RESULTS: CHARLOTTE
GRAND PRIX OF THE
AMERICAS
450 Class:
1. Eli Tomac...................................1-1
2. Tim Gajser ................................. 4-2
3. Jeremy Van Horebeek ........... 3-5
4. Glenn Coldenhoff..................... 6-3
5. Clement Desalle ....................... 5-7
6. Evgeny Bobryshev ................ 11-4
7. Romain Febvre ......................... 9-6
8. Jordi Tixier................................ 7-8
9. Maximilian Nagl .................... 10-9
10. Justin Barcia........................... 2-32
250 Class:
1. Cooper Webb............................2-1
2. Jeffrey Herlings .......................1-3
3. Austin Forkner ......................... 3-2
4. Thomas Covington .................. 4-4
5. Calvin Vlaanderen ................... 5-8
6. Jeremy Seewer....................... 10-5
7. Mitch Harrison ......................... 9-7
8. Max Anstie.............................. 6-10
9. Benoit Paturel......................... 11-6
10. Brian Bogers ........................... 8-11
Yes. Was it right? It depends. On
one hand, the riders signed their
contracts and cashed the checks. Did
they read the contracts? Did they take
the money with the idea that they
could just skip out at the end of the
season (as Chad Reed did at the last
minute) without consequence? The
riders aren’t innocent victims. They
have agents and lawyers. If they took
Monster’s money, then what are they
complaining about? Are you a businessman, or do you have compassion
for professional racers?
On the other hand, strong-arming
Eli Tomac and Pro Circuit Kawasaki
into racing the Charlotte USGP was a
stroke of genius by Monster. Without
Tomac and Austin Forkner racing, the
event wouldn’t have been nearly as
exciting. American spectators want to
see American racers face off against
Europeans. Call it ethnocentrism, but
most U.S. fans believe that Uncle
Sam’s boys are faster and stronger
than the stars of MXGP. They’ll pay
the price of admission to watch Eli
Tomac blow the doors off Tim Gajser
and company. Had it not been for a
strong contingent of U.S. riders, the
event would have lacked pizzazz.
Monster Energy’s reputation took a
hit for goading Eli Tomac into racing
the USGPs, but all was forgiven when
Tomac and the big green “M” logo
on his jersey blazed around Charlotte
Motor Speedway.
U.S. motocross fans should be none
too pleased that Tomac didn’t race
in the sand—his words, not mine—so
he elected to skip the MXDN (or did
Team Kawasaki look at its coffers and
nix paying the big budget to send Eli
to Maggiora?). The question remains
as to whether there are too many
races in an increasingly bloated sched-
ule. Roger DeCoster believes there
are. An event promoter would argue
otherwise.
DID WEATHER RUIN THE USGP
OF THE AMERICAS?
Quite the contrary. The outskirts of
Hurricane Hermine blew in Thursday
evening before Friday’s practice sessions and qualifying races, consuming Charlotte airspace for the better
part of a day. Youthstream wisely
canceled Friday’s events, given that
many riders had made the trip across
the pond with one race bike that
needed to last for two rounds. Racing
under adverse conditions would
have destroyed equipment. Instead,
Youthstream condensed the schedule
to a one-day deal by cutting out qualifying races and using timed practice
for gate pick.
MX Sports has been using a one-day National race format since 2009.
Preferred by the vast majority of
riders, the single-day idea has been
a success in the AMA Nationals, but
it has yet to be embraced in MXGP.
Maybe that will change after the
deluge on Friday. A light went on in
the collective minds of the GP think
tank. Why spend an extra day racing
dangerous qualifiers and have riders
spend unnecessary time on a track
that everyone can learn in a few laps?
Youthstream should run the EMX
classes the day before the GP classes
when applicable and have one-day GP
events at flyaway races.
WILL YOUTHSTREAM RETURN
TO THE CHARLOTTE MOTOR
SPEEDWAY DIRT TRACK?
Time will tell, but judging by the
spectator attendance and generally
favorable impressions of the riders,
it’s not out of the question. From my
perspective, everyone involved did
their best to make the USGP of the
Americas a successful event. Charlotte
Motor Speedway and Youthstream
had most of their bases covered. MXA
was treated well, which isn’t always
the case. As a photojournalist, I know
an event is good when I put down my
camera and watch the racing as any
diehard motocross fan would. That’s
exactly what I did in the final 250
moto. You win this round, Giuseppe
Luongo! ❏
OF THE
AMERICAS
Charlotte Motor Speedway is in
JGR’s backyard. It was only natural
that Justin Barcia styled near the
front for a while, but up-and-down
results ruined his overall finish.
