Sparkplug #6

What is the point of the annual Motocross des Nations? For the riders and fans, it’s all about global bragging rights, a one-day, winner-take-all contest to determine not only the fastest rider in the world, but the fastest nation as well. We’re talking motocross supremacy, even if only for a day. The MXdN has correctly been referred to as the Olympics of motocross, and the fact that the U.S. dominated this event in the 80’s and 90’s makes it that much sweeter.

But what do the factories get out of this event? The MXdN is traditionally held at the end of the normal championship seasons, so by the time the event is run, the factory teams have already burned through their annual budgets. Motorcycle makers race for research & development, prestige and sales promotion. The World and national championship series for the major motocross countries take care of those needs pretty handily. One more race in the off-season doesn’t provide much of a benefit. In fact, it can be argued that the potential negatives, particularly the chance of a star rider getting injured, outweigh any possible upside.

Financial considerations are what reportedly caused the lack of U.S. participation in last year’s MXdN. And in fact, money has been an issue for all of the U.S. teams throughout the years. I even purchased a t-shirt to support the 2000 MXdN; of course, my small donation pales in comparison to the efforts mounted by Racer X’s Davey Coombs and Wonder Warthog Racing’s Scott Kandel, among others. There is no financial incentive for the factories or their riders to participate… it’s all about bragging rights, which is tough to justify on an accounting spreadsheet.

With all that in mind, in my opinion the MXdN in it’s current configuration is obsolete. While there will always be a desire, among racers and their fans, to duke it out and decide who’s got the hottest hand, the fact of the matter is the race simply does not make business sense. And on top of that, the race happens just when the teams and the racers are physically and fiscally depleted from racing all year.

Here’s my solution: the MXdN should, like Major League Baseball’s All-Star break, occur right in the middle of the respective National and MXGP schedules, while the racers are at their peak condition. And to throw more coal on their competitive fires, the events should carry championship points for all participating series, so title contenders will HAVE NO CHOICE but to race the event.

What would it take to get the FIM to implement such a daring change? The FIM (which is the international motorcycle sport governing body) would have to force the factories to accept this disruption… and the championship points situation would favor the top three riders only, because they would be the only ones chosen to compete (a great bonus, in my opinion).

What do you think?