P130
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
W
hat a difference a year
makes, huh? Last year,
at this time, the Red
Bull KTM team had their super-
cross-title hopes pinned on Mar-
vin Musquin, who played second
fiddle for many years behind
now-retired Ryan Dungey. The
team hired Cooper Webb based
mostly on Webb's tenacity and
250cc successes, but Webb
was sort of a "what if?" kind of
thing. The team had a few other
"what if?" racers over the years
in the second (or third) spot on
the team, including Trey Canard,
Broc Tickle and Dean Wilson,
but none of them worked out for
various reasons.
Now, Webb is the defending
AMA Supercross Champion,
and Musquin just blew out his
knee (basically finishing the
job on a knee that hasn't been
great for a while). Musquin is
going to be 30 years old in less
than two weeks; that's like 75 in
motocross years. Very few have
successfully raced, or won, past
30. Most retire before they even
get to 30.
Musquin is, and was, a rare
talent. He's also funny, loyal,
a hard worker, and he's really
good at speaking, which isn't
that common in our sport, even
though English is his second
language! He can put racing
into words like very few can.
Musquin's won two MX2 World
Championships, a 250cc
AMASupercross title, a bunch
of races, the Monster Million,
and has spent over a decade at
KTM making a great living and
representing the team as a true
professional.
But, if he was going to be a
premier Supercross champion, it
would've happened by now.
Every year, there are dozens
THE 30s
Marvin Musquin's
knee injury leaves
the Red Bull KTM
Team with a couple
of important ques-
tions to answer: Will
it fill his spot with
another rider and,
if so, who will that
rider be?
