Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126983
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - _ ._ -- Eng land 's Kurt N icoll (4) grabs the holeshot in the th ird and final rnoto w ith Kees Va n der Ven (43) in tow; Rick Johnson t ries the inside of N icoll. Team Honda's Rick Johnson led t he U.S .A. to its seventh consecutive Motocross des Nations Championship with his two overall wins. Motocross des Nations ·U.S.A. tops the world (again) at Unadilla By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones NEW BERLIN , N .Y., SEPT . 13 Neither rain, nor knee-deep mud, nor th e best motocross riders in the world could stop the United States team from capturing its seventh consecutiveMotocross des Nations World Championship title at ' one o f . t h e wor ld s most demanding motocross tracks - the 1. l-rnile Unadilla Valley Sp orts Center. Honda 's Rick J oh nso n, Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward and Suzuki's Bob Hannah managed to sq ue a k ahead o f the Dutch and Belgian teams in the less than ideal racing conditio ns at Unadilla. Ra in pl ayed a major factor in this year's Motocros s des Nations, which was held for the first time ever in the Un ited States. The hilly cou rse turned into a quagmire, giving wh at many thought was an adva ntage to th e Europeans. But when it was a ll over, the U. S. prevailed wi th two points lO spare over th e Dutch team cons isting of Dave Strijbos, Kees Van der Ven and J ohn Van Den Berk. Third pl ace fell to th e Belgians with Mar c Velk en eers, Erik Geboers and Georges ' Jobe; Germany and Fra nce ro u nded o u t th e top five. Team U.S.A. to talled five points, Neth erlan d s seven and Belgium nine. , Because o f the rains a nd muddy track conditio ns, the decision to run a d ifferent race format ca me after practi ce. T he origina l plan lO run th e 125, 250 a n d 500cc classes toge ther in three rnotos, cou n ting th e best Si X scores of eac h co u n try was discarded. Instead, a two-clas s, threemoto format was used. The fir st mot o included the 125 and 500cc riders, the second moto th e 125 and 250ccs, a nd the fin al mo ta the 250cc a nd 500ccs. Thus, ri ders would only have to race twice and there would be less racers on th e track at one time. After com pleting all rnotos, the to p fo u r (o ut o f a possible six) motos of each cou n try were added , and th e co untry with th e low est point tot al was declar ed th e winner. The overall winner in th e first 125/ 500cc moto was 1987 500cc World Champion J obe, while Fren ch rider J ean-Mich el Ba yle topped the 125cc race with a fifth overa ll. The next two motos. were aced by Johnson, while th e 125cc and 500cc wi nners were . Hannah a nd Van der Ven , respectively. " I had a bad feeling we weren 't ,goin g to .p ull it off because th e Eu ropean teams, like the Belgians, are so ' tough and such good mud riders," Johnson said. " Bu t our team pulled together really strong." As j ohnsonput it , " we got off to a grim start. " After the first moto,