MOTOCROSS
FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17 / SEPTEMBER 3, 2016
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY / CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
P80
Prior to the event, it was be-
ing built up as a battle between
the two fastest 250 riders in
the world, Jeffrey Herlings and
Cooper Webb (with an honor-
able mention to Austin Forkner)
and those three didn't fail to live
up to the hype with all of them
proving a point at one of stage
or another. The main thing for
Herlings was to finally wrap up
his third MX2 World Champion-
up as much as it probably could
have, meaning line choice was
at a premium with passing hard
to come by. That didn't stop the
riders from giving their all to make
it happen though, with hometown
hero Cooper Webb the perfect
example of someone who gave it
everything to get the win in front
of his fellow North-Carolinians
with a second-moto charge that
will go down in history.
the reason, the switch to the dirt
track meant a much better and
more motocross-orientated track
for the riders to display their skills
on, as opposed to the Dragway
which would have just been five
lanes of rhythm sections and very
SX-esque.
Not that this stopped the
criticism of a U.S. GP circuit that
many felt should have been Red
Bud or Budds Creek. Lots of
motocross aficionados believe
tracks should have hills and be
built in natural settings, rather
than having to ship in dirt to cre-
ate manmade obstacles. How-
ever, Youthstream decided that
this style of facility is one that
they are definitely considering,
and after the success of Assen
in the Netherlands and Frauen-
feld in Switzerland, you can see
why. Most "normal" tracks would
have really struggled to deal with
the sheer amount of rain that fell
in Charlotte this week and Assen
the week before, but due to the
drainage facilities and the hard-
standing areas around the track,
machinery could work non-stop
to fix every area, including the
pits, so that by the time Saturday
came around, everything was
near perfect.
In fact the maintenance guys
almost did too good of a job
as the track was packed and
covered so well that it didn't rut
The Herlings/Webb matchup was
sort of a draw with both winning
a moto, but Webb won the all-
important second moto, ending his
250 career on a high note.
