MXGP

Kawasaki Racing Team takes a Monster step for 2015 with new signings Ryan Villopoto & Tyla Rattray. Along with racing partner Monster Energy and the formidable factory KX450-SR, the official Kawasaki factory team in MXGP is a formidable force. Make the journey with us and witness this, the first confident step.

Copyright: Photo: Kawasaki Racing Team

The race to the 2015 MXGP title has started, with the first pot shots being fired at pre season races across Europe the title hopefuls for the manufacturers are sizing each other up and testing bodies and set ups for the long season ahead. MXGP mag took what is a long list of potential race winners and pared it right down to the bare essentials, the riders they think will be there at the end of the season trying to wrestle the crown from Tony Cairoli.

To read, click HERE.

There are a lot of folks out there with their money on this guy, Team HRC's Gautier Paulin, to take the red plate at the opening round of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship. Offering a little more insight as to what he's up to, MXGP Mag caught up with the man himself, GP21, to touch base on his transition to Honda, working with fellow French legend Jean Michel Bayle, the team atmosphere and how his first time lining up the red machine went…

Click HERE to read.

You can feel the tension already. The 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship is just around the corner and three maybe four riders are in serious contention to battle for this year’s MXGP championship. Another five or six are possible GP winner and moto winners. I can’t remember a season with my excitement in my 22 years in Europe and 43 years of going to motocross races, being this much.

Can the legendary Antonio Cairoli tame the moto-beast of Ryan Villopoto? Will Gautier Paulin and Clement Desalle be consistent enough to remain with the Italian and American as the season gets to the serious end of the championship? Will riders like Tommy Searle, Max Nagl, Kevin Strijbos, Tyla Rattray, or the two Aussies, Dean Ferris and Todd Waters shock the top four?

HRC factory rider Gautier Paulin who is clearly a heavy favorite in this year’s title knows that bringing a rider of the class of Villopoto to race the GPs can only make for an exciting 2015. The Frenchman is excited for the Grand Prix of Qatar in two week’s time.

“For me, that Ryan is coming is good for the championship,” Paulin told. “We will have so much more media at the MXGP and this is great. For me as a racer and I am working to race, a person like Ryan coming is good and in the championship we will have more contenders, and I love that. Being on the start gate in Qatar, once we put our ass on the bike, it means everything to me. I am ready for fighting and ready for racing.”

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Tommy Searle has battled for a championship and come up just short. He is now possibly better prepared than ever and can’t wait for the 2015 season to get underway.

“I think Villopoto brings a lot,” Searle said. “He is one of the best in the world, and has won a lot of supercross and outdoor titles, he is one of the strongest riders around and with him coming to MXGP takes the series to another level. Also a lot more interest for the American fans, it’s a big plus for the Grand Prix.”

Veteran paddock personality and team manager Harry Nolte isn’t so sure Villopoto will have it all his own way. The American dominance of the 1990s and Ricky Carmichael era are over and it’s the GP guys who now hold the torch for world motocross.

“I think at the Motocross of Nations we really saw how it is the last few years,” Nolte said. “I think most American people know that, not all of them, but most of them. When the tracks get really rough, then the GP guys, or the European guys have a big advantage, but in saying that Tomac is also good on those tracks. Dungey, we have to not forget he battled for the title and he wasn’t on the pace in Latvia. I think Tomac is really fast at the moment and Villopoto is probably faster than both of them. We will see what happens, and I know everyone involved can’t wait.”

Love is in the air with Valentines day is creeping up on us as quickly as it does every year. This year, we are giving our valentine access to the FULL season of MXGP racing on MXGP-TV, which will allow you to watch each and every round of the FIM Motocross World Championship LIVE and OnDemand on any computer, laptop or portable device!

So, do you want to be our valentine?

All you have to do is click HERE and fill in your details to be in the draw to WIN. 

Yamaha Motors Europe launched their comprehensive campaign for 2015 racing glory today with the official presentation of their 2015 on and off-road line-ups.

Taking place at the Yamaha Motor Racing Headquarters in Gerno di Lesmo, Italy, Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube introduced their dynamic MXGP line-up of Jeremy Van Horebeek, 2014 FIM MXGP vice world champion, and Romain Febvre, 2014 FIM MX2 bronze medalist and a rookie to fear, along with their MX2 squads, Standing Construct Yamaha and Kemea Yamaha Yamalube.

Making the switch from orange to blue, Standing Construct Yamalube Yamaha are sure to make a mark on the 2015 MX2 World Championship with their solid line up of Valentin Guillod and Julien Lieber. Both Guillod and Lieber were podium threats nearing the end of last season with Guillod rounding out the year with a podium finish and Lieber proving he’s got the pace to challenge for the lead.

Meanwhile Kemea Yamaha Racing will also represent team blue for yet another year with a line up of youngsters in the form of Benoit Paturel and Damon Graulus, both fresh out of the European Championship ranks.

As the excitement for the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship continues to build, particularly at the Yamaha base today, it was confirmed that all the boys in blue are ripe and ready for the gates to drop at round one in Qatar.

FUNCHAL (Portugal), 10 February 2015 - Youthstream presents the seventeenth issue of MXGP Mag which includes a feature on Team HRC’s force to be reckoned with, winner of the 2014 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations Gautier Paulin, an inside look at the location and facilities in Qatar, a glance at five of the fastest MXGP class contenders, as well as a feature on one of the most recognized names in the business, Pit Beirer, and also Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Junior Team’s newest recruit Josiah Natzke.

Click here to read the seventeenth issue of MXGP Mag or download it for FREE on Apple Store or Google Play. The iOs and Android versions contain exclusive videos and several photo galleries, and once the MXGP Mag has been downloaded, the reader does not need to be connected on the Internet to go through the content.

Those users who have already downloaded the other issues on their iOs device can automatically download the seventeenth issue by opening the News Stand and clicking on the cover of the MXGP Mag. Whereas those readers using an Android device will be able to download the magazine for free thanks to this new app: http://bit.ly/IssuuOnAndroid

LINKS

Youthstream

FIM

MXGP MAG

40 years ago it was the dream of every single American racer to beat the riders from Europe. Names like Joel Robert, Torsten Hallman and Roger DeCoster were the best riders in the world and their domination of the sport was obvious.

It was little surprising when the three visited America to race in the Trans-AMA series that the young locals like Brad Lackey, Bob Hannah and Marty Smith wanted to learn. For Lackey though it was like an obsession.

As a teenager he moved to Europe and lived in the Czech Republic, crying himself to sleep at night he dreamt to one day be a world champion. True enough after a decade of trying Lackey did win the 1982 FIM 500cc World Championship and his countryman Danny Laporte won the FIM 250cc World Championship, it was the start of a love affair American riders would have with the GP scene, although one that only really lasted a decade.

For Laporte the whole feel about racing in America grew from his childhood heroes. He knew straight away the only place for him to race was in Europe.

“When I was young the guys I looked at were guys like Roger DeCoster and Joel Robert and we got all the Cycle News (bigger motorcycle newspaper in USA) and it was always about those guys and we looked at the Europeans to learn more and that is why I wanted to race in Europe. Also the pageantry of the event in Europe, it has so much history. I mean the atmosphere in the 1970’s and 80’s was in my opinion the golden era of motocross in America and Europe. To go to a track and there was a massive crowd, it was really a lot of romance about it, and you had the Belgian fans in Belgium and the French fans in France and the British in England. In America it’s the same everywhere and it doesn’t change anywhere and in Europe everywhere you went it was different.”

Donny Schmit, Trampas Parker and Bobby Moore all won world championships between 1989 and 1994, two each for Schmit and Parker and one for Moore.

“I loved my time racing in Europe, and I still love going back and watching guys like Cairoli, or Paulin or Desalle. It’s a great series and for many America riders in my era it was a great place to race, but some European riders also wanted to race in America.”

That has once again changed, and not for a couple of years now have we seen a motocross world champion head to America. Now the best American rider Ryan Villopoto has moved to the MXGP class and is once again starting up that American dream.

Don’t be surprised to see a major interest from the American public in 2015, and that interest will without doubt see more young American riders wanting to ply their trade in Europe and around the world, just like Lackey did in the 1970s.

Excitement levels for MXGP 2015 are soaring especially with the results from pre-season events confirming that this season will in fact be as unpredictable as we had've hoped.

Looking fast and fierce in Shawbury, England at the Hawkstone International, Team Suzuki World MXGP’s Kevin Strijbos and Clement Desalle took the top two spots of the podium in MX1 with very impressive performances.

While Strijbos appeared to be riding hungrier than ever as he passed teammate Desalle for the win and the overall, the most impressive performance of the weekend was that of MXGP rookie, Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff who led a good portion of the races before fading due to arm-pump, which is to be expected from a 450 bike rookie of his stature.

Team Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM’s Shaun Simpson finished fourth while Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Dean Ferris rounded out the top five.

In MX2 at Hawkstone, the number one plate of the reigning FIM MX2 World Champion Jordi Tixier made his first appearance of the year. Looking solid and extremely comfortable on his Monster Energy Kawasaki MX2 machine, Tixier passed Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Aleksandr Tonkov for the lead in both races to take a double victory. Tonkov blew off some cobwebs too with two seconds while Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM’s Ben Watson, who will be an MX2 rookie this year, was the surprise of the weekend banking a solid pair of thirds for third overall. Former European Championship EMX250 Champion Steven Lenoir finished fourth while Watson’s teammate Petar Petrov bounced back from a couple of crashes for fifth.

Meanwhile in Castiglione Del Lago, Italy where the second round of the Italian Championship took place it became evident that the battle for the MXGP crown will be immense.

For starters, was awesome to see the 2008 FIM Motocross World Champion, DP19 Racing’s David Philippaerts bounce back from a few average years to win the MX1 class ahead of a legitimate MXGP title contender Redbull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl. Yamaha Factory Racing’s duo of Jeremy Van Horebeek and Romain Febvre rounded out the top four in that order while the eight-time FIM Motocross World Champion Antonio Cairoli was only fifth ahead of his Redbull KTM Factory Racing teammate Tommy Searle.

In the Elite race in Italy, Nagl took control confirming he’s in good shape for this year while Searle looks to be picking up some momentum finishing second. Philippaerts put in yet another mega performance for third while Febvre and Cairoli rounded out the top five.

With these brief overviews from the weekend, it looks like round one of the FIM Motocross World Championship, which is set to take place at the end of this month in Qatar is going to be nothing short of epic. You don’t want to miss it! To view the races live and on-demand, visit www.MXGP-TV.com and subscribe. 

Are you ready for MXGP 2015?

Tickets are already on sale for the following rounds:

MXGP of Trentino (Italy)

MXGP of Europe (The Netherlands)

MXGP of Spain

MXGP of Great Britain

MXGP of France

MXGP of Italy

Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (France)

Find your closest round on the calendar by clicking HERE.