Cycle News Staff | November 15, 2016
Cycle News Moto Memos
COLUMN
The Other Silly Season
Silly season in the MXGPs is generally a pretty composed and orderly affair. While there are lots of rumors and talk during the races, once the action on the track is over, things are usually sorted out with little fuss and not too many surprises. However that certainly isn’t the case with the newly created Wilvo Yamaha MXGP team, formed out of the ashes of Steve Turner’s Wilvo Virus Performance KTM team, which closed up shop at the end of the 2016 campaign.
One spot was a pretty obvious choice with Shaun Simpson moving back to Yamaha, a brand he had so much success with a few years ago, including the shock MX1 victory at 2013 MXGP of Lierop as pretty much a privateer. Many people at the time thought that Yamaha should have stepped up and supported him the following year, but instead he made the switch to KTM where he has also enjoyed a lot of success. Having got married in October, he hasn’t spent too much time back on his new steed, but he already said in interviews that he feels like he’ll be comfortable on a familiar machine and in a team environment run by well-respected Louis Vosters.
Will a clerical error keep hot Russian prospect Aleksandr Tonkov from racing—and for a long time?
Originally Simpson’s partner was slated to be Aleksandr Tonkov, the Russian rider who had an injury-hit 2016 on what was his last year in the MX2 class. However, his motocross future is in major doubt after passport issues have meant that he is unable to return to Europe at this moment in time. According to recent interviews, he received a stamp at a Czech Republic border that had the wrong date on it, which caused security in Russia to believe the passport was fake. As with many situations involving such bureaucracy, everything is taking a while to sort out and there is a real danger that we won’t be seeing him ride at all in 2017. In fact there are reports that if the situation doesn’t get handled properly he won’t even be allowed in Europe within the next three years, effectively ending his MXGP career before it even started. America is an option but not one that he is keen to pursue due to the fact he has zero supercross experience and doesn’t really know anyone on that side of the pond. Nor does the Russian Championship excite a rider who has already proved he can run up front on the bigger bike, when he stepped up at the 2014 Motocross of Nations in Kegums, Latvia, finishing with 5-6 moto scores and third overall in the class, just ahead of Ryan Dungey.
With that sort of pedigree, it is a shame that he won’t be able to show the world his talents in an MXGP class that is absolutely stacked in 2017. Joining the regular faces like Antonio Cairoli, Clement Desalle, Jeremy van Horebeek is Jeffrey Herlings who is finally making the jump after one of the most successful 250 careers ever. Max Anstie is also moving onto the 450s with Husqvarna as he finally is able to ride for the same brand for two years in a row after a career littered with team changes. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how he does in a settled environment even if the bike has got 200cc more engine capacity. And lastly, we’ll also get to see the returning Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus who is moving back from America and into the spot vacated by Tonkov on the Wilvo team.
His time stateside was unfortunately ruined by injuries and the dreaded Epstein-Barr Virus, but after impressing everyone at the 2016 MXoN in Maggiora, he has filled the void that Tonkov has potentially left, although word is that all three will have rides should those passport problems get sorted. As it is, Tonus will try to put behind those two unfulfilling seasons at Pro Circuit and focus on getting back to where he was in the GP pecking order, which actually included a brief stint as the red-plate holder in the MX2 class when he was battling with Herlings. Unfortunately Tonus’ time is another reminder to European’s dreaming of big bucks stateside, that things don’t always work out and it was especially interesting to hear how he thinks that his EBV might be down to a combination of over-training and the quality of food in America. He doesn’t think it is necessarily bad food, just different from what he’s grown up eating in Switzerland and he couldn’t didn’t get used to it and together with everything else, it caused his body to breakdown. In what is becoming a pretty common problem amongst professional motocross riders, it is nice to hear someone actually give some insight into EBV, and should perhaps serve as a warning to the newest Euro giving America a shot, Dylan Ferrandis.
Overall though, this Wilvo Yamaha Yamaha team has a good look about it and providing both riders stay clear of injury, they should each do well in the forthcoming season. The fact that they have been teammates before at Steve Dixon’s Yamaha team in 2012 should ease the settling in period for both of them and with Simpson’s skills favoring the sand, and Tonus’ more towards hard-pack surfaces, this “second” Yamaha team should rival the factory effort throughout 2017. CN
By David Bulmer
