{Above photo} RV2 celebrates a victory for Team USA at the 2011 MXoN. In 2011 Team USA consisted of Ryan Dungey (MXGP), Ryan Villopoto (Open) and Blake Baggett (MX2). Photo by: Hoppenworld
“On the Lamb” is a moto editorial series by MotoXAddicts owner, Dan Lamb.
Nine rounds of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship have come and gone, and with round ten at Unadilla coming in two short weeks, it’s time for the long time Team USA Team Manager, Roger DeCoster, to finalize the team that will represent the United States at the 2016 Motocross of Nations.
With Team USA not winning the event since 2011 and now tied for their longest drought—also not winning from ’01-’04—since they won their first in 1981, it has become extremely important that we pick the best possible squad to bring the Chamberlain Trophy home and win our 23rd championship. USA still leads the all-time list by a large margin with 22 wins over Great Britain’s 16 wins. Who will be the three Americans to get the invite for the 2016 edition of the MXoN on September 25?
One of our biggest problems in selecting this year’s team is the loss of Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey to injury. Yes, Ryan has not brought his A game and was part of three of the four-straight losses Team USA has had recently, but most people forget that the multi-time champion led Team USA to three-straight Chamberlain Cup trophies in 2009, ’10 and ’11. No matter how you feel about Dungey’s last three MXoN performances, in the hard pack of Maggiora, the Americans would be in a much better place with Dungey on the team.
Now that we know Ryan will not be available, the first and most obvious choice for the MXGP spot in Maggiora is Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac. While the choice to select Eli is an obvious one, the big question has been will he say yes when chosen.
The 450 riders in America already have a jam packed schedule with 17 Supercross’ and 12 AMA Nationals, but this year, Eli will also be racing both the MXGP of the Americas in Charlotte and the USGP at Glen Helen. When you include all that, the MXoN on September 25 and the Monster Energy Cup on October 15, someone like Eli has no offseason. It’s understandable if he skipped the MXoN, but we personally asked Eli at Washougal if he would accept the MXGP spot in Maggiora, and the #3 said yes. In my mind that ends the hunt for our MXGP class selection.
The next spot to fill on the 450 is for the Open class. Last year, JGRMX / Yamaha’s Justin Barcia and Star Racing / Yamaha’s Cooper Webb rode the 450’s in France and both rose to the occasion with BammBamm winning the overall in MXGP and Webb finishing second to the MXGP World Champion, Romain Febvre. In 2016, though, Justin has struggled both indoors and out, while Webb has taken his game to a new level—winning another 250SX Western Regional SX Championship and being on his way to winning the 250MX AMA Motocross Championship. It is also well known that Cooper has already signed a big dollar contract to move to the 450 with Monster Energy / Yamaha in 2017. It seems like a no-brainer to put Webb on the #5 bike in the Open class at Maggiora.
We think the MXGP and Open class selections are the easy selections in my opinion, but the tough decision will be who to send to contest the MX2 class for the Americans. In the past, my choice has always been simple: send whoever is leading the 250MX Championship at the time of selections. Webb is leading the 250MX Championship by 52 points, so who’s next? Star Racing / Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin with 321 points. Jeremy rode well at the 2015 MXoN—2nd overall in MX2 with solid 5-5 score—but there are big problems with that selection at the moment.
First, there have been tons of well-sourced rumors swirling about animosity between J-Mart and the Star Racing / Yamaha team. It’s so bad that Jeremy is currently pitting under an EZ-Up by himself, and even worse, some people close to the situation have been throwing out crazy accusations like saying J-Mart’s High Point DNF was due to team sabotage. The rumors are due to J-Mart leaving Star, moving to GEICO in 2017 and the team favoring Yamaha’s future golden boy, Webb, in the Championship. That theory is a little too far out there for me to subscribe to it, but the accusation alone points to some serious infighting within the team. We have also learned that Jeremy broke two ribs at Washougal, so we think the two-time National Champ is definitely out.
The next two possible MX2 selections going by the current 250MX points would both be solid picks to get the job done in Maggiora. Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy (3 wins) has 319 points, just ahead of Star Racing / Yamaha’s Alex Martin (2 wins) with 317. On paper, Joey may look like a slight favorite over A-Mart with a longer track record of being a top factory rider, and then there’s the possible politics involved with his Team Manager, Mitch Payton, also being a huge part of Team USA and their selections. But as we have all seen lately, Joey and Cooper have not played well together. While I’m sure they can learn to play nice, this might not be a chance that Roger DeCoster will want to take.
Of the two, Alex is the only one with any MXoN experience. This is also interesting because Alex’s MXoN experience came when he represented Team Puerto Rico in Latvia at the 2014 MXoN. This may play against Alex in the selection meetings, though. Alex finished 15th overall in MX2 at Kegums on a track that many compare to to his home track: Spring Creek. One thing is for sure, though, Alex has proven beyond a shadow of any doubt that comparing the 2014 A-Mart and the 2016 A-Mart is like comparing apples to asparagus.
Alex has had one of the biggest turnarounds in American Motocross history, and of all the arguments I listed, this is the reason I would pick the #26 to wear the #6 in Italy. There is nobody more hungry to prove his worth, and I think A-Mart, at 26 years old, would wear the red white and blue knowing where he came from and knowing that representing America would be the pinnacle this incredible rise to the top.
Last year, we finished second, and it was by far the best we have ridden and the closest we have come to winning since our last victory in 2011. We by no means had the three best riders in America at Ernée last year, but I do think we had three of the hungriest. In the end, I think the team that personifies hungry is Eli Tomac (MXGP), Cooper Webb (Open) and Alex Martin (MX2). They are just the right mix of youth, hunger, pride and desire to bring home the Chamberlain Trophy on September 25.
Let us know in the comments below if you agree or disagree and why. If you disagree, let us know who you would send over to Italy to represent the stars and stripes. \
