The 2018 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations and Team France continued their unexpected win streak, not to mention European domination again the motos and class victories. It wasn’t all about Europe though, as this event, held in America for the first time in eight years was just as intense and exciting as any held in the past. We decided to pick out some things that caught our eye on that wet weekend.

Team USA might not have won at home for the first time in their four Monster Energy Motocross of Nations on American soil, and while their last five attempts to wrestle the Chamberlain Trophy away from Team France have failed, they still belong in a very select group of countries that will go into every single MXoN with a chance of victory. Bad choices seemed to cost the home team, and until they can repair some of the mental damaged handed to them by the MXGP riders, they won’t be as competitive as they could be. Going into this year’s event, you can be sure, all three Team USA riders thought they would handle the GP guys at home. After Saturday, they must have realized that this wasn’t going to be the case, and the Europeans were right back where they started in the 1970’s, when they went to America and taught them how to ride motocross.

The Redbud circuit is very nice, although due to the horrible weather it didn’t get to glow as it could have. For me, it was a good facility, but after being told over and over again how awesome it was, I was disappointed. It is a beautiful area and I am sure with sunshine it would have been beautiful, but like Matterley Basin last year, it was just a muddy, unorganized mess. The car parks were horrible, and not at any stage was there an attempt to clean the mud from the parking, no straw down, gravel, just left. I spoke to Steve Dixon, who knows something about muddy MXoN and he mentioned how they had to bring in a lot of straw and gravel to make sure cars could get out of the MXoN and his wet GPs. What the organizers did do was get friends in with their tractors and those guys pulled off an amazing job to get everyone out under really tough conditions. In my opinion Redbud wasn’t as good as Patagonia in Argentina, or Matterley Basin in England, or Kegums in Latvia, but it is right up there around those type of circuits.

Excuses were on full throttle when this event finished. Remember how the American media complained that the ballot was not good for the race. We didn’t hear any complains on Saturday when Team USA pulled the second place on the start, and of course many people mentioned how much better the Team USA riders were on Saturday, of course they were, Prado, Herlings, Coldenhoff, and many others all started right on the very outside of the start gate. Once the leading GP guys started on the inside on Sunday, along with Team USA, it was all over.

There was, as always, a great atmosphere at Redbud, and the American and European fans all celebrated this event together. The Saturday and opening moto of Sunday the crowd were very loud, and obviously with a majority of the crowd American, it did go quiet for moto two and three. I was concerned that there would be too many drunk fans, but it actually wasn’t too bad, and the USA, USA, USA we had to put up with at Budds Creek in 2007 wasn’t anywhere near as painful. It wasn’t the same type of crowd you might see in France, or England, but it was a very good MXoN crowd and let’s hope that means we get to go back, hopefully to Washougal in the near future.

MXGP and MX2 World Champions Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings easily dismantled the AMA 250 and 450 champions. I wasn’t surprised that Herlings easily beat Tomac, and in fact I wasn’t even surprised a handful of GP guys beat Tomac, and I had mentioned it in the lead-up to the race. I was surprised that 17-year-old Prado beat Aaron Plessinger, because like many people I assumed the AMA 250 class, without an age rule was stronger, but now I am on the fence with that. I think both 250cc series are pretty level, and that probably surprised me more than anything after a couple of mid-range AMA guys won USGP’s in the past. Whatever the case, if you want to race motocross and race the best, it is in the FIM Motocross World Championship.

I think the highlight of me, or one of them was when promoters Amy and Tim Ritchie spoke about the importance for their family to run the MXoN. Of course their father Gene had passed away earlier this year, and when Amy spoke about her fathers’ trip to Europe in the 1980s to watch the MXdN, and his dream to have this great event at their circuit, her emotion was clear. At the end of the day, motocross is one big family and I think plenty of people had a tear in their eye when she spoke and broke down, I know I did.

Coverage of this years MXoN was better than I have ever seen it. Whether it was in America with RacerX crew of Eric Johnson, Jason Weigandt, Jason Thomas, Steve Matthes, or Davey Coombs, or our European competition Lewis Phillips (MXvice), Jonathan McCready, Andy McKinstry (Gatedrop), or yours truly, the number of interviews, insight, or comments were stunning, and really brought a great look to the sport. The promoters of Redbud and their Facebook page was way better than anything I have seen from a MXoN promoter, so compliments to them for their hard work in that area. Of course MXGP.com also made sure the results, and live coverage was first class. I just can’t wait to see what Assen brings to the table, because that place was built to run a very special MXoN. I have said it before, but the sport has never been covered as well as it is now, so good job all involved.

Finally, I have to mention the Dutch, because I can't remember a team having such bad luck, when they clearly were the best team. Glenn Coldenhoff was unbelievable, and while it is comparable to Max Anstie in 2017, Romain Febvre in 2015, Gautier Paulin in 2014, Antonio Cairoli in 2012, or so many other 1-1 winners, NOBODY, not even Glenn thought he could do that. When his team-mate, Jeffrey Herlings was closing down on him in the final moto, Coldenhoff froze a little, knowing the fastest man on the planet was doing one of his oh so often charges, but he held on, and got the 1-1. As for Herlings, he had already proven he is the fastest motocross rider in the World, he did that at Ironman and Jacksonville in 2017, but some people are stubborn, and won't accept defeat. Now, with this performance, and his improvement level not even reached, we are in for an era, that will show us what is the very highest level. As for Calvin Vlaanderen, he was more than good enough to get the Dutch home, and looked forward to making it all right in Assen in 2019.

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