The answer is coming this weekend. At Budds Creek, the AMA will announce Team USA for the FIM Motocross of Nations, which returns to the USA at RedBud on September 23-25. In some years it’s difficult to even find three willing and able candidates for the team, but with the race taking place at RedBud, it’s not hard to find riders who want to do it.
Two picks are obvious. Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton are lighting it up in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, and they’re both willing to race. Hallelujah! Credit to Sexton, by the way, who also raised his hand for last year’s team that ultimately didn’t compete. Also, Sexton considers RedBud his home track, so it has to be a dream come true to be part of Team USA on the same soil where he grew up riding.
Tomac has skipped many a des Nations assignments during his Monster Energy Kawasaki days (in 2019 the brand straight up announced America’s 450 and 250 National Champions, Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo, would not compete, and that was Kawasaki’s decision, not the riders). Tomac did compete in 2018 at RedBud but did not race in 2017 or 2016 with Kawasaki. He raced the event before then in his GEICO Honda days.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing has been a big supporter of the event over the years, so Tomac is in for 2022. That team is also a huge factor in the final spot at the event, which is expected to go to either Christian Craig or Justin Cooper. They’re both teammates on this same squad.
![Will it be Justin Cooper...]()
Will it be Justin Cooper... Align Media ![...or Christian Craig for the MX2 spot on Team USA?]()
...or Christian Craig for the MX2 spot on Team USA? Align Media
How did we get to Cooper and Craig? Well, the 250 class here in the U.S. has been dominated by non-Americans Hunter and Jett Lawrence (Australia), and Jo Shimoda (Japan). Cooper was struggling to find his old form for much of the summer after returning from a serious foot injury, and no other U.S. 250 rider really stepped up to stake a claim for the spot (RJ Hampshire and Michael Mosiman, for example, showed a few flashes but not enough). This led Team USA to consider dropping a 450 rider to the required 250 slot. Jason Anderson, third in the 450 MX standings and big part of Team USA before, was a candidate, but for whatever reason we hear he’s not in the running for the 250 slot this year. We don’t know why. (While Kawasaki usually doesn’t support the event, it did send Tomac in 2018 to RedBud.)
Justin Barcia, who first raced for Team USA a decade ago (!) was considered a 250 candidate and even tested a GasGas MC250 for a bit. A few weeks ago, he withdrew his name from consideration. This summer has simply been below Barcia’s usual results standards. Craig was another option mentioned, because he’s ridden very well this summer in 450 motocross, and he also raced a 250 to the West Regional Championship in Monster Energy Supercross. Oh, and everyone knows the Star Yamaha YZ250F is potent. At Millville, Barcia and Craig joked about battling on the track and battling as candidates for the team. Later, Barcia withdrew.
This all pointed to Craig, until Justin Cooper started finding his form, starting with a moto win at Washougal. Team USA is often announced at Unadilla, but the announcement was pushed to this weekend at Budds Creek. This gave Cooper a chance to provide more data, and he raced to yet another moto win at Unadilla (he had a shot at the overall but crashed while leading the first moto). Now it’s all square: Cooper has justifications for being on the team, but so does Craig. We don’t think it’s between anyone else at this point. It's two riders who both want to go, and are both teammates, vying for one spot.
Who will get the nod? We’ll see this weekend!
