In my opinion, by far the best podcast in the sport is the Title 24 podcast with two AMA and MXoN legends, Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto. Don’t we owe these two a lot for the memories they have given us, both in AMA events and of course the biggest motocross race of the year, the MXoN.

Interestingly they had a question from a fan, about the difference between the AMA and FIM bikes at the Nations and it allowed both RC and RV to give their opinion on the challenges for Team USA, or more so, AMA based riders have going to the Nations.

Not sure I agree with it all, but for sure, these two men know what it takes and have experienced the challenge on numerous occasions. Team USA is for sure one of the highlights for the event, mainly because they we don’t get to see hem race much and, in the past, on many occasions, the American media, public showed a lack of respect for the GP riders. That has of course changed over the last 13 Nations, with Team USA winning just once and even losing at home at Redbud in 2018.

In my opinion, I am not sure there is anything between the speed of the two series at the moment and with Jett Lawrence, Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence, Jorg Prado and Haiden Deegan leading the way in USA and Tim Gajser, Jeffrey Herlings, Lucas Coenen and Kay De Wolf leading the way in Europe, we are heading for some sensational MXoN battles in the coming decade. I might even think the speed is closer than ever before and we also know the relationship between MXsports and Infront, is better than ever, and allows us to see the AMA guys racing on home turf at the MXoN more often than ever.

Below is the quick chat with RC and RV on the battle to race the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations for the AMA riders.

RC: I like this question, and I feel like this is an oversight and people don’t realize but when people throw shade at US and our position in the MXoN, if we don’t win. The question was, do the MXGP guys, get to ride their MXGP bikes at MXoN. Is that an advantage over US. What do you think RV?

RV: Well, actually, I think it was Thursday or Friday and my sister works for the KTM group and when we are over there, it doesn’t matter what manufacturer you ride for, yet, I am Blu Cru Yamaha and Carlos, the team co-ordinator there at KTM, we are all close right. We are on their soil and even though we ride for different teams, when we are over there together (the American team riders), it is all Team USA. I was looking at Tom’s bike (Vialle) and looking at AP’s (Plessinger) bike and looking at Herlings bike and that was a question I asked, what is different between Jeffrey’s bike and AP’s bike, because in the past, they have been different, but currently, the bikes are basically identical. The MXGP fames could be hand welded, it is the same as a robot welded frame. So, the bikes are pretty much identical. Which was strange to hear, because when I was racing MXGP in 2015, the bikes were totally different. When Dungey went over to Lommel (in 2012) they had completely different set-ups, frames were different, but that time has changed, and they are on the same stuff. Also, the Yamaha’s are similar frames.

RC: I heard that some of our boys were down on power compared to the MXGP riders, but maybe they sorted that out. What I found, you are not in your regular rig and those guys are in their regular rig. We are not accustomed; the paddock is different. From that standpoint, there is a disadvantage for Team USA. They are racing their normal, it isn’t our normal.

RV: Something else, when I was talking with Carlos, and I think it was Saturday evening, they run a different grate to what we run on. The holes on the MXGP grate are much smaller, so a lot less traction and we also had the mist coming down and there was a tone of dudes who spun sideway on the grate (mainly MXGP guys did that - editor). So, back to what we were up against, Team USA were up against, racing on their stage. When it was at Redbud, the black grates were more tacking than the green grates, when we had mud, so there are a lot of tricks of the trade and that is where we don’t know and we have two days to figure it out, things we are not accustomed to. I said to Davey Coombes we need to put them on our grates, which are really tacky, that we run for supercross and motocross (not a racer, but I would assume tackier is better for everyone, not just the Team USA guys – editor). Give us that hair advantage. Let’s be honest, Team USA has a total of 23 wins, for MXoN, for the Chamberlain Cup. No matter if we lose the year before, we didn’t’ win last year and we didn’t win this year, and if we win or lose the prior year, the US still has a target on their back. We have the biggest stage for motocross, we have the supercross, the TV packages we have with NBC and Peacock (in my opinion, MXGP has a larger Worldwide TV package than SX – editor) and the money backing the racing, all those dudes want to beat our riders, regardless if their team is in it to win the MXoN or not, just like Gajser right, his team wasn’t in it to win it, Slovenian wasn’t in it to win, but he went 1-1.

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