Well, holy shit the last three weeks in American motocross/supercross have been something else indeed. We had the Motocross of Nations on American soil (at RedBud), the Monster Energy Cup (in Las Vegas) and this past weekend the Red Bull Straight Rhythm (in LA). Could you get three disciplines as different as that if you tried? True motocross with 30-minute motos, supercross with three ten-lap sprints and, finally, a 45-second straight line rhythm section on a two-stroke!
Let’s break down the three events and what was good, what didn’t work and more, yeah?
| Best Race: MXoN |
I mean, c’mon… It’s the most prestigious race on the calendar and if you take away the American results, it was still exciting. Glenn Coldenhoff pulls a Gautier Paulin and dominates a couple of motos (beating his teammate Jeffrey Herlings), The MX2 class featured some great racing between Hunter Lawrence, Ben Watson and Jorge Prado and Herlings’ race in the Saturday qualifiers was something else. Add in the thousands of people there and, despite the weather, it was a great race.
Ingrandisci
ConwayMX
| Best Race (Part Two): Josh Grant/Ryan Villopoto at Straight Rhythm |
With all apologies to the MXoN, perhaps the coolest thing I saw the last three weeks was the run between Grant and Villopoto. Both guys were absolutely pinning it and scrubbing like crazy… Well,Grant was more than RV. RV was soaking everything up with his legs while JG was flicking the bike left and right. It was way rad to watch both guys trying to get to the ground fastest.
| Most Interesting Race: Red Bull Straight Rhythm |
I mean, where else could you see legends like Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey line up on two-strokes? It was pretty cool to see both guys come out, have some fun and try to race in a straight line and, judging by the smiles afterwards, neither guy cared all that much if they had lost (RV did).
| Most Unexpected Development: Team USA at the MXoN |
I mean, c’mon! That was and still is shocking.
| Most Unexpected Development Other Than Team USA: The Million-Dollar Winner |
Feld Motorsports ran a contest where at the Monster Cup a lucky fan, who beat thousands of people to be flown to the race, that had gathered enough money up in a phone booth got a million dollars if a rider swept all three main events. Well, with Eli Tomac capturing the first main with ease, things looked good for Jesse Hebert, a guy that worked at a law firm in Washington DC. We all saw Joey Savatgy let Tomac by to give Tomac the sweep and both Eli and Hebert won the million bucks. Truly a crazy development within a two-minute span. Congrats to Jesse, who’s a super fan of the sport. Now change your phone number ASAP Jesse.
Ingrandisci
Monster Energy Media/Octopi
| Breakout Star Of The Three Weeks: Glenn Coldenhoff |
I mean, Glenn didn’t have a great MXGP season so to see him go out and win two motos at the MXoN was pretty amazing. Whether it’s Gautier Paulin or Max Anstie, there are plenty of guys over the years that step up at this race and in 2018 it was The Hoff.
| Hero Of The Three Weeks: Ryan Villopoto |
Just ask him if you don’t believe me. Villopoto retired, like, three years ago but he’s the only rider that raced all three weekends. If you count the Pit Bike of Nations as one of the events, that is. RV took the win there for Team USA, he should’ve been top ten at the MEC if not for getting penalised for not taking the Joker Lane and he finished third at Straight Rhythm. Whew, he’s been pretty busy. Also he rode a TTR-110, a YZ450 and a YZ250 in those three weeks so talk about a sample platter of bikes.
Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Monster Energy Media/Octopi
