“In days of olde when men were bold and bikes had bad suspension, national pride did fuel the ride and names were hard to mention. DeCoster, Robert, and Everts too did teach us all a lesson, every time they hit the gate, schooling was in session. The US got real fast with this thing called super cross, and slowly we forgot about the guys from the lands of moss. My very first Trans- AMA race, I couldn’t believe what I was seein,’ the fastest racers weren’t U.S., they were European.”

Yeah, man those were the good old days. I remember them well. If you’re over thirty, then you remember some of the men who pioneered the sport we all love to love: MOTOCROSS! As somewhat of a historian, I feel qualified to speak of an iniquity that I see and which was brought up over dinner the other day with NY Terry and Frankie “goes to Hollywood” Wieri, a former MX Large contributor.

The first magazines I picked up had men whose names would tie your tongue trying to pronounce them. Bengt Aberg, pronounced Ben AHberg, Heikki Mikkola, pronounced HAYki MIKola. It was a serious chip on the shoulder thing to hear a novice Europhile butcher one of these names. We would smugly pull the novice aside and school them in Euromxology. The late Gaston Rahier –riAY--, a diminutive but lion-hearted Belgian was schooling the new 125 World Championship class.

Heck, we were all learning about the sport even as it evolved. It is hard to imagine a time when our top motocrossers were fighting for ‘first American’ honors in a series that the GP riders were racing on our own soil. The first 500cc National Championship, won by Mark Blackwell, was given to him as “first American” in a series called the Inter- Am. Yeah, we’re Americans and it didn’t takes us long before we figured out how to beat the Euros at their game. Hell, we went on to invent a new form of it, Supercross, and the sport has changed ever since.

Europeans by nature tend to be traditionalists, while we Americans tend to constantly seek the next new thing, even if it isn’t better. Before Euro dominance came to an end, the cream of American racers held in high esteem the feats of the Grand Prix riders of their day. The Euros in return constantly came across the pond to show us how to do it. Even when our finest soldiers ventured over the pond to race the GPs, they were welcomed with a chivalrous camaraderie, not a cold shoulder, like Jean Michele Bayle encountered here in the States.

I remember Gaston Rahier giving Marty Smith a set of Dutch-made Hulco shocks for his 180lb. factory Honda Elsinore. Marty went out and promptly beat Gaston in the next few motos. But that’s how it was. Can you imagine Ricky Carmichael giving Sebastien Tortelli the same shock he was running? Hell no, I can’t see it happening either. Nothing against RC, he would probably win anyway, but the difference I am pointing at is in the way things were done back then. Mark Blackwell, Marty Smith, Jim Pomeroy, Brad Lackey, and Danny La Porte proved to be chivalrous and damn fast.

They all won GP races and some won World Championships. The unspoken rule of thumb in those times was that if a rider won his national championship once or twice, the next step was up to the World Championships. European riders to this day still follow that rule and I admire them all for it. I love my national champions but there is just something about looking at those words on a paper… WORLD CHAMPION.

I don’t care if it is the pumpkin seed spitting World Championships, there is a confidence that I can only imagine one gets knowing that for that glorious year, no one in the entire world was better than you. AWESOME! Call me biased but the title of World Champion carries more weight to me and always will over national championships. I still think that any rider worth his salts who wins a national title or two should be manly and move to the GP circuit after defending said title.

Nearly every GP rider out there today is the national champion in his home country. Stefan Everts, Javier Garcia-Vico, Joel Smets, Erik Eggens, Tyla Rattray, Ben Townley, Pit Bierer, Marnique Bervoets, Marko Kovalinen, Avo Leok… the list goes on. These men are all national champions but they want more than money and fame, they race for the possible honor of becoming World Champion. Why are the Euro racers so driven to become world champions?

I don’t know, but I do believe the press, mainly the editors at Motocross Action magazine who during the eighties repeatedly belittled the World Champions of the time by calling them “fast novices” surely helped to dim the brightness of Grand Prix motocross racing. What kind of nonsense was that? Those “novices” would’ve then and still could smoke the best riders working for that publication with one hand tied to their rear fenders. Ironically, it was that same magazine that I once looked forward to getting because of the beautiful color shots of places that to this day I dream about.

Places like the Citadel in Belgium, like Genk in Holland, like Hawkstone Park in England. They gave the World Championships their proper due and the racers themselves had a mystique that only our US champions must have to the Euros now. The GP riders are all flocking to the States to take away jobs from our own up and coming riders. They are blazing fast, maybe not fast enough to beat our top three riders but they make their presences known in a big way.

Chad Reed, Grant Langston, Sebastien Tortelli, Akira Narita, Eric Sorby and company are all capable of surprising speed when you least expect it. Like Jeff Liesk, and the aforementioned Bayle, these riders came here to make a statement. Bayle did it in a big way by winning everything in sight. Is it the fans who have gotten mean? I don’t know that either. No one as far as I can remember threw anything at the great Roger DeCoster when he was racing the Trans- AMA races.

Yet as a journalist, I saw a man at Unadilla throw a can of beer at Jean- Michel Bayle in a high speed, dangerous part of the track. I had help from a decent spectator when I chewed the idiot out about showing some respect to “the World Champion.” I disaprove of the way things are being run now with the US national championships having more press, prestige, and ranking than the World Motocross Championships. America needs to send our best boys over there to do battle on Grand Prix tracks, not just on ours. I miss the coverage of the GP races.

I miss trying to figure out how to pronounce rider’s names. I miss seeing the far-away places. I think maybe I am missing the innocence we had while the sport and I were still young. Not to point fingers, but you are NOT the best rider in the world if all you race is your own country’s nationals; you might be the fastest but to consider yourself the best in the world, you have to race against the rest of the world.

Michael Schumacher is FIA Formula One World Champion; he is known all over the planet and respected as such. While others have recently tried and failed, Youthstream has an opportunity now to make a big difference in the World Championships. Whether by making radical changes or by holding on to some traditions, we Americans should help them lead the way by going over there and giving the World Championships a boost in its morale.

They did it for us when we were the ones struggling so do the American thing, let's return the favor dammit!!! Current world affairs not-withstanding, the US motocross community should stick their noses in Euro affairs and help them get it together. Help them make is so that Bubba Stewart can one day hold the title of World Motocross Champion. Our sport can only grow if we ALL pull together and put in for it.

Me, I’m doing my part. I wrote this article that will tick off some, make some mad as hell, but hopefully inspire us to reach for greater depth in the world community. My KTM 250 is in the garage and I am going the full UFO gear route as well. When I think motocross, I don’t just think American, I think World. If you’re not doing your part, ‘your’re-a-peein’ all over the future of our sport. Write to the magazines and tell them you want to see more GP coverage again; hopefully, they’re listening.

Until then, mxlarge.com is the place I always go to get my Euro-fix. Ride on Brothers.