Not only did Barcia have Gothic J—his soon-to-be mechanic once his season begins in the U.S. aboard the 450—but his long-time friend and mechanic from Geico Honda Mike “Schnikey” Tomlinson was on hand to help out. Here, they discuss the qualifying races.
Everywhere the U.S. riders went, fans turned up. Before practice and qualifying on Saturday, this fan brought Barcia some fresh Belgian chocolate. It goes without saying that Justin was stoked.
Japan’s Makoto Ogata was running the all-new and highly anticipated 2013 Honda CRF450R. We recently took delivery of our production unit for testing, so be sure to check out an upcoming issue of TransWorld Motocross for a full review.
The third rider for Team USA, Blake Baggett, was pitted out of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rig with fellow Kawasaki rider Great Britain’s Tommy Searle. It’s worth noting that Baggett was aboard a 2013 KX250F for the weekend.
This rig also served as home base for most of the support crew that came along with Team USA. Here, Baggett chats with Mitch Payton and his team before heading out for the morning warm up on Sunday.
There are always some cool one-off parts on the bikes at the MXoN and the end cap on Baggett’s muffler was trick.
