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/128236
Ricky Cannic ha e l saved fa ce fo r the United States by coming from behind to w in the final . bad ab ou t n ot winning the overa ll; th at 's not what this race is about. " A s for Sm ets , th e World 650cc Champion has n ot a lw ay s en joyed th e des Nations, alt ho ugh this year, it was hi s chance to relive his victory in Nismes, Be lgium , in 1997. "For me, t his event seems to be something of a st range rela tions h ip," Sm ets said . "I nearl y broke m y ankle in 1996 at the des Nations; I was inj ured in France in 2000 and had probl em s in 200 I . Today was j ust perfect. We rod e as a team , and that is what th is event is all abo ut. This is th e m ost important rac e o f the y e a r, a n d t o ha v e t h e Americ ans here, tha t m ade it all worth- important rac es of th e y ear, fo ll owi ng two y ears of letdown, T wo y ears ag o , the Un it ed States did no t field a team , and last year the eve nt was c anceled , W hile it was tea m B elgi um wh o wal ke d away with thi s y ear's Cha mbe rl a i n Troph y , i t w as T eam USA, w it h it s presen c e alo ne, that helped pick up th e broken pi eces of this his torica l ra ce, From th e m om ent q ual ifi c atio n beg an o n Sa turd ay m orning , it was o b vio us that Belgium and A merica w ould be go i ng t o w a r, f i rs t w i th C armi cha el c l ocki n g t he qu i ck est t ime, foll o wed b y Ram on an d Ev erts , wi t h Sm ets , F erry an d Hugh es all k eep ing a good p ace . New Zealand sho wed so me fire with good times by J osh C oppins a n d Ben T ow n l e y , alt ho ug h th eir chanc e to race wi th the two top teams fell away due t o injury and bad luck . By Sunday m orn in g, everyon e was an ticipati ng an E ver ts-vs .-Carm ic hael batt le , and in th e first semifi nal, that is j ust wha t th ey got . Belgi um looked like they had the goods in the o pe ning race , with Smets an d Ev ert s leading Carmi chael into the first corner. Everts broke away f ro m the lead pack and appeared to be in astounding f o rm , a ltho ug h lu rk i n g in th e shado w s was Ca rmichael. wh o roll ed up hi s sleev es and punched away at E v ert s' l ea d . B y l ap fo u r, t h e tw o were in c on tac t with each ot her, an d the 23,OOO- st ron g crowd erupted as R.C. took th e lead on la p four. Everts, th ough , was not about to j u st hand t h e A m er i can th e vict o ry , and he pushed b a ck p ast tw o lap s latter , holding on to th e lead until lap eight, when R.C. again pulled his red Ho nda alo ng side and back to th e front. "I could see hi m m ak in g m ist ak es, pus hing too hard on the jum ps, overjum pin g ," Carmi chae l said. "I k new it oc casio ns, R.C. won go ing away fro m seven-time Wo rld Motocro ss Cham p ion Everts, a rider who had been bea t able in the FIM series th is year. "This was the toughest tr ac k I have ever r i dden on , wi tho u t a d oubt , " Ca rmichael sa id . "I was reall y havin g f un , but i t wa s t ou gh wo rk . I ca n' t while - we beat the best. 1 was happy to get th e lon g time between the semi final and the A final ; I really need ed to get my head together. " When all was said and don e. o ne man st ood a l on e as th e faste st m otocross rider in the world , and that m an was Carmichael. The Ameri can s up erher o put t ogether a p erfe ct weekend , w inn ing his se mifinal and th en tak in g th e A main . On b oth help w ha t happen s to m y teammates ; I kn ew that 1 j ust had to race as fast and as hard as I co u ld . I just co ntroll ed th e throttle, and did the job. [It was ] a really good tra ck and a tra ck for th e strong ." Fo r Team USA, it wa s an event fu ll of bad luck. In Saturda y pra ctice , T im Ferry sli ppe d ov er on th e wet Zolder t ra ck , inj uring h is thumb, and w hil e the Yam aha factory rid er d idn't c om plain ab out the inj ury , it was o bv io us h e w a s only around 70 -percen t fit and no t in a position to race up fro nt. Followi ng F erry ' s problem c a m e the DN F o f Ryan Hu gh es in th e A final o n Sunday afternoon. Ryno was in all sorts of tro uble early in the race , hold ing down a terrible posit io n after a bad start , although if anyo ne was going to race through the pack , it was Hughes . On lap three , however, his race was over aft er his chain broke, leaving the KTM rider to walk back to t he pits w ith his country 's dream s in tatt er s. W ith th e A me r i ca n t ea m a ll but kn ock ed out, th e Belgi an s rod e with co nsist enc y and never look ed in dan ger of losing t he battl e. Keep this in mind, though : Ferry cam e ba ck from two cra shes in the A final and was all th e way back near 30th place , and he fi n i sh e d ninth , so how close Ry n o co u ld have come to th e top fi ve and cl inched a USA victory will never be known. But what is k now n is tha t this yea r th e M X des Nation s was ret urn ed to it s former status as o ne of t he m o st (Below) Eve rts led the Be lgia n team to victory by placing se c ond, (Right) Sm e ts pl ayed an important ro le in Belgium's victory after Ramon crashed out. The 650cc World Champion fi ni she d third in the fi nal. cue I e n e _ S • O C T O B ER 15 .2003 9