Giuseppe Luongo Posted: 10/07/09 Say what you will about the Czar of Youthstream and the Motocross World Championships, but Giuseppe Luongo knows how to put on one hell of a show. The pundits abused him relentlessly leading up to the event because of the track, the venue, his iron-fisted handling of a few 'issues' that came up, etc., etc. The result? It sure looked like a wildly successful event to us. The crowd was huge and seemed happy, the sideshows were plentiful, the track was badass with lots of speed, big air and roughness, and the racing was great with plenty of surprises. Kudos to Luongo, Youthstream, the FIM and all of the teams for proving the pundits wrong. 529 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Flavor Posted: 10/07/09 Part of the fun of attending an MXoN is the genuinely bizarre things you run into while doing rounds in the pits. This 'Tom Yum Power' banner caught our attention, and when we looked more closely, it was even more of a kick. Team Thailand was serious about it, though, and were as proud as any team there to compete at the sport's highest level. One of the riders (not sure which one) actually did come to compete in an MX1 race earlier this summer and showed he can run a respectable pace. Well, things didn't go quite as well this time out, as all of the Team Thai guys were about 25 seconds off the pace and were, in fact, excluded from even the B final along with Cyprus and Mongolia because it simply was not safe for them to be out there. Bummer, but just another thing that makes this event so interesting. 506 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	What a crowd Posted: 10/07/09 Youthstream has an unusual and somewhat confusing way of reporting ticket sales and/or spectator attendance. Their claim of 90,000 for the weekend seemed a smidge 'inflated' if it was based on simply the number of ticket sales, but there is absolutely no question that there was a sea of humanity out there that we hadn't seen since... well, since last year's MXoN. And the year's before that. It was a huge crowd that even came out for Saturday's practice session - probably 30K+, with another 10K more showing up for the race Sunday. These are complete guesses on our part, but having been to nearly every U.S. national this year, we'll go out on a limb that the crowd there at the Autodromo di Franciacorta was at least double what we'd seen here all summer. 483 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Pro flaggers Posted: 10/07/09 Somehow, it just seemed more appropriate that there were no 15 year old kids sleeping in a chair while holding a yellow flag at a race this big. The truth of the matter is that every GP has a professionally trained flagging staff that stand at attention for the duration of every race. They are also dressed in consistent and functional uniforms made of glow-orange material, making them quite obvious to the riders along the side of the track. There's no doubt the U.S. Nationals could improve the flagging situation and word has it that MX Sports is already deeply involved in making it more like you'd see in the GP's. 542 Views 1 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
Hypin' it up Posted: 10/07/09 One of the great ideas of the production was to have the Italian announcer running around along the fences interviewing average fans, asking where they were from or who they were rooting for. This really got people riled up, as one guy yelling ICELAND!!! into the mic would kick up a few other Icelanders on the other end of the track then the entire place would erupt in a cheer. The crowd was definitely Team Italia-centric, but even the hometown crowd seemed to really appreciate the wide variety of people represented both on the track and all around them in the crowd. Cool stuff. 450 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Meat. Lotsa meat. Posted: 10/07/09 More of the fun came when we took a stroll through 'no-man's land', venturing out into the crowd proper. it was quite a trip for sure, and the most interesting thing was all of the wacky Italian food that was to be had. Lots of meat was the main theme, in forms that ranged from mouth-watering to vomit-inducing. Stuff like pepperonis, pancettas, hams, wide varieties of sausages and all sorts of sizes and shapes of dry-cured or smoked or cooked meats. There was a lot of meat! 470 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Diversity Posted: 10/07/09 Here's looking down the walkway along the top of the facility, with the people on the left standing on the curb that sort of separates the amphitheater-like hillside from the flat top section of the grounds. The people on the left made up the crowd that can be seen in the background of most of the shots filling the entire huge hillside of the track. Packed in there like livestock, they were, and if you weren't tall or pushy or quick, you weren't going to see much racing. It would've sucked to pay so much money to NOT be able to see any racing, but there were plenty of resourceful folks who figured out a way to make it work out. Like standing on top of the porta-johns. 456 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Fanatics Posted: 10/07/09 As usual, nationalism was running wild as these French fans demonstrate with their air horns, flags, and wacky costumes. Not sure what that Italian guy is doing there with the American flag, but he seemed to be genuinely cheering for the U.S., so the bitterness wasn't too terribly bad (at least at this point). In the background there were never-ending cow bells ringing, muffler-less chainsaws being revved and some impressively large air-horns blasting. 427 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
Bizarro world? Posted: 10/07/09 A little detail, but that's what makes this race so fun. Ever seen a Ronald McDonald like this one before? Ever seen a team sponsored by good ol' Mickey D's? Neither had we. 432 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	More color Posted: 10/07/09 Just look at 'em. People from, literally, all over the world joined together at this little road racing circuit-turned-motocross track on a beautiful day in northern Italy. It was awesome, folks, and was like a crash course on the make-up of humanity on planet Earth. We can only hope that next year's version in Colorado will have such a colorful gathering, and there's little reason to think it won't. 449 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Oh no they didn't! Posted: 10/07/09 Well, the Italians are nothing if not passionate, as this sign illustrates. After no doubt feeling cheated the last couple of years when Cairoli wasn't able to compete (or just plain got smoked), this time the Italians were holding out hope that their boy was gonna deliver. Boy did he ever during that first moto, cleanly beating Chad Reed "straight-up" before going down in a heap on the start straight for his final moto. A bummer for everyone, that was, and the crowd immediately started to thin out once they realized the Godfather was no longer on the track. 594 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	This guy's a hero. Posted: 10/07/09 Italy loves their motorsports heroes, whether it's Mario Andretti or Valentino Rossi or, most recently, Antonio Cairoli. The man is a rockstar in his homeland and is instantly mobbed wherever he goes. It's like if James Stewart were to walk freely through the pits, but the pits were filled with crazed and passionate Italian fans who adored him like, well, like Antonio Cairoli. Oh nevermind... 614 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
Clement Desalle Posted: 10/07/09 It's not Cedric or Cyrille, but Clement, got it? And it's not DeSalle or De Salle, it's Desalle. Clement Desalle, and he's from Belgium, and he's really freakin' fast. He came over from Belgium and raced to a 3rd at Washougal on a borrowed bike, then went on to win a GP (or two) after that. The dude is for real, as are most of the GP front-runners, and must now be considered a favorite for the MX1 title next year. Clement did well at the MXoN, despite crashing his brains out in the first race and getting back up to finish 4th just behind Dungey. Impressive rider, for sure. 566 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Passionate Belgians Posted: 10/07/09 The Belgian team was one of several teams (the US included) who's rider choices were questioned widely. No doubt due at least in part to politics (read: personality conflicts and/or team/sponsor conflicts), these items came to a head for Team Belgium when the big guy - Ken DeDycker - wasn't chosen for the team this year. On a good day, DeDycker is faster than just about anybody, and he proved that at the Lierop GP just a few weeks earlier by stomping everyone for an easy 1-1 on the day. But, for whatever reason, the team chose former MX1 champ Steve Ramon to fill the spot, which he did quite well, putting in very respectable rides all weekend. The guy in the photo above was one of several we saw wearing one of these shirts, clearly unhappy with the decision. He had to have been happy with Ramons' ride, though, as it's hard to find fault with 2-7 finishes at the MXoN. 614 Views 1 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Poor Aussies Posted: 10/07/09 These two guys didn't seem to mind much at the time, but the Aussie's day wasn't going to end as well as it had started. Byrner crashed very hard in his first race, Metcalfe was just so-so all weekend, and Reedy met his match in Antonio Cairoli. Many were calling Team AUS the other Team USA and/or Team AMA, since all of the members raced the entire season on the U.S. National circuit and to be honest, we sort of look at them as homies too, so we were pretty bummed on their bad day, too. Better luck next year, mates. 576 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Double-deckers Posted: 10/07/09 OK so maybe double-decker pit-lane huts are a bit over the top, but one thing it does do is keep a lot of extra people out of the infield. That's always a good thing, and the fact that it was completely packed with people for every single race must've meant it is needed at a race of this level. 701 Views 3 Comments Rating: 0 Likes