Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Jeff Emig holds the trophy from the 1996 Motocross des Natio ns, flanked by team manager Roger DeCoster an d Ste ve Lams on . (Rig ht) Jeremy McGrath was also a part of that tit lewinning team th at ranks a mon g the best ever. (Below) Emig leads te ammate Lamson in Jerez, Spain. back in 1995 a nd beat the Americans in Sverepec, Slovakia (s ite of an a nother American Trophee d es N ations win in 1983). Like a disturbed h orn e ts ' n est, the proud Ameri can m ot ocross em pire w as in a frenzv to wi n back the ti lle tha t it had becom~ so accustomed to winning. Thus, w hen the team was selected for th e 1996 Motocross d es ations a t jerez de la Fronte ra, Spain, 125cc National Champion Steve Lam so n, 250cc N ational Champion jeff Emi g and AMA Supercross Champion jeremy McG rath vo w ed to win - and wi n big . Th e [erez circuit, carved out of a hillside of the world-famous road racing circuit, was a supercross-orien ted tr ack that su ited the hig h-flyi ng Americans perfectly . And while th e 1996 tea m d idn't have as m u ch MX DN experie nce as the 1986 team (a shaky McG rath had been a m ember of the 1993 wi nning tea m in Austria , with Emig as a teammate; moreover, Emig had ridden on the winning team in -Austra lia the yea r prior), the three-man team atta cked at [ere z . For the record , Lamson, Emig and McG rath took to the stad ium like track with su ch dazzling precision tha t the shake n Eu ro peans bitched until th e organizers finally gave in and sen t the bulldozers out to tame the tra ck down a bit It would n' t make a bit of difference . In the first co m bined 125cc/ 500c c moto, La mson sho t into the lead o n h is w orks A s we allude-d to earlier, the objective of this exercise is to determine whi ch team wa s, in fa ct, the gr eatest Motocro ss des Nations squadron of all time. So in an effort to boil it all d own to on e team, we con tacted th ree of the men pres ent at the aforementioned races - David Bailey, Roger DeCoster and Stev ~ Lamson, Here's wh at they had to say... DAVID BAILEY Dressed in Day-Glo ora nge JT ap pa rel and in complete comma nd of the grow ling SOOCC beast he had been tapped to ride , Dav id Bailey was absol u te poetry in mo tion that su nny afternoon in Italy in 1986. Her e's his ta ke on just w hat team was the greatest in des Nat ions history . "We wer e a very, very good team ," Bail ey sai d fro m his home in San Diego, California . "I had just wrapped up the 500cc National Championship, R.J. had been winning everything and O 'M ara was the ma n on the 125. \Ve were a ll fierce ly competitive and at the pea ks of our careers. Also , I had a score to settle with Johnson, who had won the 250cc Na tional Championship and Su percross Cha mp ionship. I had won the 500cc title and wanted to prov e th at I wa s better ~ it was a big rival ry . "Th e night before th e race, af ter one of our infamous fire- extingu isher fights, O' Mara told me that he had signe a cond tract with Suz uki. I rem ember him say ing to me, ' David, I' m not going to let off tomorrow. I'm going to pr ove to Honda that they made a mistake in lettin g me leave for Suzuki . I' m going to put in the ride of my life: "All three of us had so much mo tivation; we all reall y wanted to be there! In fact, we wanted to generat e a perfect score, as that had never bee n d one before. As th e ra ce was going on , we realized how great we we re doing. We were also aware that we were making history . We were beating gu ys like Eric Ceboers, David Thorpe and George'S lobe - a lot of talent. I really believe that we were facing a little thicker comp etition from the Europeans than the guys did in 1996. In fact, to tell the tru th, I didn't follow the team in 1996, because I do n't think it meant as much. If you wa lk a ro u nd an d a sk 15 peop le who the greatest Motocross des Nations team was, you 'll hear R.J., Johnny and 125, n ever to b e headed a gain . And while 125cc World Champion Sebastien Tortelli attempted to reel him in a t the very end, he couldn't ge t close en o u g h to Lamson ' s red rear fender to m ake a nyt hi n g happen; thus the Californian Bailey in 1986. Back in that day, peo ple really paid attention to the des Na tions. The 1980s - that was the era that separated us from everyone else. I'm no t sa ying we were a better team, but we were keeping th e strea k alive and eve ryo ne was so inte rest- ed in that. It seems like those times were more special." ROGER DECOSTER In his hallow ed career, not only d id Belgian Roger De <:oster win five RM SOOcc World Championshi ps, he also rode on 10 w inning Trophee de s Na tio ns team s with Belgium (Belgium had a 1O-year win streak in the 250cc-bas ed eve nt) and six , had beaten every single rider - incl udi ng World C hampion Shayne King - o n the' track. It was tru lya remarkable feat o f talent, speed and determination - no t to m ention some d ivine retribu tion for the beating Lamson had ta ke n a t Tortelli's hand the vear befo re in Slovakia . W hile all of th at 'had transpired, Emi g had q ui. e tly ridden his bi g and o ld Kawa saki wate r bu ffal o 500 to the class victory in the 50Dec division. In moto two, McGrath took th e po int : o nce the pack had so rted itse lf th rough th e sweepi ng left-ha nd first tu m . From th ere , despite a mi nor m iscue th a t sent him to th e dirt, McGrath rode 10 an ea sy win , w hile Lamson had aga in thrashed Tortelli a nd the rest of the 12Sec p ilot s . Ee ri ly si mil a r t o t he 1986 to ur de force , th e A mericans, with th e ir fo ur per fec t scores, had the M oto cross d es Nations clinched before the sta rt of th e thi rd moto . However , kee n to stamp th eir autho r ity on th e pro ceedings , McGra th and Emi g again w ent out and won their motos , Exac t ly 10 yea rs after th e stun ning 1986 American ass kick in g, Team USA had again d elivered a sw ift boot to the co llecti ve butt of Eu ro pe . ( 'X STEVE LAMSON To man y insid ers, Steve Lamson's ride at the 19% Motocross d e s Na tio ns in Sp a in wa s the g rea test s ingle fea t in 125cc motocross racing history. After getting beaten by both Sebastien Tort elli and Stefan Everts in Slovakia in 1995, Lamson let the anger build aU' year and went into Spain with one thing on his mind : r evenge. C u r ren t ly on the sidelines with a s everely tweaked collarbone injury, Lamson had a number of vi vid recollections regarding the 1996 Motocross des Nations. "Lead ing up to the race in Spain, McGrath and I went over to Italy to ride the Fast Cross race (held ('Very faU near Milan). cham p io ns h ip -winni ng Motocross Mo to cross d es Na ti ons After the race , we were han ging ou t ove r there before heading squads . And if that weren't enough, he managed Team USA to on to Spai n for the Motocross des Nations, and Hond, took McGrath and I over to Maggiora to practice. I could tell righ t away tha t the track was special to the Honda guys. Cliff White was talking about the race in 1986, and showi ng us where all the big passe'S happened on the track - like where O 'M arc passed 01' what's his nam e (Dave Thorpe). "At the race in Spa in, I had heard about what O'Mara did at the race in Italy in 1~86 . And while I was racing, I kept passing all these 500s and then I got arou nd Emig and when 1 won the 125cc/ 500cc mot o, I realized that that had never been do ne vir tua lly every one of its 13 des ations titles. If eve r a nyo ne was qualified to pass judgm ent on the best team of all time, it's DeCoster, the learn manager of bo th efforts. "I think the 1986 team was the best - they were the most dominant team I ha ve eve r see n," DeCo~ te r Sl id . "It' s kind of ha rd to 5e.l}' because so much of it depends on the co mpetition , but the 1986 guys were just on another level. In 1996,joel Smets (Belgium 's SOOcc rider) got knocked out, as d id Stefan Ever ts. A lot of things favored us in 1996. We would have won the race no matter wha t, bu t maybe have no t been so do m ina nt. "lohnny O'Ma r;'s rid e in 1986 was verv d ifficu lt becau se there we re still works 500s the n. Today, the 500cc GPs don ' t have the same value as they diu that yedr. In 1986, Thorpe compet ed in th at race on a wor ks Honda, a nd Honda is no longer racing the SOOcc GPs. , "There is only one team that cou ld have rival ed the 1986 team: the 1962 Swed ish Motocross des Na tions team . The race was in Wohlen, Switzerland , and all five rid ers on that team cros sed the line toget her. (Not e: The format then requ ired a team to send out five riders.) The Swed ish teams of the earl y befor e. After the rnot o, O 'Mara wa s the first un e to me a nd he was so excite-d that I did it! He told me that it was one of the best motos he had ever watched . "It's hard to say what team was better because both -of them had perfect scores. However, to me, it seemed like the Europeans we re tou gh er compe titio n than they were in 1986. It d idn' t seem like the Europea ns were going as fast in 1986, !lut it' s al l rea l ha rd to ~a y . · "I' Il tell you another cool thing about the race in 1996. Right before I left for Europ e, I called Rick johnson from LAX because he had been leaving messages for me. He told me good luck and 1960s were so dominant. I rem ember reading about that race in to ride as ,1 team a nd to not get too burned out in practice . Win ning theM o tocross des Nations in 1996 was great, a nd it was the paper, and th e wa y the press talked ab out th em - the Swedes were as big a stars as McGrath , Emig and Lamson were in 1996!" really kind of strang e that we rode at Maggiora - johnny was at the race, and I spoke to Rick before I left. There's a lot of coincidence there, isn't there?" 00 0\ 0\ ..... t--:' .~ .n o ..... u o 21

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