Motocross
We finally saw some of the AMA's best take on the World MXGP riders on home turf in California.
The final race of the 2015 FIM MXGP season kicked off with the first GP on U.S. soil since 2011, as the MXGP of the USA returned to Glen Helen in California. The MXGP title was already decided, as superstar rookie Romain Febvre became the first man ever to dethrone Antonio Cairoli since the Italian’s move to MXGP in 2009. Cairoli returned at Glen Helen for his chance to race the Americans, albeit rusty from his time off due to a hand injury. In MX2, Red Bull KTM rookie Pauls Jonass sat 18-points shy of Honda’s Tim Gajser, a huge hill to climb with just one race to go.
The USGP is unique to any other race on the MXGP circuit because it is the only race that attracts world-class AMA riders to contend with the GP regulars. It's the only time other than the Motocross of Nations that we get to see how the Americans and GP riders stack up against each other. In the MXGP class, Marvin Musquin, Dean Wilson, Cooper Webb, Josh Grant, Jason Anderson and a handful of U.S. privateers decided to line up against the world championship riders, while Jessy Nelson, Shane McElrath and Chris Alldredge represented the AMA in MX2.
MX2
Jessy Nelson was unstoppable in the small-bore class, ripping perfect starts and scoring two dominant moto wins on his way to his first overall outdoor victory as a pro, also in his first MXGP ever. But it was Honda’s Tim Gajser who was the star on the day, scoring a fourth overall to take his first MX2 World Championship. Pauls Jonass had battled with Gajser in Moto 1, but the Southern California heat got the best of him. Glen Helen was probably the hottest GP since round two in Thailand. Jessy Nelson’s TLD KTM teammate Shane McElrath, who topped qualifying, finished second overall in MX2 with 3-2 motos.
Here is how the top five overall looked in MX2:
1. Jessy Nelson (KTM) – 1-1
2. Shane McElrath (KTM) – 3-2
3. Valentin Guillod (Yamaha) – 5-3
4. Tim Gajser (Honda) – 6-4
5. Max Anstie (Kawasaki) – 4-8
MXGP
In MXGP, the one rider who was able to hang with the Americans was fittingly the world champion. Romain Febvre has been a revelation in 2015, and only further proved that at Glen Helen by being not only the one GP rider who could hang with the Americans but the one GP rider to beat them. Febvre battled with Cooper Webb and Josh Grant in Moto 1, and after he and Webb pulled from Grant in the late stages of the race. Then Febvre made an astounding pass coming down the massive Mount St. Helens on Webb with just two laps to go and was able to edge him at the line for the moto win.
In MXGP Moto 2, Antonio Cairoli got more into the mix when he holeshot, then battled back and forth with Webb in the early stages of the race. Behind them, Grant and Febvre were moving up, and as the two reached Webb and Cairoli, the two early front-runners seemed to lose steam. Cairoli would pull out of the race, while Webb gave in to the charge of Grant and Febvre. Grant held a six-second lead over the Frenchman at one point, but Febvre dropped seconds off his lap times and chased the American down. With only three laps to go, Febvre was all over Grant, and the pass seemed an inevitability. But in the corner at the top of Mount St. Helens, Febvre suddenly lost his front end and tipped over, handing Grant some much needed breathing room. Grant cruised home for an incredible moto win.
The MXGP top five looked like so:
1. Romain Febvre (Yamaha) – 1-2
2. Josh Grant (Kawasaki) – 3-1
3. Cooper Webb (Yamaha) – 2-3
4. Dean Wilson (KTM) – 7-4
5. Glenn Coldenhoff (Suzuki) – 6-6
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