P24
IN
THE
WIND
U.S. MX OF NATIONS TEAM ANNOUNCED
D
uring opening ceremonies at
the Utah National MX at Miller Motorsports Park on Saturday
the AMA officially announced the
three-rider time that will represent the U.S. at next month's Motocross of Nations in Germany.
Once again, Roger DeCoster
will manage the team that will be
made up of Ryan Dungey, Justin
Barcia and just-crowned AMA
250 Motocross Champion Eli
Tomac. Dungey and Barcia, both
MXofN veterans, will ride 450s
(Left to right) Roger DeCoster, Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia and Ryan Dungey
will represent the US at the Motocross of Nations Team in Germany.
UNLUCKY SPIES HURT AGAIN
B
Luckless Ben Spies will miss more
races as he recovers from yet another shoulder injury.
en Spies's long-deferred
racing return was short and
disastrous, as the bad luck that
stalks the former World Superbike Champion found a new and
electronic way to send him off to
the hospital in Saturday morning's third free practice.
Spies had placed a respectable 13th the previous day, after
waiting until fully fit to make his
return after missing the past seven races with continuing problems with his right shoulder.
"It's the first time since my
crash [in Malaysia in October last
year] that I haven't been in pain,"
he said, before adding, "We've
got a lot of cobwebs to dust off."
The crash happened because of his unfamiliarity with
Ducati electronics. Unlike his
Yamaha of the past three years,
the Italian bike's traction control
only comes into operation after
changing into second gear. He
was still in first after coming out
of the pits into the first tight corners, and when he grabbed a
handful of throttle in turn four he
was thrown awkwardly over the
bike to land on his other shoulder.
It was dislocated in the impact,
and he is out again, probably for
at least three more races, as the
next two follow just one week
apart. Only on Monday would he
know whether he required further surgery.
Spies told Cycle News about
his electronic misapprehension:
