USGP – Legends Opinion

While the current heroes of our sport arrive in America in a week’s time for the Monster Energy MXGP of USA, set for the WW Ranch in Florida, two wily old legends will be watching from the side-lines.

World MXGP champion Tim Gajser will lead the way, as will MX2 world champion Jeffrey Herlings and multiple world champion Antonio Cairoli. The very best of the FIM Motocross World Championships going up against the American riders, in their own country.

Two Belgian legends, Stefan Everts and Joel Smets led the European charge against the American rider’s time and time again in the 1990s and early 2000s. While they have long retired, they still remain involved in the sport, Everts as owner of the Suzuki Factory effort and Smets working inside the Red Bull KTM Factory team as adviser to the riders.

For Everts a GP victory came in 1993 at the Budds Creek circuit was a highlight, but he always loved battling the likes of Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Stanton, and Jeff Emig.

“It was always cool,” Everts said. “Especially in the 1990s with a lot of American riders on the start line. My first one was at Budds Creek, which I won. It was the first time in 10 years that a European rider had won the USGP and I was the one after Kees Van der Ven (who won the USGP in 1982). I went a couple of times to Budds Creek to do the Grand Prix. And the last years we had Glen Helen and the Motocross of Nations in Colorado and Budds Creek. Glen Helen, besides the track, we didn’t have much of a turn-out. It is becoming tough the last years to have a good event in the USA. Let’s hope this year, moving to another location will help, and we will see.

For Smets, just like with Everts the challenge of racing the American riders was always a highlight in his career. While he often had a championship on his mind, the fight with the AMA riders was special for him.

“It gives it more suspense and more attractive if the American riders are riding. That is why the Motocross of Nations is, how can I say it, it’s a big part of the spectacle and makes it more interesting. It makes it more interesting when the American boys are there and riding without them isn’t the thing to do. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t important, of course it was, but if also depended in what time of the year it was. You always had your own championship in the back of your mind, and for them (at the USGP), it’s a one-off event you could say. That makes it harder or more difficult, but still in the back of your mind you don’t want to be beaten big time.”

Now these two warriors will be watching, hoping that riders like Jeffrey Herlings, Antonio Cairoli and Tim Gajser can battle with the likes of Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb and Justin Barcia. For the riders themselves, the chance to race against riders they don’t usually compete again will give a lot of motivation.

Author:

Geoff Meyer