2010 MXoN: Dungey Doubles

Even the fastest racers in the world (that were well enough to qualify for their country's MXoN team, that is) couldn't stop the Dungey from scoring double moto wins this weekend.  What year is this again?  Dungey's year!

GuyB with the goods for Vital MX.

Team USA wins the 2010 Red Bull Motocross of Nations!

Congratulations to Trey Canard, Ryan Dungey and Andrew Short for winning the 2010 Motocross of Nations at the Thunder Valley raceway in Colorado this weekend!  This makes six in a row for Team USA!  Good job!

More Visual Splendor: Red Bull represent

Lady Gaga working it at the Motocross of Nations?  Maybe not, but it does seem that Red Bull gets the hot ones. 
Thanks, GuyB!

Visual Splendor: TWMX at the MXoN

Transworld Motocross has some great coverage of today's qualifiers!

Red Bull Motocross of Nations in Colorado, USA

Yeah, we're feeling it.   Check out GuyB's excellent coverage of Saturday qualifying at Vital MX.

National Champion Trey Canard

I would bet Trey Canard believes in miracles.  Now he's a National Motocross Champion, for American Honda no less.  Following along in the tire tracks of the many great motocross champions that won titles with Big Red (Marty Smith, David Bailey, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael to name a few), TC is still special in his own right.

Pala podium pic by GuyB.

Pala Performance: National Champion Canard

Wow.   Trey Canard had a tremendous second half of the 2010 season, winning 5 of the last six Nationals (Red Bud, Spring Creek, Washougal, Unadilla and Steel City).  And in the one race he didn't win (sandy Southwick) he still finished on the podium in 3rd. 

Canard and the GEICO Powersports Honda team carried a lot of momentum coming into Pala, putting themselves in serious contention for a title that many (myself included) had already conceded to Christophe Pourcel and the powerhouse Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad.  Still, at the final round, Canard needed Pourcel to have a bad day order to have a shot at the title.  Pourcel, unfortunately, delivered. 

It was a pleasure to watch them ride yesterday, and my hat is off to the two champions.  Both riders rode as fast as they could and both of them made mistakes.  But Trey Canard kept it on two wheels and scored more points than his rival.  That's racing.

Trey Canard is the 2010 National Motocross Champion!   Congratulations to Trey, his team and his family!

Great shot by GuyB/Vital MX.

Roger DeCoster and Tony Alessi

Chatting at the end of the season. I imagine these guys will be talking a lot in the coming months.  Soon, they'll even be wearing the same shirts.

Photo credit: Paul Willis

Pala Shocker: Pourcel Crashes Out

The red plate on the #377 bike, seen here alone in the pits during the second 250cc moto at Pala, signifies the championship points leader.  Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki racer Christophe Pourcel carried this plate through most of the 12 race season, and came to Southern California with a seven-point lead over GEICO Powersports Honda's Trey Canard.  But complete disaster befell Pourcel in the first moto, as he crashed and dislocated his shoulder.   Allisports interviewed Christophe and got the full story . 

My heart was broken for Pourcel, I assumed all seasson long that he would win this title.

Photo credit:  Paul Willis

Steel City Slicker: Windham Wins One

Everyone's favorite, normally supercross-only vet racer (!) Kevin Windham repaid Team Honda Red Bull's kindness by winning the overall at the Steel City National on Saturday.   Ryan Dungey cut Kdub some slack by crashing out of the first moto on the first lap, but Geico Honda's Brett Metcalfe made Windham work for it in moto two.  As always, GuyB gets the girls, um, goods.  Same difference, I suppose!

The other shoe droppeth: KTM picks up DeCoster

The man who guided Team USA to almost all of its Motocross of Nations victories, the man who managed nearly all of Team Honda's iconic motocross champions, the man who brought American Suzuki's motocross team back from the dead, The Man himself has agreed to a presumably multi-year deal to manage KTM's "new" factory team in the United States, according to this press release at Racer X Online.

Glad to see Roger quickly found a home, but I hope that he made the best deal possible.  As he himself mentioned in his recent (and revealing) interview on DMXS, he just turned 66 but downturns in his real estate investments make it impossible for him to retire at this time.  I wish Roger the best of luck with his new venture!

Jawdropper: Roger DeCoster out at Suzuki

Some things happen in ways you would never expect.  This news is one of those things:  "The Man", 5-time motocross world champion and iconic Suzuki star is leaving the company after 15 years of taking the yellow team from the bottom to the top (news courtesy of Vital MX).

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop, I suppose, since the press release makes no mention of DeCoster's future plans.   The dude has done so much for so long, he certainly deserves to ride off into the sunset of a well-financed retirement, but for some reason, I'm thinking he's not finished with racing yet.  In any case, this is a tremendous loss for Team Suzuki, which has been rumored to be suffering a major budget crisis in 2010.