Ride along with this well-traveled and well-connected Dutchman as he visits AMA Pro Motocross, the Canadian Nationals, and MXGP, all in a single month.

WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS

It’s a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon at Southwick, arguably the roughest motocross track in America, and Lars van Berkel is exhausted. A journeyman Dutch racer, he’s in New England for the sixth round of the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. He acquitted himself well in his first visit to the Wick, scoring points in both 450 motos, despite riding an underpowered and heavily-used Honda CRF450R that he borrowed from a New York cop he met online. He’s bench-racing with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo, who finished a few spots ahead of him, then needed medical attention for a mild case of heat exhaustion. Cianciarulo is headed home to California the next morning for some rest and recovery; van Berkel is about to get in the truck he rented with his NYPD friend and drive eight hours straight into Canada, to a track called Gopher Dunes. He will be on a starting gate the next morning on a different bike, in a different country, to compete in a different series—the Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals. 

Lars van Berkel is on one hell of a road trip.