P112
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
I
've always thought that one of
the major appeals of motocross
racing—or motor racing in gen-
eral—was that it was an individual
sport as opposed to team sports.
In team sports, you can do your
job perfectly fine, but if the rest
of your team doesn't, you can
still lose. In individual sports, the
presumption is that if you do your
job, you win.
Upon further review, this
doesn't really apply at the top
level of motocross/supercross
racing. MX/SX racing is a team
sport in the truest sense of the
term. Factory racers are the best
of the best, and they're expected
to give their team results on the
weekend. And believe me, all
of them want to deliver on that
expectation. But just as in any
other team sports, other mem-
bers of the team and/or coach-
ing staff can make or break the
season for any factory racer.
Look no further than Red Bull
KTM's defending AMA Super-
cross Champion Cooper Webb.
Webb spent two years with the
Monster Energy Yamaha team
and had very little to show for it
in the end, then in his first year
with the Red Bull KTM team, he
won a championship. The simple
fact is that the race team Roger
DeCoster assembled at KTM is
full of people who do whatever it
takes to get their jobs done, as
evidenced by their winning four
of the last five AMA Supercross
titles (all five if you consider
Husqvarna to be a de facto part
of the same camp).
Monster Energy Yamaha's Jus-
tin Barcia said he has struggled
with his setup at Yamaha for a
while, and although he didn't
elaborate too much, he said
that former 125cc SX Champion
THERE'S NO "I" IN RACE TEAM EITHER
Have Justin Barcia and his Yamaha
team found the right combo to win,
or at least compete for, a Supercross
Championship in 2020? So far, it
seems like it. PHOTO: STEVE COX
