P130
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
I
n my previous column in these
pages, I talked a lot about the
rule changes that have been
instituted for the FIM's Moto-
cross of Nations in order to help
the other teams defeat Team
USA. I also gave the reasons
why the FIM felt this to be nec-
essary. If you need to go back
and read it first, click here.
It's important to understand
the Motocross of Nations, and
the obstacles each of the teams
face (including Team USA) if they
hope to bring home the Cham-
berlin Trophy. It's been since
2011 that the USA has won the
event, and having the race return
to U.S. soil is no guarantee it will
return to its winning ways.
Here are some other things to
think about when it comes spe-
cifically to Team USA's concerns
at this year's RedBud MXoN:
The GP regulars race on a
wide variety of soils, from the
deepest sand you could imagine
(Lommel or Vaalkenswaard) to
the hardest of hard-pack tracks.
This is one of the big things
that makes the GPs stand out
in comparison to the modern-
day AMA Nationals. To win a
World Championship, you have
to be able to race on anything.
But here in the USA, we have
one sand track (Southwick) that
has a hard base underneath it.
Southwick's now so low on sand
that they had to truck some new
sand in this year. Then we have
Unadilla, which used to be more
hard-packed and rocky than it is,
but it's still plenty hard-packed
and rocky. Then we have Wash-
ougal, which looks like it has all
the traction in the world because
of the dark color of the dirt, but
in actual fact, most of the good
dirt has exited the Washougal
facility under the fenders of 40
THE TILTED TABLE
Yes, the Motocross
of Nations is in the
U.S. this year but that
doesn't mean Team USA
is guaranteed to win.
