Mark Chamberlain has a job that most wouldn’t really want to do. Organizing a team for the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations is a thankless appointment, and one that many people have tried for Team Great Britain, and in the last 50 years only Dave Thorpe has been able to put the Brits on top of the box and walk away with the Chamberlain Trophy (no not named after Mark).

A good guy, with a passion for the sport Chamberlain grew up around his father who shot incredible videos on the sport, and like many of us the passion for motocross was injected into his veins at a young age.

Having run Grand Prix and British championship teams, and seen the inside as well as the outside of the sport Chamberlain is a great addition to the Team GB history books, and this year he will try and help them get onto the podium for the third year in a row (well, they finished fourth at Redbud only to see Italy disqualified and hand the bronze metals to the Brits).

Now as the team was announced last weekend, drama, injuries, and sickness have dropped Team GB to its knees, but just as the British do time and time again, they will rise from the disappointments and fight to do the country proud. Here is a nice interview with Team manager Mark Chamberlain about his boys.

MXlarge: Damn, you pick a team last weekend, and I am thinking, this team can win the Nations, and then on the weekend all hell breaks loose. Can you explain how that all was for you?

Chamberlain: Yes, we certainly didn’t have luck on Saturday and Sunday. It has turned into a bit of a disaster, hopefully a short term one, but we just need to move forward and do what we can.

MXlarge: Obviously Ben is out, which sucks, because he was so strong at Redbud last year, but on a positive note, Adam (Sterry) probably isn’t that far off being picked anyway and would do a good job. I guess the rest is pretty much the same with Max and Shaun?

Chamberlain: Shaun is okay, he just bent his bike up on Sunday, but physically he is okay. The question mark is with Max as to when he can be back, so I am not going to rush into a decision. There is no reason to rush it. I will probably go to Sweden and have a look there and then see what we do after that.

MXlarge: I have spoken to some people who have had it, I know Paul Malin mentioned he has had it and he was okay within a few weeks. I guess all cases are different, but does Max have a time frame to work with?

Chamberlain: Well, he can’t fly for four weeks, and that rules him out of the GPs that are left. Now maybe the doctor is being cautious, because one of them is a fly-away in China. Now whether he gets the scans and can start riding at that time of the fly-away, that is a potential. We have to be ready for anything and the next job is who is ready. I mean if one rider gets injured what do you do, but when two of the three are injured, then obviously that is a bigger impact and we have to wait and see what happens.

MXlarge: I mean as you said there is no hurry and let’s say you have to go with Tommy, it doesn’t take long to be ready for this does it. A week maybe?

Chamberlain: They are all ready, they are geared up, but the things that are not important, like helmets painted, jerseys printed, all that stuff is possible to do in two weeks, and at the same time, you don’t want to leave guys hanging do you? I want to make sure we speak to everyone and everyone is on-board, and nobody gets their nose out of joint. It is a big of a juggling act, but I am lucky that all the guys are very team orientated. Tommy has said from the beginning, look, I am not fit when selection was being considered, but if you need me, I will be ready. We could be in a lot worse position couldn’t we. We have some good guys we can put in there and they are onboard and ready to go.

MXlarge: Is it Adam replacing Ben?

Chamberlain: The final decision hasn’t been made and I want to look at the options and see who is available for what. Now this has happened Ben, we can’t just throw Adam in there, because we also need a B-plan. I want to know who is available to ride a 250, because we need more than one option. So, find out who is available on what equipment and then announce the revised team.

MXlarge: When you think about it though, there is not a real lot after Adam?

Chamberlain: No, but it is whether or not somebody can change class. I just want to give it some thought and not rush into it. Let’s have a chat with some people and make the decision next week.

MXlarge: Obviously Max is critical, because as we saw in Lommel, and at the Nations at Matterley, he knows how to win races at the highest level.

Chamberlain: Yes, definitely. Max showed at Lommel, even after his crash and an injury, he is capable of turning it on and getting a result. You need somebody like that in the Nations team, there is no hiding from that. We will give him time, but if he knows he isn’t right, and this is what I expect from all the guys, then don’t race. They need to put their hand up who can do as good as they can for the country.

MXlarge: When you got the original team, I mean you could have maybe put Adam on a 450 and left Shaun out, but Shaun is a proven sand rider and has won at Assen in the past, both good sand riders. When you picked the team, did you think this team could win it, or just think a podium would be good?

Chamberlain: At first you think podium, and then with that team you want to be on the podium and maybe a little more and with some luck you never know what can happen. I mean Saturday is important, you need a good gate pick and some luck, and then Sunday is the same, you need a good gate and luck. It is like any sport, if you look at the end result, you can catch yourself out. You need to look at the first job at hand, otherwise you can lose sight of the end goal by over thinking it. It is one weekend and so much can happen, and we have seen that time and time again at this event. We can focus on what we can control.

MXlarge: Well, with all the bad luck last weekend, you must be thinking you can only have good luck at the Nations?

Chamberlain: (laughing), I dare think about it to be honest. I am particularly disappointed for Ben, because he has no chance of racing it and that is a real shame, but we have to look forward now and see what we can do.

MXlarge: I would like to know how your weekend went, because obviously you heard Saturday about Max, and then Sunday got even worse with Ben breaking his wrist and then Shaun goes out of the race on Sunday. You couldn’t write it if you tried?

Chamberlain: I was on the phone to Max Sunday morning and he actually told me about Ben. He said have you heard about Ben, he has broken his wrist and I was like, oh no. Then I was watching on Sunday and Shaun goes missing, so I sent him a text and he told me he was fine, the bike was just bent up. It wasn’t the best Sunday I have had.

MXlarge: You have been in the sport since you were a kid with your dad being involved, and we, well, I say we because my Mum is British, so I can go with three teams (Dutch, Aussies or England), but the Brits haven’t won it in 24 years, since Malin, Nicoll and Herring won it in 1994, and they won it after 26 years of not winning it, so you guys are due.

Chamberlain: If you look at those statistics, then we are due, and you don’t want to start thinking it, but I was thinking you never know and then Sunday I was brought down to earth, but I think with any of our boys we can do well. The most important thing is we have guys desperate to race in the team and they will all give 100% and you have to be happy with that.