MXGP Insider No.6: Brazil!

Welcome to our weekly web-exclusive column, Transmoto‘s MXGP Insider. Penned each week by Vurbmoto’s David Bulmer, the MXGP Insider will present the story-behind-the-stories of the European motocross scene.

We’re only two rounds in, but already it seems weird spending a weekend away from the GP races. I guess with the SX schedule running almost non-stop from January to May, it takes a little bit to adjust to the World Championships which seem to come in pairs from March until September. Although in saying that, this Brazil round is on its own with two weekends off before it and one weekend off afterwards, and then the European rounds begin at the amazing Arco di Trento race in Italy. With a second Brazil round grouped in with the return of the Mexican GP at the end of the year, it means that this race will be a quick in-and-out for pretty much all the riders and teams. In theory, a lot of people could be sitting on a plane for over 40 hours for a race that essentially lasts 72 hours. It’s not a great ratio, but surprisingly, quite a few of the riders chose to do a similar thing for Qatar and Thailand, flying back to Europe in between.

This is the Brazil track that’s been on the calendar now for the past few years and in all honesty it’s a pretty amazing feat of design, as they’ve managed to build a motocross track that’s surrounded by grandstands on probably 80% of the outside edge. Now of course, purists will say that motocross should be built on natural terrain, using hills and valleys, but I’m sure anyone who’s been there will agree that the atmosphere created here is one of the best. The year I was there, the fans had all been given different coloured T-Shirts, depending on which block they were sitting in, which would have looked really cool… had it not been raining for most of the weekend. I believe the aim of scheduling it a little bit earlier in the year is to try and avoid the rain that has hit this race a number of times and ruins what is a great spectacle.

The fans still come out in their droves though, partly for the racing and partly it seems because they all want to buy motocross gear. I travelled from Argentina with a whole bunch of fans who were carrying great wads of cash because after the race they head to the pits and offer to buy pretty much every item of clothing and gear that a rider has. Import duty is so expensive for these things in South America that it works out much cheaper to buy from riders than from America or Europe. The riders don’t mind either, it seems, because I know that Tommy Searle used to pack an extra gear bag just to sell off some older stuff, and who can blame them for making a decent amount of cash on the side, especially as it’s stuff they’ve been given.

Overall though, it’s an interesting round and definitely somewhere that needs to have a GP. As Australians, I’m sure it’s hard to swallow that Brazil has two while you guys don’t have even one, but with Honda being such a big player down there, it really isn’t hard to see the reasoning. And if it does make you feel any better, in a recent gathering with the press, Giuseppe Luongo did say the next country that’s nearest to having a GP is New Zealand, so fingers crossed for everyone in Australasia that that happens.