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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/146681
~MOTOCROSS ~~~Thw~a~ili~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
The American team
(cent~r) -
Billy Liles, Mike LaRocco and Jeff Emig - proudly display the MX des Nations Championship trophy high above their heads.
Team USA wins 12th straight MX des Nations
By Andrew Clubb
MANJIMUP, AUSTRALIA, SEPT. 6
na dramatic and action-packed day
of racing at the sandy, rutted and
whooped-out Cosy Creek circuit
near Manjimup, California's Jeff
Emig, Indiana's Mike LaRocco and
Georgia's Billy Liles earned America
its 12th Motocross des Nations victory
in as many yeaTS. The trio scored a
hard-fought, yet thoroughly deserving
victory ahead of the runner-up team
from Belgium and the third-place
squad from Gt:eat Britian.
The Americans tallied nine points
in their best five moto placings olit of
six starts, with one class win and four
second places.
The Belgian team - made up of
five-time World Champion Georges
Jobe, Marnicq Bervoets, and former
125cc World Champion Stefan Everts
- scored 12 points from its best five
moto finishes, while the British squad
of Kurt Nicoll, Rob Herring, and
Jamie Dobb tallied 16 points to just
take the final rostrum placing.
Led by two-time World Champion
and three-time AMA Supercross and
MX National Champion Jean-Michel
Bayle, the French team finished fourth
with 17 points, while Sweden rounded
out the top five with 22 points.
Moto class win \lonors on the day
were split between riders from the U.S.,
Belgium, Holland, Great Britain and
France, signaling the competitiveness
of this year's contest. Belgian Bervoets
was best individual performer, finishing first in the 250cc class in both his
motos. Emig and Dutchman Remy
Van Ress shared moto wins in the
I
12
125cc class, while Bayle and Nicoll
traded moto wins in the 500cc division.
Liles, in the 500cc class, and
LaRocco, in the 250cc class, finished
second overall in their respective
divisions, combining with Emig's
first-moto class win to secure the MX
des Nations victory and maintain
America's 12-year domination of the
event.
"We're really happy to win and keep
America on top of the world!" said
Liles, who finished third in this year's
World Championship 500cc MX Series. "We did it tough, with both Mike
(LaRocco) and Jeff (Emig) going down
in the first turn of their second motos.
For them to come back and each finish
second in class in those races ... well,
it just shows the guys rode their hearts
out. We wanted this win bad, and we're
glad to get it."
This year's event was the 46th
. staging of the MX des Nations, and
the first time ever the event had been
staged in Australia. Event organizers
were given special permission by the
FIM to stage the meeting, by waiving
conditions that normally require a
host country to have held a round of
the World Championship at the
selected circuit. Australia has never
hosted an MX GP, but the Manjimup
circuit is tentatively scheduled to host
the final round of next year's 125cc
World Championship Series in late
August.
A record crowd for the circuit of
sLightly more than 15,000 witnessed
this year's race at Manjimup, a small
town nestled deep in timber-milling
and farming countryside in the
southwestern corner of Australia, some
200 miles south of Perth.
The 1.2-mile-long Cosy Creek circuit swept up and down a natural
valley, and featured a track surface that
varied between gravel and sand. Weeks
of rain moistened the track surface, and
the course quickly developed deep
whoops and ruts around most of its
length.
"The track was really rough and
rutted. Conditions were tough," said
Team Yamaha rider Jeff Emig. "It's
certainly one of the toughest tracks I've
ith the noo-appearance of top American stars. like Jeff Stantqn aI):d Damon
Bradshaw, this year's American Motocross des Nations squad was .labeled
by many as the American "B team." Of the American trio of Billy Liles,
Mike LaRocco and Jeff Emig, only Liles had ridden the World Team
Championship event before - albeit for Luxembourg, at the German MX des
Nations in 1989.
Without its top guns, many expected that America's ll-year reign in Motocross
des Nations competition would come to an end Down Under on the sandy whoops
of Manjimup's Cosy Creek circuit.
Going into the event, the Belgian, British, Dutch and ~rench sq~ads ~ere ~ll
rated as having strong chances of knocking off the Amencan rookIes. WIth flYe
out of six class placings counting in the overall point scores, the importance
of consistency by all three riders was obvious.
And while the Belgians came close, it was the Americans who dug deepest
yet again, fighting back to keep their unprecedented winning streak intact
.
"We felt a lot of pressure in the team;' admitted American Team Kawasaki
250cc rider LaRocco after the event. "A lot of people put a lot of pressure on
us and said a lot of things about the team, but deep down inside, we knew we
could do it and keep up our win streak. Billy, Jeff and I really wanted this one."
American team manager Roy Janson was justifi