MXGP Insider No.19: Game Of Thrones

Transmoto’s weekly web-exclusive column, the MXGP Insider, penned by David Bulmer, presented by KTM Australia. 

This is all getting a bit ridiculous now, as the MXGP class is turning into a season of Game Of Thrones (well worth watching, by the way). Max Nagl was the latest victim to injury after being hit by Gautier Paulin and then run over by David Philippaerts, which left him with a broken bone in his foot and an extremely short recovery period to get fit and healthy for the next MXGP in Sweden. This meant Romain Febvre took over duties as the red plate holder in what has been a pretty incredible rise to the top for the young Frenchman. I remember he first came to prominence in 2011 when he was racing the EMX250 class against Dylan Ferrandis. Febvre ended up winning the championship despite winning one race and getting on the podium in just six races out of twelve, but won because Ferrandis (who won five motos) got injured and missed a couple of rounds. The thing that stood out most about him was his fans who all dressed as roosters and made a massive noise every time he went past (more than most French fans). At that stage I never really thought he’d become a top rider, simply because of his results compared with Ferrandis but he has proved me and many others completely wrong and now, having met and spoken with him a lot these past couple of years, I am a big fan of his.

Something the riders don’t seem to be big fans of right now is the track prep that has been going on in these European rounds. Clement Desalle was pretty critical after his crash in France, Antonio Cairoli has even said it on a few occasions (which is rare for him) and now Max Nagl has come out and said it hasn’t been the best since the overseas races. I’m no rider, but having seen them flood the top of a rock-hard Teuthschenthal track, with zero ripping involved, I can’t help but side with the riders on this one. If these guys keep getting injured then something has to be done to stop that and track work is an obvious remedy. Not that Herlings’ crash can be blamed on track work … that was just him waaaay over-doing a scrub.

Now I’d like to talk quickly about the Women’s Motocross Championship, which I know doesn’t get too much coverage but with just one round remaining, is going to the wire in an intense battle between two riders (Livia Lancelot and Kiara Fontanesi) that really don’t seem to get on with one another. I don’t really have any facts behind it, other than having listened to both riders in the press conferences this year and I just get the sense that they pretty much hate their championship rival. The last round is in the Czech Republic in about a month’s time and sees Lancelot lead Fontanesi by just two points. If only all championships could end like that.

And briefly I’d just like to say that I do not support the “Teutschenthal for 2018 MXoN” campaign which the Youthstream PR department put out this week. I understand that they want to keep the race in the “big” tracks but I believe Matterley Basin is a much better candidate and hasn’t seen the event in 13 years (when 2018 rolls around), compared with just five years for the German track. This is a completely unbiased standpoint, of course.