Surprise, surprise

Published: 09th October 2007

Author: Sean Lawless

Surprise, surprise - Spain won the Trial des Nations and America won the Motocross des Nations. Hardly earth-shattering news to be honest – both started odds-on favourites and both comfortably confirmed their status as the two sports’ leading countries. In fact, the only surprise was just how easily they dominated their respective des Nats. Spain’s 32-mark win on the Isle of Man – including a completely clean opening lap – was a breathtaking achievement. But not as breathtaking as Team USA’s who annihilated the rest of the world’s best motocrossers to end the day on seven points – one short of the best possible finish.

Fair enough, they had home advantage on a track prepared with American tastes in mind (see Radio America on page 95) but the GP riders’ inability to rise to the occasion means there’s a vast difference between this year’s US victory and their victory last year when they failed to win a single moto. But you’ve got to look for positives and one thing that came out of Budds Creek was the fighting spirit the Brits and Irish carried across the Atlantic .

The writing was on the wall as early Saturday’s practice session when James Noble spammed himself on a big downhill triple and dislocated his shoulder. But it’s a testament to what riding for your country means to James that he made both starts on the Sunday, gritted his teeth and did some serious damage limitation. Noble by name…

Billy Mac also had to peel himself off the deck and Tommy Searle put in an awesome pair of rides to come home second MX2 rider overall – and that’s despite being torpedoed by overweight Aussie Chunky Chad Reed. But the British hero of the weekend has got to be team manager Mark Eastwood. On the track – both back in his factory Honda days and even now, sticking his two-stroke Honda in among the top four-stroke men in the British championship – Easty was an inspiration. And it appears that off the track in his new role leading our national team he continues to inspire. At the pre-race press conference our team were relaxed and joking while everybody else were super-serious and that’s down to having a team boss who’s been there, done that and knows what makes his men tick. So well done Mark, well done Billy, Tommy and James – and well done the ACU for having the smarts to give Easty the job.

While Team GB’s injury woes didn’t kick off until the Saturday, Team Ireland’s started much earlier – at Namur in fact when Gordon Crockard shattered his collarbone and effectively deselected himself from the Irish squad. In his absence, qualifying for Sunday’s main event looked a big ask but with Marty Barr stepping into the Crock Star’s size 12s they not only made the final they brought it home in a fighting 13th place.

While the British MXdN team’s fifth place was a great result given the circumstances, our TdN finish of third was a big disappointment. As I’ve already stated, it would’ve taken a minor miracle to knock the Spanish off their perch but Dougie and the gang were gutted to lose second to Japan . Good job that our ladies squad – Becky Cook, Donna Fox and Maria Conway - reaffirmed their position as the world’s number one feet-up females by retaining the TdN title they won a year ago in France . So it’s not all doom and gloom on the British trials front…