p. Monster Energy
MXoN 2014
£ GBR’s Tommy
Searle
p. Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool
‘conscripted’ to the Estonian
squad when it looked like the
Finns would not be able to
attend. At the last moment, they
were able to send a team after
all. Russia’s Alex Tonkov was
superlative in his first race, riding
the works Husqvarna FC350
to third overall in MXGP. After
the race, he said “The bike is
supercool, very strong and so
easy to ride. When you jump
and you look back to see Ryan
Dungey there… The last time
I saw him it was on the TV on
the podium at the supercross
surrounded by Monster girls - and
now I was battling with him!”
we came up short again; it sucks.
We failed. It is three years in a row
now and it just keeps stirring us
up. Maybe we will come back and
get that victory soon.”
Elsewhere there were other
noticeable events unfolding.
Like Finland’s Harri Kullas being
Furthermore, Ireland’s 35-year-old
retired former GP master Gordon
Crockard could be seen defying a
cold and impossibly late call-up to
wear the ‘green’ and help the Irish
make the final, courtesy of the
last-chance qualifier on Sunday.
“I got the call Wednesday and if
someone asks you to ride for your
country then you don’t even think
about it,” he said. “I got a licence
and a flight. I picked a helmet off
the shelf at home. I kept all the
Nations helmets and this is the
fourteenth time I have done this
race, the first one was in ’96. All
the helmets are still dirty from
Des Nations mud. I used the one
from Lierop [2004], which is quite
possibly illegal!”
Of course, next year will be
intense. The Nations heads
back to Ernée, France for the
first time since 2005 - the round
that really reinvigorated the
event as one of the biggest on
the FIM’s motorcycle racing
calendar. After hitting rock-bottom
with the cancelled and hastily
rearranged 2002 incarnation in
Spain, followed by the recovery
in Belgium in 2003 and then the
meeting sans USA in 2004, the
Nations was rising up to a point
where it was ready to explode
again. In 2005 campers and
motorhomes from across Europe
were queuing for hours to enter
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