P120
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
I
t's seeming more and more
likely every day that Team
USA's Motocross of Nations
team will consist of the top rac-
ers available in each class. As
of the writing, the team should
consist of defending 450MX
champ and current points leader
Eli Tomac, 250MX points leader
Aaron Plessinger and Justin Bar-
cia (who is fourth in points right
now behind Tomac, France's
Marvin Musquin and Germany's
Ken Roczen). This is the ideal
lineup for Team USA under the
circumstances, and we might
have Monster Energy to thank
for it, since the RedBud event is
sponsored by Monster Energy
and all three prospective mem-
bers of Team USA are spon-
sored by said company. Tomac
has balked on going to the
MXoN for quite a few years now,
even when he was healthy, but
with his team's biggest sponsor
also sponsoring the event, and
with the event being held in his
home country, it's possible that
will have made the difference in
Tomac's 2018 participation.
But there are some things
about this that I think American
fans need to keep in mind before
they get too cocky about our
country's chances at this event:
First off, the rules at the
Motocross of Nations have been
changed over the last 15 years
or so specifically to help the rest
of the world compete with, and
defeat, Team USA.
(This isn't an unfair or unrea-
sonable thing, either. The United
States has the largest population
of any of the MXoN's true con-
tenders by far, and as a country,
WIDE WORLD OF MX
Can Team USA take back the Cham-
berlain Trophy for the first time since
2011 at RedBud later this year?
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JUAN
PABLO
ACEVEDO/HUSQVARNA
IMAGES
