Paulo Alberto and Luis
Correia.

Other Honda men to look out for include AMA Supercross runner-up
Chad Reed, riding for Team Australia, British Champion Brad Anderson,
riding for Team Great Britain and MX1 World Championship regular, Gunter
Schmidinger, riding for Team Austria.

MXoN has been dubbed the
Olympics of motocross and looks set to be a battle royale on a grand
scale, as several nations are posturing to rip the title from current
holders, Team USA. France, Great Britain and Germany are amongst the
favourite challengers but don’t count out an upset. Anything can happen
when the best in the world come to town to duel it out!

Evgeny Bobryshev, Honda World Motocross
“Obviously
the main aim is to qualify on Saturday and then to see where we go from
there. In many ways the pressure is off but we are still looking to go
there and be competitive. It is a great honour to compete for my country
and something you don’t get to do ofte
n in
motocross, so it will be very special for me. I am not the biggest fan
of the track at St Jean but I went ok there earlier in the year for the
GP of France and will be looking for more of the same.”

Rui Gonçalves, Honda World Motocross
“Our
aim is the get the best result that has ever been achieved for Team
Portugal, which I think was eight position. The first step is to qualify
and to do this we will need to stay together and support each other. We
can then look to the next phase and push for a strong finishing
position. The Motocross of Nations is always a special event and it will
be a good way to cap of a successful season. I like the track at St
Jean d’Angley and am looking forward to going back there again.”