This is a nice problem to have. Sometimes Team USA can barely find willing participants for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, but that’s not the case this year. With the racing taking place at RedBud MX, everyone is in. It’s probably just the call of the wild (RedBuuuudddd!!!!) but everyone wants to go. In fact, recent chatter has been riders and their teams throwing in their pitches on why they should go. Yes, riders and teams PITCHING WHY THEY SHOULD RACE instead of finding reasons to skip it. Amazing, isn’t it?
So, since the AMA can pick anyone, that makes the first two selections easy: expect Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton to be announced to the team whenever the team gets announced. Maybe Budds Creek?
The complicated matter is the 250 slot. With two Australians and a rider from Japan grabbing most of the podiums this year, there isn’t an obvious American choice. Justin Cooper should be the guy, but after missing five months of riding with a broken foot, he hasn’t been on his usual level in 2022. Until Washougal, of course, where he took off with his first moto win of the year. Might be too little, too late for J-Coop, because the AMA was already looking at the option of putting a 450 rider on the 250 for the MXoN at RedBud.
Jason Anderson would be an obvious choice, he’s third behind Tomac and Sexton in 450MX points. A few weeks ago at Southwick, I talked to Team USA team manager Roger De Coster about this option and it sounded like he really liked the idea of Anderson on a Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250, but for whatever reason, by the time we got to Millville a week later, that option seemed to be off the table. Not sure if that’s Kawasaki, Pro Circuit or Anderson, but it’s just not going to happen.
Christian Craig and Justin Barcia have emerged as the two candidates to move down to the 250. Barcia has done great work for Team USA before and has loads of experience in this event, including the previous RedBud MXoN in 2018. He first raced for Team USA ten years ago (my how time flies). Barcia’s high-revving style leads some to think he’d have an easy adjustment back to a 250, and also “weight gate” has broken out in the pits, with everyone in the paddock suddenly an expert on how much the riders weigh, and Barcia apparently carrying the least weight of the 450 candidates.
![Barcia and Craig]()
Barcia and Craig Align Media ![Barcia and Craig]()
Barcia and Craig Align Media ![Barcia and Craig]()
Barcia and Craig Align Media ![Barcia and Craig]()
Barcia and Craig Align Media
Craig has some pros going for him, namely that he actually raced a 250 (well) in supercross this year, and that he would ride the potent Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing YZ250F. If you really want to get into details, those are the only 250s that could consistently jump LaRocco’s Leap at RedBud a few weeks ago (the unofficial dyno test of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship). He’s also more than 30 points up on Barcia in the motocross points this year, so he’s been beating him, on average.
There are no secrets about the Barcia v Craig match up. Both riders want the spot and both riders know it, so there was a lot on the line as they battled in both Washougal motos. Craig came from a first-lap crash to catch Barcia late in moto one, Barcia held him off. Barcia then crashed while under pressure from Craig in moto two.
“We actually stopped after that [first] moto, I was like ‘Dude, you rode good and you held me off,’” said Craig to Steve Matthes. “That was a sick moto, I was screaming in my helmet, ‘Let’s go!’ because we were passing dudes together. And he’s like ‘Whoever gets that spot [for des Nations] deserves it.’ I thought that was pretty funny. Literally two laps after the moto we were talking about it.”
The riders and their teams want to do this badly. Barcia was already on a 250F last week, riding at public tracks in California. That got the word out on his willingness to switch bikes. His Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas team has even hinted they would switch Barcia to the 250 class at the last few races of the year to give him time to adjust to the bike. They want this badly!
Craig’s camp has quickly countered that they’ve built him a 250F to practice on during the week. “I actually rode it last week, we just didn’t have video guys there,” said Craig. “I grabbed Jordon Smith’s bike and rode the turn track.”
It’s also worth noting that on last week’s PulpMX Show, David Vuillemin—former MXoN winner with Team France—said Eli Tomac should ride the 250, because you should put your best rider in the most critical class. If you really dig into how the ‘Nations is won, a strong result in the 250F class makes a much bigger difference than the 450s. Vuillemin isn’t picking the team, so that wouldn’t matter except for one thing: he explained his theory to Tomac on the phone, and Eli admitted that it got him thinking! Chase Sexton, also, has said he would be willing to jump on a 250 for the team, but he’d of course rather stick with his familiar 450.
So that’s the latest on Team USA. It appears to be Craig versus Barcia for the final spot, but now you have J-Coop on the rise and the slim chance Eli or Chase rides the 250 instead. We’ll see how this unfolds over the next few weeks.
