They say all reigns must come to an end. I say bullshit. USA is still number one. When you have one event a year, there are bound to be results that deviate from the average. It’s like the Super Bowl; do you really think the Giants were better than the Pats last year? Euros will take this one and embrace it all year because they have nothing else, they are Moe’s to our Chipotle. When push comes to shove, who’s standing on top?
- This year’s event was designed for the US to fail. The FIM literally had to construct a race for us to lose, and it happened to work out. Herlings even said the track was “shit” and that coming into it having never raced on it before would be next to impossible. Then the vast majority of the track was closed before the race to ensure that none of the Americans have ever turned a full lap there. Just look at the evidence: Roczen worked Dungey and Barcia. He was on a 250F. You cannot ride a 250F in the sand as fast as a 450, unless you have more than a few tricks up your tight, dragon-laden European sleeve. That track is home field advantage to the 10s, and since Europe is the size of my backyard, all of the Euros were collectively sharing in it.
- All things considered, the US riders rode like shit, and they know it. Everyone has an off day. Dungey’s best finish was a 7th and he fell in both motos. The dude doesn’t fall. He’s the type of rider that you could grab his front brake and twist his bars while he’s going past you and he’d just pick up a few seconds and say thanks later. Baggett was on a 250F and he isn’t some German kid on a KTM, so he was fucked since Jump Street. I thought Barcia rode pretty well, save for several mistakes. He was a clear-cut third best behind Herlings and Cairoli. De Dycker passed him but Justin was all out of sorts at that point and passing De Dycker back is like passing a Mack truck in a drive-through.
- Herlings is faster than Cairoli in the sand, I don’t care what the results say.
Band Of Brothers. You Euros should watch it some time.
- In qualifying, when Chuck Sun helped Barcia back onto the racetrack, he probably knew that Justin would get DQed. He just didn’t care, he saw a fellow American and knew it was up to him to lend a helping hand. Euros would never do that; they don’t have a free hand to lend, since one is holding their cigarette and the other is busy reaching for another cigarette. And you people wonder why we needed to save your asses in WWII.
- Barcia’s savage re-entry was entirely fueled by American determination and desire.
- As far as Euros, I was impressed with Herlings and the all the Germans. They rode way better than I was expecting. Cairoli crushed it (there, are you happy?) but the fact that he continues to refuse to come to America and race the fastest series means that he’s dead to me.
- We should just call Europe a country and race 10 on 10. It would significantly limit the amount of joes on the track, which this year was absurd. Our boys got screwed in that regard, since passing people going half your speed through the main line on a sand track when you have never ridden it is like teaching a German how to sound cheerful.
- I almost turned the race off when I found out that China was a no show this year. Talk about an asterisk in the record books. Ping Pong, Ding Dong, and Zing Zong would have had that sand on lock. Jackie Chan as the manager and that shit was all over.