MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS
The 2010 Motocross of Nations came down to the last moto of the day, with the heavily favored American team coming from behind to take the win. After the first two motos saw crashes from Trey Canard and Andrew Short, Dungey and Short made easy work out of the third and final moto, finishing one-two. Clement DeSalle, Tony Cairoli and Brett Mecalfe finished behind the American team. Ben Townley passed Short but went down halfway through the moto.
The U.S. hopes for domination of the motocross of Nations crumbled in the second race of the day at Thunder Valley, Colorado. It started well with American Andrew Short pulling one of his patented holeshots on his MX3 (Open) Honda. But 16-year-old upstart Ken Roczen of German was right on his heals with Ben Townley not far behind. The three of them banged bars for the first few laps, then Short left the door a little too wide open. Townley took advantage and put Short on the deck. In the meantime, Canard had mishaps of his own, putting him pretty far back. Townley finished the moto up front with very little challenge with Kyle Regal (riding for Puerto Rico) in second and Roczen third ahead of Clement DeSalle of Belgium.ÿ Canard and Short were 12th and 14th, respectively. With one moto to go, that placed the Americans in second overall behind the German team of Roczen, Max Nagl and Marcus Schiffer. The MX1/MX3 race would play the deciding role.
If Ryan Dungey was rattled after finishing fourth in Saturday’s qualifying moto, he didn’t show it. When he lined up for the first of the three motos that make up the motocross of Nations, he nailed the start. Spain’s Jonathan Barragan was right there with him and Antinio Cairoli wasn’t far behind. But it was a good news/bad news scenario for the Americans. MX2 rider Trey Canard when down in the first turn and he remounted in dead last. He didn’t waste time, but he would have a lot of work to do.
ÿÿÿÿÿ Up front, Cairoli was looking to be the fastest man on the track. He got past Barragan and set out after Dungey. The newly crowned World Champion pulled along beside the U.S. champ several times and actually made a pass. But it wouldn’t stick. Dungey fought back, riding uncharacteristically hard so early in the moto.
ÿÿÿÿÿ As the race went on, Dungey could only pull a few bike lengths ahead of Cairoli, while Brett Metcalfe was an equal distance behind. Canard was quickly up to 18th place, but the passes came slowly after that. The top MX2 rider was Great Britain’s Dean Wilson for most of that moto, in seventh place overall. But German Ken Roczen was coming up fast. Roczen passed Wilson and kept right on going. MX2 world champ Marvin Musquin was struggling. He came into the race with an injured wrist, and then his race went further awry when his KTM broke.
ÿÿÿÿÿ By the end of the moto, Dungey had about 10 seconds on Cairoli. Metcalfe was third ahead of Barragan and France’s Gautier Paulin. Roczen was the first 250 in sixth. Steve Ramon was seventh with Wilson right behind him. Canard was 12th overall.
B FINAL
The Red Bull Motocross of Nations isn’t just about the U.S., France and the elite of motocross. It’s about a world full of riders who come just to wave their flag and try to keep the Cairolis and Dungeys of the world in sight. For those countries who have talented riders that just aren’t rock stars, there’s the B class at the Motocross of Nations. It’s run first on Sunday’s schedule, with all the teams that didn’t make the cut in Saturday’s qualifying. The top team will then have a couple of hours to re-prep their bikes and go back and line up with the big boys.
ÿÿÿÿÿ The B class at Thunder Valley had plenty of drama. Out front, there were actually some very familiar names. Martin Davalos of Ecuador put his 250cc Yamaha MX2 bike into the lead early and led the entire moto. His teammates struggled. The best of those was Andres Benenaula in 10th. Felipe Espinosa finished 16th. That left the coveted transfer place to Ireland, lead by Gordon Crockard in second place. Right behind him was teammate Martin Barr, who endured a 30-minute battle with Venezuela’s Raimundo Trasolini. The final position on the Irish team went to TM rider Stuart Edmonds, in fifth overall.
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