Ryan Villopoto and Ricky Carmichael discuss the MXoN and team USA below:
RV: We didn’t send our A team, and there was a lot of factors into theat, we couldn’t pick from the cream fo the crop. We had guys step up which was phenomenal to see. It’s a gnarly race. Ending up 8th, I think we could have done better. i don’t thnk we could have made a podium being honest.
RC: We are better than eighth.
RV. Fourth through eighth..
RC: The box score isn’t a reflection of the talent level.
RC: I saw an interview with RJ and he was talking about the track on qualifying day, I think ther best riders in the world find a way to adapt to it. I’ve been there, it’s a super narrow track, a fun track. I think you would have loved it. It’s one of those tracks you can make up a lot of time, it’s gnarly a lot of steep uphills and downhills. Some great corners, tight corners, you can come in harder than your competition, come out harder an faster than your competition.
At the end of the day you have to find ways to be better than guys. You watch Ken Roczen do it, Jett Lawrence do it, France didn’t have a problem it a lot of guys from other countries didn’t have a problem, you just have to figure it out.
RV: It’s tough, I watched the comment. The one thing that is a little short sighted, is these guys go around the world, and race so many different conditions and that’s just one of them. The US we see about three or four different types but a lot of those are really similar.
I only got to do four rounds of MXGP, from Qatar to Thailand, Argentina to Arco di Trento, drasticallly different soil conditions and track. As a racer coming from the US, you have to have an open mind, everybody has to race it. I’m not going to say they are better riders but technically on different condition from LIerop to Lommel, I think technically they better than we are. They basically live on a rock sheet in Europe, I just got back from Foxhill, it’sflint hard and blue groove, it’s a very unique track. That’s what Europe has to offer.
RC: You have to perform in all of them.
RV: The tracks are completely different, we have to adapt.
RC: I will say this, I always thought and felt when I went to MXoN, those guys rose to a different level than maybe they ride at a GP. I really believe that, I would be battling with some cat, and I’m like, ‘who the hell is this guy? I don’t even know who he is!’ He was nowhere in the championship, and I feel like that’s the case.
I’m going to US this guy as an example because he’s in the US now and that’s Tom Vialle. I feel like he rode better this past this weekend than he rode at most of the races this year. I expected him to put in better resultsl becuae of his credentials. I expected him to ride like he did this weekend at the pro motocross championship. Now, I head a couple of things, that he thought his MXGP bike was better than his US bike because of the rules and regulations in America. I feel like Euro guys ride on more emotion.
It used to piss me off actually! Like dude, why are you all of a sudden riding so hard now when you weren’t even top five in the GP championship. Like Vialle, if I’m Roger and Ian Harrison, I’m fired up, why aren’t you riding like that in the Pro Motocross Championship?!
Watch the full, very honest podcast with two guys who have been there and done it below: