The Monster Energy Motocross of Nations is sixty-nine years old but judging on the attraction and energy of the event there is definitely an enduring Benjamin Button effect going on. Much was expected of Ernée. Not only through the fact that the home country were defending champions, and perennial favourites (and the goliaths of the tale) Team USA had another strong team of title winners but because of memories of the same venue ten years earlier that had brought a new intensity and life force to an annual tournament that had waned in the formative years of the century.

Ernée did not disappoint both on the well-prepared hard-pack and off. The largely partisan crowd noisily pushed Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and Marvin Musquin (perhaps the darling of the trip thanks to his U.S. success and the backstory of his brother’s recent paralysis) onto new heights and offset the vast amount of pressure that the spotlight delivered.

1200 volunteers surrounded a track that had been carefully groomed and assisted by rainfall in the week leading up to the fixture. “The track was unbelievable; it was prepped to perfection,” said Team GBR’s Shaun Simpson, ever a shrewd assessor of a layout’s virtues. “Some might call it a bit sketchy but it was amazing. Look at any turn and there were five or six lines and guys could come through the pack. There was passing going everywhere. As an event it felt like a football match at times. They were signing, air horns…it was amazing and this is what motocross is all about and it is so nice to see so many people supporting it.”

“The track is good and so is the preparation,” offered Febvre. “In some places it is really grippy but in others before the take-offs it is very hard and slick.”

“I thought it was not as bad or as gnarly as people were making it out to be,” commented Justin Barcia. “It was definitely a learning curve. Roger [De Coster] said it would be like supercross passing and I was confused at first but as I raced I saw it was really tight and you had to make those passes! It was tight and the lines were really strange compared to the U.S. where they are flowing and fast and here they were more ‘stop-and-go’. On this type of track you cannot over-ride the bike and I’ve been known to do that. So I had to shift up a gear, roll around and take the lines.”

On Saturday among the French cheers for runaway pole positions in each class were offset by British tears.

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