Nation versus Nation

Of course the FIM Motocross World Championship is about riders all around the World battling for the honour of becoming MXGP or MX2 Champion. For many years it was Belgium that controlled the sport, but in recent years Italian rider Antonio Cairoli has added many titles for his country.

Cairoli, who has seven FIM World Motocross Championships, along with names like Michele Rinaldi, Alessandro Puzar, Alessio Chiodi, Andrea Bartolini and David Philippaerts has helped Italy to a multitude of titles and there is no doubt Cairoli has his eyes set on adding a few more World titles to his name.

Unfortunately in recent years Belgium have struggled to win World titles, in fact their last FIM World Motocross Champion was with Steve Ramon in 2007. It has been the longest run of this country has had with not winning a World MX Championship, and with Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings around, it doesn’t look good for Belgian riders like Clement Desalle, Ken De Dycker, Kevin Strijbos
and Jeremy Van Horebeek.

It is of course exciting to see the amount of countries on the start list for the opening Grand Prix of the season; During the Grand Prix of Qatar not only European countries like Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Finland or Bulgaria will be represented, but also countries from outside Europe like Australia, USA, South Africa and Japan.

New names like the two Australian riders Luke Styke and Todd Waters, racing for Kemea Yamaha Racing Team and Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing respectively, or American sensation Thomas Covington racing in the MX2 class for Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team, have the chance to show the World that they are capable of competing with the best Motocross riders in the World.

Veterans like the Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Tyla Rattray from South Africa, the TM Ricci racing’s Tanel Leok from Estonia or DP19 Racing’s David Philippaerts from Italy will want to give their last breath to perform at this level and fight for podiums and major points.

Then we have the youth of the MX2 class, all riders under the age of 23 years old and many very fresh to the World scene. While the flying Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings is the big favourite to win this title, there are probably 10 young riders waiting in the wings to see if the defending Champion makes a mistake or has bike trouble.

Names like Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff from The Netherlands, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jordi Tixier from France, KTM Silver Action’s Jose Butron from Spain, or CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy MX2’s Arnaud Tonus from Switzerland, all have the capability of winning a Grand Prix if Herlings stutters.

Add to this the fact we visit countries like Qatar, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, and several countries around Europe and the FIM World Motocross Championships have never had such a strong feeling of being just that, a World Championship.

When the Grand Prix riders settle down in Doha, Qatar in around six weeks time, you can be sure that despite the diversity in their cultures and characters, the opening Grand Prix of the season will be special, just as it was in 2013.