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I’ve been a busy guy this off-season. Probably busier than I really wanted to be, if I’m being honest. After the last round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship in Indiana, I’ve travelled to France for the Motocross des Nations, Bulgaria for the inaugural Sofia SX, back to France for the Lille SX and this past weekend, I headed to Switzerland for the thirtieth annual Geneva SX.
With all the travel during the year here in the United States, it’s tough to head over to Europe that many times, but besides the accumulation of more air miles, there’s some real positives. The amount of bro-down time with the riders over there is great, the vibe is relaxed and there is plenty of down time to chat. I would never, ever live in Europe—it’s just too different—but I love visiting there and seeing some history. The racing is usually pretty good, and the crowds are great because they only get to see these guys once a year (if that) and get amped up for it. It’s a big difference from the Southern California crowd that gets to see these riders seventy-four times in the course of a calendar year.
I’m going to compare the four European races I went to and see where each one stands. Yeah, I know the Motocross des Nations is a bit different compared to the other three, but too bad, it’s my column.
QUALITY OF RIDERS
1. Motocross des Nations: Duh.
2. Lille SX: James Stewart, Malcolm Stewart, Cooper Webb, Weston Peick, Christophe Pourcel, Romain Febvre, Dylan Ferrandis and more. As usual, the premier Euro SX was jammed with great riders.
3. Sofia SX: Justin Brayton, Peick, Phil Nicoletti, Malcolm Stewart, Mike Brown and Josh Hansen made for a nice line-up. Plus, between Hansen and Brown, the widest range of personalities between human beings.
4. Geneva SX: Injuries to Marvin Musquin and Andrew Short hurt the event and left just two top American riders there in Malcolm Stewart and Justin Brayton. But Nate Adams and Kenny “Taco” Bell repped the USA fine in the FMX competition!
QUALITY OF RACING
1. Lille SX: Yeah, the MXDN was amazing, but in the end, France and USA were so much better than everyone else it was a bit of a forgone conclusion. But Lille, especially the second night, featured carnage everywhere and three different riders had a shot at being the King during one main event. The first night had James Stewart, great racing and even more carnage.
2. MXDN: Great racing between Musquin and Barcia in moto one backed by a crowd drunk on patriotism. Ben Townley’s incredible rides and Romain Febvre putting on a clinic made for some great racing, too.
3. Sofia SX: Brayton and Peick were a step above everyone, but they went at it hard both nights. And Nicoletti flying off the track was an added bonus.
4. Geneva SX: Brayton was by far the best rider, Stewart was hurt by being on a 250F and those two were way better than the other dudes. Still, the fire breathing, half-naked chicks for intermission and opening ceremonies were cool.
BEST RIDER THAT WASN’T AMERICAN OR AMERICAN-BASED (MXDN division)
1. Romain Febvre: The MXGP World Champion was simply amazing in his home country on the world stage of motocross. He dominated both motos. Although supercross isn’t his forte, he held his own in Lille as well.
2. Ben Townley: Wow! After a so-so ride in Glen Helen, the Kiwi shocked everyone with two great rides at the MXDN. It was a great ride by BT101 and despite telling everyone after the race that he was done as a full-time racer, he took what must have been a big offer from Stefan Everts’ Suzuki team to head back to the GPs for 2016. The MXDN was a career-changing ride for Ben.
BEST RIDER THAT WASN’T AMERICAN-BASED (non-MXDN division)
1. Fabian Izoird: Fabulous Fabian finished second third one night in Lille and third overall in Geneva via his 4-4 finishes. A French SX veteran, Izoird once filled in at Monster Energy Kawasaki and holeshot Toronto’s 450SX main event and then fist-pumped over the first jump. How could you not love that? Izoird is a good rider and proved it this winter.
2. Dylan Ferrandis: Ferrandis only did Lille but he showed good speed after being off most of the year due to injury. He didn’t get a real result because he absolutely ate poop in the whoops on night two, but he was fast.
3. Valentin Guillord: This Swiss rider is an up and comer but still trying to smooth out his game in SX. He was at Geneva and Lille and provided some good results teamed with 473 close calls where he almost flew off the track and nearly killed someone.
67th: Trailing the pack were the mixture of German riders (and one Belgian) that attended Sofia SX. They were all great guys, but supercross was not their specialty—let’s leave it at that. With a race the same weekend in Holland as well as the ADAC series in Germany, and add in Bulgaria is not a hotbed of supercross, and the promoters were left scrambling to get some guys for the Americans to race. These guys did triumph at something, though, as they heavily outdrank the American riders at the after-party.
BIGGEST CONTROVERSY
1. Sofia SX: Mike Brown looked over and could see the guy hitting the lever inside the starter’s box. Filthy Phil stormed off and confronted the promoters about it. We all laughed when Filthy came back and was still upset with Brown’s “veteran” move.
2. Sofia SX: Filthy Phil getting upset at Brayton for a first turn move that Phil thought was too rough. We all just laughed again as Phil was getting worked up on it.
3. Lille SX: Malcolm Stewart t-boning Ferrandis in the second turn on night one and then claiming his front brake had an issue. And no, Ferrandis wasn’t buying this. Neither was I, but it was straight out of the ‘90s with Bradshaw and Chicken, which was awesome.
4. Geneva SX: Roger Larsen from Seven gear told me a story about his old clothing company MX Culture that I’m still not sure can be believed.
BEST AFTER PARTY
1. Sofia SX: I’m old and lame so I don’t really attend all of these after parties, but this one was great. Watching the German riders pounding shots was incredible. Nicoletti trading his JGR hat in order to get out of shots was even better.
2. Geneva SX: I didn’t go, but it was right at the arena, looked like fun and those fire-breathing chicks were all there so I bet that was great. I’ll have to get Brayton’s mechanic to fill me in on how it was.
3. MXDN: Number one reason I pull for the Americans to win the MXDN is because those after-parties are epic at this race. When they lose, not so much. The French were getting it going in the pits with some serious techno, smoke bombs and cigarettes everywhere by the time I left.
4. Lille SX: One of the drawbacks of this race leaving Paris is that there really isn’t an official after-party anymore (back in 2001 when I was wrenching for Wey, we were taken to an epic one where I ended up with a $400 charge on my credit card for drinks I don’t remember ordering. That wasn’t awesome.) This year I ended up with some beers and some company at a place called, ironically, Beers and Co right beside the hotel.
BEST NON-SUPERCROSS THING I DID
1. MXDN: Going to Normandy and seeing Omaha beach, the American cemeteries, memorial museum and Pont du Hoc battle site was beyond moving. Something I will never forget and I’m glad I took the time for it.
2. Sofia SX: Nothing even that memorable compared to the Normandy visit, but the mall in Sofia was pretty sweet, especially the Starbucks. Very unique!
BEST FOOD
1. Sofia SX: This is just based on the dinner we went to on Saturday night after the race. The promoter, Nicky, took us to this restaurant kind of in the woods that had a Lambo parked out front. From there we went in and had some delicious pizza and some cheesecake that was amaze-balls. Brayton had some sort of steak that looked like it was out of a commercial. Great food! The second best part was the promoter picked up the tab for, like, twenty of us.
2. Lille SX: We didn’t venture far, but Beers and Co produced solid pizza, burgers and pasta. And I tried a couple of beers that were pretty decent also. The waitress also thought Peick’s mechanic Patrick Barker was a rider, so that was cool. She did not think that about me, however.
3. MXDN: The small town of Ernee provided some ups and downs. A down was trying a “Canadian” restaurant with JT. The hockey photos on the walls were great, but the Poutine was terrible. The good part was an Italian place with Randy Valade and Paul Perebijnos and an American diner one night.
4. Geneva SX: The hotel restaurant was great, but unfortunately it was closed for every meal other than breakfast the first day. The promoters lined up food after the race for us and while it was a nice effort, there wasn’t that much good there. The club sandwich back at the hotel bar was good, except it had egg on it (STOP THAT, EUROPE!) that I had to pull off and it was $30.
HOTEL QUALITY
1. Geneva SX: You never really know what you’re going to get in Europe when it comes to hotels. Us Americans have it pretty good. This past weekend’s hotel was good, nice shower and a comfy bed along with a mini-bar with water or drinks in it if needed. Points were deducted for one outlet, aka the Euro standard.
2. Lille SX: Again, another nice room, free Wi-Fi and all that, but it had the ridiculous half shower door thing where when you get out your entire bathroom is soaked. Just close it off already, guys, it’s okay.
3. MXDN: Way small with two small beds pushed together so that when sleeping JT and I were way closer than two friends really want to be. Dumb half-shower door thing again and a TV that just had English BBC on it.
4. Sofia SX: Hey, it’s Bulgaria, man. The carpet in the room looked like it was put in when Gorbachev was president and the bed was so beat down I think a dead body had been there for three years. And, oh yeah, the pillows were the size of a chewed up M&M. The restaurant was good, though!
AMERICAN RIDER THAT PROBABLY OFFENDED SOME EUROPEANS
1. Sofia SX: Weston Peick
2. Lille SX: Weston Peick
AMERICAN RIDER WHO COMPLAINED THE MOST
1. Sofia SX, Phil Nicoletti: Whether it was Mike Brown’s move, Brayton’s aggressiveness, me being there, or Peick being Peick, it seemed that Filthy wasn’t very happy and let us all know it.
MOST HEROIC AMERICAN RIDES
1. Lille SX, MXDN: Cooper Webb was on his way to winning the King of Lille crown when he went down hard in the main event. He somehow got up and finished sixth or something while tweety-birds where dancing around him. At the MXDN he chased Febvre around on a 450 in both motos and showed a lot of heart and determination throughout.
2. Sofia SX: Mike Brown’s suspension, exhaust and gear were all lost on the way to the Sofia SX but Brownie didn’t care. He took a bone-stock Husky and raced it anyways! Turned the clickers in, borrowed some boots and ran it. Hammering whoops, jumping triples—you name it and Mike did it. That’s why he’s a real man and the rest of us are teeny tiny babies.
3. MXDN: Justin Barcia can’t be happy about being 0-3 at this race, but he’s ridden well at all of them, including this year. Winning a moto was huge for him and he showed heart and grittiness in the third moto as he pushed to move forward from a bad start.
4. Geneva SX, Sofia SX: Justin Brayton was great, winning just about everything at both of these races and on top of that, he won the Genoa SX also (I wasn’t there). He had a crappy 2015 but looks to be more confident, faster and ready to make a mark in 2016 on the BTOSports.com KTM team. He was good.
RIDER WHO LOVED THE FANS THE MOST
1. Malcolm Stewart, Sofia SX, Lille SX and Geneva SX: There wasn’t a fan out there that Malcolm Stewart ignored or wouldn’t talk to at all three of these rounds. Snapping selfies with fans, Snapchatting, chasing after and taking photos with other black people to prove he wasn’t the only one at the races—whatever it was, Mookie was pumped on everyone. It was genuinely nice to see and I think he gained himself a lot of new fans.
2. Phil Nicoletti, Sofia SX: Phil Nicoletti was the only rider I saw doing shots with other Euros at the after-party, he blended in with the German riders and he even held a baby and took a photo with a fan. Of course he complained the whole time he was over there, but that’s just Phil. Props to him for doing all this stuff.
3. Cardboard Weston Peick, Lille SX, Sofia SX: No, not the real Weston Peick as he was mostly grumpy, but there was a life-size cardboard cut out of Weston at these two races and it was smiling and very happy all the time. Fans seemed to enjoy this cardboard Weston very much.
Thanks for reading and email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this column or anything else up to and including my new hockey podcast over on pulphockey.com!