20 Team USA Moments: A Star is Born

A lot can change in twenty years. Back in 1987, the Motocross des Nations left Europe and visited the United States at the famed Unadilla Valley Sports Center. In ’87, Team USA was in the middle of a win streak the world hadn’t seen coming, and there was a still a real struggle over what the new world order looked like. The Americans had home crowd support in ’87, but once the race went back to Europe, it seemed like fans from outside the U.S. just wanted to see anything but an American win. The sudden streak of the Americans, the overall shift of power and stardom from Europe in the early days to the U.S. and supercross in the 1980s was all quite shocking.

Things were much different the next time the event landed in the U.S., at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Maryland in 2007. Team USA was back into a win streak of sorts, having taken the 2005 and 2006 events. Team USA had misfired on the event quite a bit, missing it completely in 2004, for example, and when the team returned in ‘05 and ’06 the riders were treated not as the enemy but as celebrities. Fans flocked to the likes of Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart in the rare chance to see them race in Europe, to the point where Team USA had to start hiring bodyguards and security just to get through the pits. When the race came to Budds Creek, the fans came with it. The place was absolutely packed, both with Americans back on a high after the 2005 and 2006 victories, and Europeans who wanted a U.S. vacation (Budds Creek is only thirty minutes outside of Washington, D.C., so it’s a good place to take a trip).

In addition, the September 2007 date marked the highest point of the sport’s health before the U.S. economy began to teeter. In 2007, you never heard anyone say budget. Things just kept growing bigger and better with each step. It was a real high-water mark for racing and much else.

The Team USA squad was expected to be similarly impressive. Carmichael, Stewart, and Ryan Villopoto promised to make an all-time lineup, and the race was even bigger because Carmichael announced it would be his last ever before going into retirement, just like Stefan Everts had done in grand fashion the previous year.

Then Stewart twisted his knee at the Washougal National, ending his season (Carmichael had missed the ’06 event with a shoulder injury, so the world never got to see a Carmichael/Stewart Team USA pairing). In Stewart’s place came his Kawasaki teammate Tm Ferry, who was on the 2003 squad, but injured his thumb and never had chance to help the team. Things would be much different this time. 

We could give the blow-by-blow account of the 2007 event, but the details only cloud the big picture: Team USA dominated. The 2005 and 2006 wins were in doubt at some point, but it was obvious from Saturday’s qualifying races that racing on home soil in 2007 would change things completely. Villopoto, Ferry, and Carmichael each won their heats that day, and Sunday’s main race would be similar.