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Motocross des Nations Report
posted by Roddy 

It was raining when I arrived. I picked up my press credentials at the Welcome center and drove over to the track. The track normally hosts car races and so all the teams are stationed in garages where the cars are normally parked.

Motocross des Nations 2003
Zolder, Belgium

Friday Notes

I made my way over to the super-swank media center, met TFS and re-charged my camera batteries. A little while later I checked out the pit area and scoping out the Belgium Team. Erik Kehoe walked by pushing RC's bike - very cool.

RC is supposed to be at Warthog's party tonight in Genk... should be interesting!

- I was going to set up the tent tonight, but I don't think that's going to happen... it hasn't even stopped raining yet and there's no freaking chance I'll be setting up a tent on wet ground like this!

- The plan at this point it to hit the party at Warthog's place, get a faceful, then crash in the car. Hey, I've slept in worse places

- (still isn't fully charged yet - 21 minutes)

- Belgium/Netherlands is a lot like a pictured it... green with bright white accents (signs, poles, lines on the road, etc)... very prim. Wet.

- Many riders and team people are walking around the track still. It appears to be holding up well and I think this type of sand can take a lot of water.

- Crap, I just checked the battery on the video camera... it's not charging very fast! I'm going to have to find something to do while I wait

- The media center here is cool... the room itself is above the track and we have windows looking out onto the course. There are ethernet connections and there is high speed access available.

- There are also two PC's which are already hooked up to the internet which we can use, so that's really cool

- I'm going to go and download the instructions to get to Warthog's party, just a second …..

- Ok, the chick at the front desk (they have a front desk for the media center... good thing they have NO idea I run a tiny little website dedicated to local motocross!)

- Anyway... when I showed them the hotel name at the front desk they all raised their eyebrows in unision declaring this "a very, very nice hotel..."

- What the hell are mototalkers doing at a "very" nice hotel? We're mototalkers for chrissake

- Battery is up to 39 minutes

- I'm going to have to go... it's 20 miuntes to 7:00 and the party starts at 7:00. If Ricky really shows up it'll be early before it gets crazy. It'd be cool if he showed up - I think he's trying really hard to connect with fans.

- Next stop, Warthog's place

Saturday Notes

- Warthog’s was nuts. I have a hangover. RC showed.

(Ok, serious business now)

Practice

At the arrival of practice today the track was dry and in perfect condition. There was only one small shower in the morning which did not amount to anything. The sun peeked through timidly at first, then shone brilliantly for the afternoon sessions. All the teams were split into three practice groups; Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3. Carmichael and Everts in Group 1, Smets and Ferry in the second and Ramon and Hughes in the third.

Each Group was allowed one practice session. Then in the afternoon each Group had a qualifying session.

After Group 1's practice RC had the fastest time over Josh Coppins and Joaquim Rodrigues. Stefan Everts sat quietly in 4th, some 1.3 seconds off Carmichael's pace. Group two practice was led by Joel Smets, then Kiwi Ben Townley (who looks very comfortable on the big bike), Finland's Pyrhonen, Stephen Sword, Kenneth Gundersen and Tim Ferry with the 6th fastest time. Group 3 practice concluded with Belgium's Steve Ramon atop the list followed by Johnny Aubert and then Ryan Hughes.

Qualifying

Qualifying took place under sunny skies and each Team had a good chance to put in their best times. Ricky Carmichael did not take long to establish the fastest times in Group 1 qualifying and by lap five the Honda pilot held the top qualifying spot. However, as practice wore on and as the American team became satisfied with RC's time, a certain wily seven-time GP champion unleashed a killer time on lap 8 (near the end of the session). He rides a Yamaha. A full 0.8 seconds faster than Carmichael's best time. The American team quickly brought RC in to explain the situation and sent him back out again. Despite putting in several more hard laps, RC was unable to best the time of Everts. The track had roughened considerably and Everts rightly earned the strategic victory.

The Belgian crowd roared.

New Zealander Joshua Coppins put in a solid ride qualifying third, followed by Tyla Rattray and Tanel Leok.

Group 2 qualifying became another Belgian affair when U.S.A.'s Timmy Ferry struggled to find his groove on the sandy man-made track. Ferry would eventually finish fourth fastest, some 1.5 seconds off Smets' pace. At the press conference Saturday night Ferry had a wrapped left thumb. Ben Townley was second fastest in this group while Kenneth Gundersen was 1.2 seconds back of Smets in third.

Ryan Hughes gave the American squad some hope by coming out swinging in Group 3's qualifying session. But even though Hughes was very near the top for most of the session, a very quick Steve Ramon picked up the pace on the penultimate lap, posting a 1:43 flat. Spain's Javier Garcia Vico finished 0.5 seconds off the Belgian's pace, follwed by Miska Aaltonen (Finland), France's Johnny Aubert and then Hughes with the fifth fastest time.

Sunday Notes

Well, despite the prediction of rain overnight, it never happened. It is slightly overcast and cool this morning. Even if we get some rain today it should not hurt the track too much.

TFS went back to the hotel while I stayed at the track. I'm glad I did otherwise I would have missed the antics in the beer tent. While the tent wasn't open long, the race enthusiasts made the best of a brief situation. By the time I got there around 8:00 PM things were already well underway. The Belgians were waving their enourmous flags inside the tent (nearly decapitating many nearby drinkers and at least one "biker dude" was not impressed). The Kiwi contingent were numerous and each sported a Fro-like fro and Team New Zealand shirts. With the amount of alcohol being consumed, it was hardly surprising they did not leave the Belgian instigations unanswered. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand and traditionally perform a ritual dance and song prior to battle, the purpose of which is to let their enemies know they are going to get eaten! It's called the "Huka" and if you've ever seen the New Zealand rugby team play, you know all about it. Of course, you could have seen it first hand performed by a mini-tribe of motocross fans drunken with nationalism. So much so, one of them removed his shoes, climbed the highest pole in the tent and placed a "Ben Townley" flag for all future beer drinkers to see. Pretty impressive.

Among the wave of cheers and real admiration of the hosting Belgians, the spectacle brought the night to a close for me. What's the chances that could be topped?

Warmup

In the 1st Warmup, RC posted the fastest time ahead of Brian Jorgensen, Tim Ferry, Tyla Rattray, Steve Ramon, Johnny Aubert, Joel Smets, Kenneth Gundersen and Ryan Hughes.

Second Warmup saw Javier Garcia Vico lead the way, followed by Josh Coppins, Gordon Crockard, Tanel Leok, Ben Townley, Joan Barreda, Yoshitaka Atsuta, Andrea Bartolini, Jussi Vehvilainen and Michal Kadlecek.

Ricky looked good, Everts looked relaxed, Ferry looked better than yesterday and the Italians (wearing #'s 1, 2 and 3) look like they'd rather be sitting this one out. I was filming at the end of the whoop section during the early part of the Warmup when Danish rider, Bo Vang Jensen lost it at the end of the section taking out the TV camera man and his knee. He looked pretty jacked.

Semi #1

Smets holeshot and led the race early on but fell on lap two. Without goggles, he soldiered on and eventually finished 15th. Meanwhile, Everts inherited the lead with Carmichael close behind. The air horns blared around the track as the two leaders began gapping the pack. By lap four Carmichael and Everts were swapping the lead back in forth. They seemed very evenly matched in speed, but by lap nine RC started putting some acreage between himself and the 7-time world champion. Everts would lose second place on lap 15 (of 18) to the battling duo of Ryan Hughes and Steve Ramon. Everts would finish fourth while Ryno brought home second place for the team with Ramon in third place.

From the Belgian side the reports were that Everts had goggle problems (true, his roll offs were dangling beside his helmet from early in the 30 mintute race) and that he also suffered arm pump. On the American side, the world quickly spread through the media market that Carmichael was yelling at Everts in the corners trying to rattle him. Message number two was that Ricky was "bored" at the end of the race. Bored?

Semi #2

Kiwi Josh Coppins led every lap of the race while his teammate, Ben Townley struggled to come back into contention after crashing while in 5th place on the second lap. Townley would eventually charge back from 22nd to ninth by race end. The third of the Silver Fern trio, Shane King, gated poorly but also made ground finishing 16th. It was enough to give the New Zealand team a position in "A" Final later in the day. The second team to qualify into the "A" Final was Finland with a great ride by Jussi Vehvilainen in 2nd, Pyrhonen in 8th and Aaltonen in 24th.

A big surprise for this race was the Italian team (Bartolini, Monni and Dini) failed to qualify for the big show, settling instead for the "B" final. Don't laugh because the Australians (McFarlane, Grant and Broomfield) will also compete for the consolation prize.

"B" Final

Who cares? It's the B Final!

Just kidding. Kenneth Gundersen won the race while Sweden won the consolation followed by Australia and Norway. They had showers part way through the race which cleared before the “A” Final.

"A" Final

Ricky wins the race! Everts is second, Belgium is first overall. Ryno crashes and Finland is third.

The first lap I stationed myself on the outside of the first turn in order to get a good shot of the start with the video camera. It was a little scary as they came around the corner fast and wide. Luckily nobody overshot the banners or I would have been a dead man. Smets and Everts took off while I spotted RC in about 10th place or so. When he crossed the finish line for lap two, he was 4th. By the time RC moved into 2nd place on lap three, Everts was at least ten seconds ahead, and now in first place. RC chopped that down to nil in a matter of three laps and the two greats were head to head on laps 6 and 7. I cannot tell you how great it was for me to see these two legends riding side by side! Both riders have been so dominant over the last few years that it was really an honour to see them together “live”. One thing is for certain, RC wanted to win this race more than Everts, and eventually made his way past the 7-time world champ. There is no question in my mind that Everts is as fast as RC ever hoped of being, but equally so there was no way RC was going to lose that race. Everts easily kept RC in check for the remainder of the moto and for the most part looked like he was trail riding at a relaxed pace. I’ve seen smooth riders before, but nothing like this.

RC refuses to lose, and that’s what makes him so great. Whatever it takes for him to win (another second per lap for example?) he just does it and wins. I couldn’t have more respect for a rider.

Ryno was a letdown. As was Ferry. Let me explain. Ryno was AWESOME all weekend, I mean he was on a real mission to prove to everyone he’s one of the best riders in the world (and he is!).

During Sunday’s Semi race, both the US and Belgian teams were competing. Ryno started the race slowly (outside the top 6 on lap one) and came from quite distance back to put pressure on Ramon in third, then forced himself and Ramon past Everts (who occupied second place) in the closing laps and eventually finished second to RC. I don’t know what his lap times were for the last half of that 30 minute Semi race, but he was on fire.

I was there with the video camera when he rode his bike into his pit. I don’t know what Ryno looks like after motos normally, but he looked punch drunk, if you know what I mean. He should have been elated with his ride, yet replaying the video a few times over makes it look as though he’s dazed or something. Anyway, it made me nervous about his upcoming performance in the Final. He got over-anxious in the Final, made a bad decision and ended his weekend not finishing. I can only imagine how disappointing that must have been for him, but at his level he should be aware of the signs when this will happen to him, and avoid it? I don’t know, maybe it was just bad luck.

But people have a way of making their luck, don’t they? Does RC ever get unlucky?

Anyway, he was inspirational all weekend, which is more than I can say for Ferry. From the opening lap of Ferry’s practice it looked like he was timid and not in the race “mode”. Within a few laps he dropped the bike somewhere and had a smear of mud on the side of his pants and jersey. In doing so, he seriously tweaked his thumb which hampered his riding for the rest of the weekend. Courageously he finished the Final (despite falling) in 9th. I give him credit for that… I think his thumb was really hurting.

What else to report? Smets was fast. I really respect that guy. His technique isn’t the best but he goes fast. Period. Like Ricky, he has a lot of will. Ramon (2003 world champ) is fast. Very fast, and he turned a lot of heads this weekend, including Roger D’s. Ben Townley is also extremely quick. I was most surprised by him, and he’s still very young. He tangled with someone in the first corner of the Final so no result for him. Too bad. The Fins did really well, and they were very pleased to be on the podium at the end of Sunday. And they should have been, they did great.

Meeting all the Mototalkers (Mole, WW, TFS, JFS, YES, MXGEOFF, Mattard and a few others I can't quite remember...) plus DC and RC was a real highlight. I even got RC to sign a photo and Wonder Warthog t-shirt. (Wondering what the heck a Wonder Warthog is??? Go to http://www.motonews.com/mototalk2).

One other thing…. Even though I was in the media center all weekend as a first-timer AND as an amateur journalist, I just want to say that Davey Coombs (Publisher, RacerX), Bryan Stealey (Managing editor, RacerX) and Steve Bruhn (TFS) were extremely COOL and extremely helpful all weekend. I was most impressed, thanks guys. Also, big thanks to Mini-warriors legend Malcolm McCassey (Alpinestars) for inviting me over to the Alpinestars tent for dinner Saturday and Sunday nights. Too cool! I’ve since tossed my Gaerne’s into the trash bin and have a new set of Tech 8’s on order!

More photos of the event can be seen by clicking here. Also, a video of the event can also be seen by clicking here.

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