MXGP Insider No.20: Will Nagl Race?

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

So I guess the biggest talk of the week is whether Max Nagl will or won’t race this weekend in Sweden. Unfortunately as I write this (despite a great deal of searching), there hasn’t been any updates on this front, with the latest being that if he thinks it’ll cause him further injury, he won’t. While missing one (more) MXGP won’t completely rule him out of the title, it will in likelihood put him 40-60 points down on Romain Febvre and at least 30 down on Antonio Cairoli. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility but not a great position to be in, given that Cairoli is himself likely to be getting back to full fitness after a further two weeks to recover from his hand/arm injuries. Watch this space.

One guy you won’t need to watch for is former red plate holder, Clement Desalle, as he’s ruled himself out of the Swedish GP. Apparently his knee injuring is healing nicely but he still isn’t comfortable to be out there racing yet. Latvia is unconfirmed at this stage and to be honest, he’s got to be thinking, why risk it? These rumours about Factory Kawasaki are pretty substantial and the last thing he wants to do is jeopardise that move by further injuring himself in what are essentially meaningless races for him. He isn’t going to win the championship this year but he could very well damage it even more if he rushes back too early. On the opposite end of that scale is Jeffrey Herlings who is very much keen to rush back as soon as possible after breaking his collarbone. He is determined not to repeat the error in judgement that saw him miss the third MXGP of 2014 in Brazil due to a shoulder injury, as he believes he could have easily lined up and scored a few (vital) points there. Losing this championship seems equally unlikely now as it did back then but as this year has proven, anything can happen so it’s best to get as many points in the bag while you can.

This week the entry list to the Junior World Championships was released and to some of you it may have been a shock to have seen no Americans on the list. Unfortunately I knew a long time ago that they wouldn’t be coming as the event has been scheduled the week before Loretta Lynn’s, the biggest event on the American amateur motocross calendar. Now, usually the JWC has been one week, or two weeks after Loretta’s, but this year in all their wisdom, the FIM decided to change the date, thus ruling out any American presence. I told them it was foolish way back when they announced it but they said the event was bigger than one country and while that is obviously true, I’m sure a lot of these European kids would love the chance to race against them. Fancy being able to say that you beat Ryan Villopoto on 80s or Ryan Dungey on a 125 … well that chance has gone now, as it will likely be gone for 2016 as well, seeing as the event is being hosted in Russia! What right-minded European rider will be likely, able or willing to go there to race motocross?