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A good read from: MX GP.COM
US versus Europe, it’s always a great topic of conversation in Motocross circles. Is Ricky Carmichael faster than Mickael Pichon. The questions that you really can’t answer until all get together for the Motocross des Nations at the end of each series. Of course Ricky Carmichael has proved himself time and time again, beating home such names as Tim Ferry, Mike Larocco, Ezra Lusk and Sebastien Tortelli. As for Pichon, he’s won ahead of Chad Reed, Gordon Crockard, Josh Coppins and Frederic Bolley in the past two years.
While America has often been considered the highest level of Motocross in the World I’m beginning to think that might not be the case. Having visited the eight round of the AMA 125cc/250cc Motocross championships at Unadilla last weekend and seeing the performance of Josh Coppins against the top American’s it might in fact be the Euros who have the upper hand. Coppins who is without a doubt the second fastest 250cc rider in Europe at the moment finished with 5-8 results at Unadilla, not exactly the same result as while he’s been racing in Europe were he often picks up the runner-up position, however what Coppins was up against was a strange bike, different time zone and a heavy schedule of qualification races, four practice sessions and then the two moto’s they run in America. In Europe it’s like two practice sessions on Saturday, a practice session on Sunday and one moto. Nothing could have prepared Coppins for the amount of time he spent on the rough Unadilla circuit. Coppins was also riding on a track which was miles rougher than anything he’d ridden in Europe and while he enjoyed the track, it was new to him.
“The track at Unadilla was rougher on Saturday morning than ours are on Sunday night.” Coppins said. “I loved it and I enjoy those type of tracks, real Motocross tracks.”
The opening moto in Unadilla saw Coppins run as high as fourth behind Carmichael, Ferry and Larocco, and ahead of Tortelli and Lusk. Coppins though began to suffer breathing problems and lost fourth place to Tortelli, however hung on for fifth place. In the second moto Coppins hit lap one in around 8th place and remained there for the complete race. Sixth place overall was a great performance for Coppins making his first ever race on the Outdoor series in America, considering his was not on a factory bike he really showed good speed against Unadilla specialist Tortelli who was racing for the Honda factory team.
Is Ricky Carmichael better than Mickael Pichon, we will let you know when the two lock horns at the September 29 Motocross des Nations in America. One thing that must be said though, it’s been mentioned recently that Ricky Carmichael is a better rider than Ricky Johnson and Bob Hannah. I wouldn’t too quick to judge on this, seems to me Hannah and Johnson had much better competition in names like Jeff Stanton, Ron Lechien, Broc Glover, Jeff Ward, David Bailey, Johnny O’Mara, Kent Howerton, Donnie Hansen, Marty Smith and a host of other legends of the sport. With all respect to Carmichael, while be belongs on that list of previously mentioned riders, he has beaten some very good riders in Sebastien Tortelli, Ezra Lusk, Tim Ferry, Kevin Windham, David Vuillemin and Mike Larocco. Only Larocco belongs on the list of legends though. Same goes with Pichon of course, he’s beaten some very good riders in Frederic Bolley and Chad Reed and Gordon Crockard, none though are legends (although Reed might be one day). Rating former and present day riders is just not possible, it might be good bench racing, although that's just what it is.
Ben Townleys weekend was anything but a good result, bad starts and a couple of crashes cost Ben any chance of racing for a podium finish. A pity as his lap times were often as good as that of the top five riders.
What about James Stewart, I had seen him race a couple of Supercross races early in the year and also in Europe twice, however this guy is by far the quickest 125cc rider in the World at the moment. His sheer speed is something to be seen, just awesome. Chad Reeds opening moto in Unadilla was really special, however he just could not match the African/American. Hats off to Bubba, he is going to be tough to beat in any race he enters, including on a 250cc bike. We would have loved to have seen him race the Motocross des Nations, although with the new format of no 125cc machines and Bubba still only a rookie the Kawasaki factory management and Bubba himself were not keen to go out against the Open class bikes of Everts, Ferry, and Smets.
Interesting to notice Ricky Carmichael will race a Honda 450cc machine in the last two rounds of the AMA 250cc series. Other rumors coming from America are that Jeremy McGrath is really keen to sign with KTM, however due to the fact McGrath is sponsored by Bud Light and KTM are sponsored by Red-Bull it probably won’t happen. There was talk Grant Langston would race for McGrath although sportsmen under 21-years-old are not allowed to be sponsored by Beer companies. The same problem arose when Chad Reed wanted to race under the McGrath team colors.
Nice to hear that Grant Langston and Chad Reed are now best mates. Seems the two former Grand Prix riders get on really good and spend a lot of time together trying to work out how to beat James Stewart.
The American factory teams are not happy with the new fuel rules set to go into action in America in 2003. The American bikes will have to run under the FIM rules, which mean race fuel is illegal. In Europe the teams run regular unleaded fuel.
Article from: http://www.motocrossgrandprix.com
