TMX Says: Farleigh draws in the US stars
By TMX Archives on 7th Sep 16
IT seemed like there were more US stars in Somerset this past weekend than there were at the MXGP of the Americas as the lure of Farleigh Castle and the Vets MXdN dragged riders such as Jeff Emig, John Dowd, Ben LaMay, Todd DeHoop and Doug Dubach across the Atlantic.
Come to think of it, we can add Kurt Nicoll and Grant Langston to that list, too, as they both crossed over from California for the two days of retro action.
Of all those top names only Nicoll will have raced Farleigh in his prime and the others simply make the pilgrimage based on the fact that the VMXdN is simply the #1 event in the world for the vet, twinshock and evo community. There is simply no greater gathering of retro bikes n' riders anywhere on this planet.
Meanwhile, almost 4,000 miles west in the modern world, fans of grand prix motocross were served up a rather special dish of their own.
Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the MXGP of the Americas on its Dirt Track that's more used to seeing World of Outlaws sprint cars go wing-to wing-to-wing around its just-under-half-mile oval.
To be fair, track builder Justin Barclay did a pretty awesome job of creating a motocross track in the smallish area available and, even though a killer storm curtailed the opening day of action, a shortened programme of qualifying added to race day ensured that the points-paying motos went to the half-full start gates on time.
From what I saw of it on Motors TV it was actually pretty good and the intelligently designed track was built out of nice dirt and made for some good racing.
It certainly showcased the talents of those riders who did make the trip – I particularly liked that long, flat left-hander (that is a bit of an oddity in motocross these days) and small rhythm section the top riders were tyre tapping through – and the local fans seemed to soak it up with their whoopin' and a hollerin'.
While the history books will show there were a pair of US winners – Cooper Webb won MX2 while Eli Tomac aced the MXGP class – it's hard to measure the motivation levels of both Jeffrey Herlings and Tim Gajser who secured their world titles at the end of race one.
KTM were obviously more ready for it than Honda as Gajser only had the company of the photographers when the realisation he'd secured it sunk in.
Then again, who wouldn't wanna celebrate becoming the world's youngest ever premier class world motocross champion with Hodge, Ray Archer and Massimo Zanzani?
This weekend sees the final round of the MXGP series go off at Glen Helen in California with the only scrap of note left to settle being between Max Anstie and Benoit Paturel for the bronze medal position in MX2.
There's currently just 12 points in it and since Anstie spent his teenage years living not too far from the Californian facility, he has a certain advantage over the Belgian whose strongest memory of the place is surely that huge crash he had there last year.
Good luck Max – and get the job done – in your last ever MX2 GP...
