Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

GUEST EDITORIAL By BRoe GLOVER aving recentl y returned from the the overall win . What frustrates m e is 2003 Motocro ss des Nations in l older, Belgium, I arrived home with m ixed emotions . On one hand , I t h a t a s sign ificant as the MX d es Na tions rem ains, it is considered by many hig hly influential indi viduals to couldn't be prouder to be an American m otocross enthusiast. Our team be an inconvenience . The sad truth is that th is yea r th ere was eve n a deb at e within the AMA abo ut wh eth er or not H of Ric k y Carmi cha el, T im m y Fe rry and Ryan Hughes rod e th eir hearts out and finished on the p od ium i n second pl ace . Perh aps ev en more importantly , I w as proud of the way they conduc ted t he m se l ve s as true t o fi eld a t eam at all. I h av e sin c e found out tha t for 2004 th e d eb at e has eve n m or e substance sin ce not only are th e fi nanc ial burdens a co n cern of AMA Pro Racing , bu t adde d to repr es entativ e s of th e USA and Ame rican m ot o cr oss c u l t u r e a s a who le. that is th e conti nua l political squab bling betwe en the AMA and th e FIM. TV and tra v el mone y, sanc tio ni ng Ricky was ver y gra ci ous in bo th his individual victory and in accepting th e USA te am 's loss to ho st country agre em ents , you name it - th ey seem to find a wa y to dis a gree. In other wo rds , we , th e A m erica n m ot o cro ss and fell ow m oto cross p o w erhouse, B el g i um. He gained th e respect of communit y , are not m uch m or e th an pawns in a po liti c al c hess ga me . If th ou sands who wi tnessed him finish this bi ckering con tinues , we might be voided of the chance to win back the on top of th e mu ch -anticipated showdown wit h Be lgian national hero Stefan Evert s in an event tha t th e local press dubbed the " p r e st i g e d u e l." T here's no doubt that RC proved to all he is the best mot ocross rider in the wo rld . Even on Belg ian soil, he w as able to chase down each current World Cha m pion to ca pt u re bo th of hi s week end races. Good job , Ricky! MX des Nations ti t l e j u st b ecaus e many of those same highly influenti al people in the AMA are trying to prove a point to the FIM . It's no wonde r that t h e MX d es Na tions seems lik e suc h a large burden , cons i dering i t is being both viewed as and used as a bargaining c hip. In my opi nion , that is not the Ti mmy Fer ry , America 's rookie on po int of this great competition. Can 't th e t eam , du g d eep and rode t o a hard -fo u gh t n in th - pl a c e fi nish. He we just dro p the fighting for one week of the year? B esides, the re m ust be o v e rca me a m is er ab le start an d a b e tt er t h in g s to spe nd the AMA wicked late -moto cras h, secu rin g our Board 's ti me and our membership' s strong second -p lace team fin i sh , all the wh il e nursin g an injured thumb m on ey on - li k e paying l aw y ers to fi g ht w it h C l ear C ha nnel , th e N PG from a Saturday pra ct ice m ishap . Ryan Hugh es was classic Ryn o. He rode w ith 1 1O-pe rc en t e f fo rt th e entire time. If not for bad luck and a b rok en chai n, I' m ce rtain h e would and , on ot her issues, the FIM. Th e many America n fans in atten dance whom I spoke with in Belg ium all agreed that such an attitude was unbelievab le. At the end of the fina l race, one A me ric an f an sh o u t ed , " Hey , Rick y , we'll get 'em nex t year!" of money from sou rces that included th e factories, a particular " X" publi cation 's founder, p lus the MXDN team rid ers and thei r fa milies. As hard as it is to believe , even the team m ech an ics were ask ed to pay some of thei r I b el i ev e while t h i s most rece nt " de fe at " is still fresh in our he art s, now is the best time to sta rt planning for next y ear. We c an' t co ntinue to push the funding effort off to the last minute and handle it li k e an eleme n- expenses. This style of rag -t ag funding was indee d someth ing of a sur p rise to m e tary scho ol bake sale . Sa d ly , o ur 2003 MX des Nations effort and lessthan-desirable results were no differ- an d appeared marred with defi cien cies . Considerin g ou r cu rrent wo rl dlead ing sta nda rds of U.S . m ot ocro ss rac ing, ou r Am er ic an " t eam effo rt" loo ke d m ore l i k e thr ee ind i vidu al semi priva t eer ende avo rs . T he co he - en t. How ever well inte ntio ned th e f u n d ra is ing parti es involv ed have been, selling T- shirts and stickers as a signifi cant source of funding for our top -notch Ame rican effort is , at its so urce. fundamenta lly flawed . Send - sive ne ss seem ed lacking. and tea m strategies we re all but vo id . Th er e were no t eam dinners or ac t ivities to brin g th e group t og eth er. Wh o wa s suppo sed t o pa y for some t hi ng li ke ing our te am to batt le with a less than -ad equate wa r chest is bad poli cy. Now is th e ti me to plan for an d c om mi t t o w orking toward MX d es Na tions success in 200 4 - no t next th at, an yh ow ? As a pa st .T eam USA m emb er , I rem em ber gettin g ex t ra excited about th is eve nt and wantin g to put forth my best effort for not only my country bu t also my teammates . Even after we had spent all season Aug ust when budgets are tapped and funds are a distant m emory. My h o p e is that the m o t o rc y cl e ma nufacturers and aftermarket co mpan ies , t h e American riders , an d motocross fans will acknowledge the try in g to beat one another's b ra ins out , at this eve nt, w e were all one t eam racing for one cause. Speaking as a fa n, i ndustry empl oyee , a nd fo r mer Am e r i c a n team r i der , I bel ieve the MX des Na tions to be one of the m ost - if not mag nitu de of the MX d es Nati on s event and support their A me r ica n team to the fullest. By sell ing "Team US A " par t ne rship s to su p po rti v e compa nies who willingly embrace the importance of thi s race would sure ly the single m o st i m p o rt a n t mo toc ross races in th e w orld. Th e class effort . T he involvement of these festival atmos p h e re of a M X des co m pan ies wou ld in turn likely help fu nd a sig nificant portion of a first- Nations is like no other racing event. In Belgium , I witnessed 3 0, 0 0 0 pas sionate motocross fans cheer, blow horns an d wave fl ags as th eir he roes raced by. Live TV coverag e w as fed to countless co untrie s throug ho ut th e influence the top Amer ican rid ers in p artic ipa t in g if selecte d t o th e U.S. team . With a little mindfulness and ene rgy, a core group of like-minded indi vi dua l s co ul d easily spe ar he ad the wo rld. Ev en Ko ni ng Albert II, th e ki ng of Belgium , w as in attenda nce, an d hi s was no t ok en appearance, eith er. have been in th er e fight in g until th e very end. As ex pec ted , Ryn o earn ed many fan s with a spi rit ed ride abo ard C arm ich a el ' s ins tinct ual response his KTM 450 SX , p l a c in g sec ond wa s: "Yes, for sure ." To my surprise, beh ind Carmich ael in t he se mifi nal race. D ur ing th at race, Hugh es, li k e h e turn ed to m e and sai d : "I d on 't eve n k now if we will get to co me next Al bert II were p lastered in every Mon - RC, passed all th ree of Belgium's cur- year. I he ard that the AMA was say- en dea vor . W ith a pr op er eff o r t in orde r, I beli eve we will ag ain ex peri- day m orn in g newspaper throughout Be lgium. I think all of us, Ameri can rid er s, teams , sanctioning bo dies, fa ns an d the motorcycle indust ry as a whol e, can and should do a much bett er j ob supporting this spectac ular ann ual competition. There is no justified reason why we ca n't. My goal in writi ng was not to place blame on anyone individual or orga nization . This issue i s much bigg er than tha t, and there's rent World Ch am p ion s. A s an Ame rica n, I wo uld l ike t o th an k all of our fantast ic riders and s u p port t e a m members for t he ir u n se lfish sac rifices . I kn ow yo u all wanted to win badly , bu t it just wasn 't meant to be . In particu lar, I want to th an k RC for spending his first weddin g anniversary beating the pants off of t he best th e w orld has to o ffe r w hile prou d ly wearing the good old ing that it's too ex pe nsive to send a team ." D u r i n g t h a t long flig h t home , I a ntici pated t h e questio ns I'd be fo rced t o hear. "We lost aga in? What happened? " Our " l o ss" is indeed a bitter p ill to swallow . This "Olympics of Motocross " just happens to co me at the end of our rac ing season , and we ' re now forced to wait nearl y 12 Red, Wh ite and Bl ue. Desp it e all the good things I witnessed and participated in during m y lon g m on th s for another oppo rtun ity to prove ourselves. After l o o k i n g into i t f urther , I learned of the severe shortfall in tri p t o B el giu m , I contin ue t o have feelings of great frustratio n. But no t bec au se the American s didn 't take financia l support for the 2003 team . The bu rden had become reliant upon AMA funding, plus a loose co llection ence th e fee li ng of p atr iotic pr ide Th e k in g spent an ent ire day at track - whe n T eam USA recaptures our win- s i de , ri g h t up through h i s 6 p.m . po di um p resentat ions. Pho tos of th e vict ori o u s B elg ian t eam w it h K ing ning leg ac y in 2 0 04 in Lierop , HoIland . I trul y beli eve now is th e t ime to become active. T ru e fan s of the sport n e ed to s pe ak u p a n d be h e ar d . Plea se let the motocross co m m unit y know yo ur feelings of just how importa nt it is th at we put fo rth Ameri ca's fi nes t effo rt in order t o sec ure o ur place as the world's m o st dominant motocrosse rs . Reme mber that if we tr u ly ex pect our best riders to want to be on the tea m, we must assure them o f the im portan ce o f th i s competition an d t h at o ur best e ff o rts are p u t i n to much more at stake. My goal is t o offer h el p i n re pairing the fai led method i n whic h t he Am e ri c a n m ot o cr oss co m m unity, incl uding the AMA , orga nizes, funds and u lti mately competes in the MX des Nat ion s. cue I e n action. eN B ro c Glover is a s ix -ti me AMA National M ot o cross Champion ... Editor e _ S • NOVEMBER 12, 2003 87

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