MATTERLEY BASIN (ENGLAND)-Winchester is going to get packed with Motocross fans from all over the world this weekend.A huge crowd is expected to attend the event: all the hotel rooms and camping areas are fully booked, no room is left for last-minute calls, in fact, the “Olympics” of Motocross, the 2006 FOX Motocross of Nations will take place this weekend at Matterley Basin’s track.
The brand new circuit, just miles away from Winchester, held its first MXGP on the 18th of June for the FIM Grand Prix of Great Britain and is now “experienced” enough to host the ultimate event of the year. Both the British and the American team will be challenging each other in a “private contest” to get the exclusive title of “winningest” country ever with 17 strikes at the Motocross of Nations. The 2006 edition of the 60-year-old series is expected to become one of the most important in the history of the “Olympics” of Motocross: 10 times World Champion Stefan Everts will be entering his last Motocross of Nations after he announced the retirement from a uniquely successful career. He concluded the 2006 MX1 season with another title under his belt and got an outstanding additional record into his book by achieving 101 MXGP wins.
The Belgian senator will be joined into this final appearance on the World MX stage by his American sensation colleague Ricky Carmichael who has recently concluded his full-time career in Motocross and will just enter selected events starting from 2007. ‘RC’ will bring a massive dose of adrenaline in the FOX Motocross of Nations where he will be captain of Team USA.
Unfortunately Belgian and American Team leaders will arrive to England in different physical conditions.Stefan Everts is in great shape as he showed last Sunday in Ernée by grasping 2 back-to-back Heat wins. Different is the situation for Ricky Carmichael who crashed in the first Moto at the final round of AMA Toyota Motocross at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, injuring his left shoulder.15 AMA Titles winner Ricky Carmichael will surely fly to England and try riding his Suzuki RM-Z450, should he not be able to go for the mission his team-mate Ivan Tedesco will promptly jump on the yellow bike in the MX1 class for Team USA.Beyond the two stars of the FOX Motocross of Nations being held on British soil this weekend there will be a lot more competitors making the event the most important of the 2006 calendar.Fresh AMA Motocross Lites Champion Ryan Villopoto and “stars and stripes” hero James Stewart will complete the American squad defending the Motocross of Nations Title that the Team got in Ernée last year in front of 60.000 people.
Second last year, Team France will be at the starting gate with 2 Motocross World Champions. 18-year-old Christophe Pourcel, who won the Title from Antonio Cairoli last Sunday in Ernée, and Yves Demaria, winner of his second MX3 Title, will be two key elements in Team France’s chase for success. Sebastien Pourcel will have the opportunity to surprise, switching on the 450cc after an entire season on the Kawasaki 250F.
The MXGP factory Suzuki’s team-mates Kevin Strijbos and Steve Ramon, second and third in the final MX1 standings behind the Belgian superstar Stefan Everts will join ‘Stefun’ himself in the Belgian Squad for MXoN as second and third elements. While Ramon will keep his 450cc Suzuki, Strijbos will race on the smaller 250cc machine and as mentioned along with Yamaha’s Stefan Everts are one of the most spicy teams entering the 60th Motocross of Nations in history.Three other fighters are lining up another really strong team: Team New Zealand. The Kiwis attending the event are 2005 MX1 runner-up Josh Coppins, former MX2 World Champion Ben Townley and Cody Cooper. Each one of them provides different experiences with Coppins racing in the Motocross World Championship, Townley just moving to US after a long MXGP career and Cooper being involved at high level in the New Zealand MX National Championships.Home Team Great Britain counts on three riders coming from the MX2 class of the Motocross World Championship: Billy Mackenzie, Carl Nunn and Tommy Searle, who, this last, conquered the first podium of his career in Matterley Basin during the 2006 Grand Prix of England.Cousins Tanel and Aigar Leok wearing the Estonian uniforms along with Juss Laansoo will be sharing the track with Dutchmen Marc de Reuver, George Strik and Bas Verhoeven who will represent The Netherlands in UK.Portugal will send to England Paulo Goncalves, Henrique Venda and Rui Goncalves, who just finished his best World Motocross season with 7th place in the MX2 standings. After the unfortunate injury of Grant Langston and Gareth Swanepoel South Africa had to reconsider its team and will count now on Neville Bradshaw, Wyatt Avis along with MX2 star Tyla Rattray.With all South Africans living in Europe at the moment, the journey to Matterley Basin will be much longer for the Japanese Team members Akira Narita, Yohei Kojima and Yoshitaka Atsuta but that is just a small detail when we talk about such an important event in racing.FOX Motocross of Nations will welcome also the Chinese, Australian and Danish Teams. But great expectations are for the Italian team with 2005 MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli, factory Ktm’s David Philippaerts and MX3 top calibre Christian Beggi entering the event with podium goals.The list is not over as many other national teams will make this 60th Motocross of Nations an unforgettable event starting on Saturday at 10 am with the MX1 Free Practice.