It was back in October of last year that I was sitting in the offices of Giuseppe Luongo. I had just done an interview with the president of  Youthstream. With the recorder turned off we began to talk about some stuff, including the USGP in the future and the MXoN.

I asked Giuseppe how the USGP could be fixed, as it hadn’t always worked out, although Charlotte to me was a great success, but not for the promoters. His answer surprised me, but really made me think things were finally going in the right direction.

Giuseppe told me he had had contact with Davey Coombs of MXsports about working together. I contacted DC and he confirmed it, but like Luongo, DC told me to keep my mouth shut about it.

The world knows that America love to talk about America, and it is at times a brashness, that isn’t always pretty. But it is also known that American’s do stuff better than many countries when it comes to sporting events. Well, not only sporting events, but a lot of stuff. Their passion for their country rubs off on what they do in their country, and nobody can knock that.

So, when GL told me he was dealing with DC, I was pretty excited, surprised, but excited. The two haven’t always been best mates, and while they have two very different models for their series, they are both very passionate about the sport, a sport they both grew up in.

With advice from Roger DeCoster GL called DC, and they began to talk about what they could do together. As you know MXlarge had world exclusives with interviews with both Luongo and Coombs in the last few days, and we also brought out the news about the Gatorback circuit running the USGP in September, and more than likely RedBud running the MXoN in 2018 (after a deal is finalized).

I can tell you, when I got the press release that this news was official, after months of having to keep quiet, I was excited and also a little emotional. At the end of the day, we all want to see the best US riders against the best Euros, and that means Luongo and Coombs working together.

They are the odd couple, no doubt about it, but they are more alike than many might imagine. One (Davey Coombs) the son of a legendary promoter (Dave Coombs), who invested his time and money into the sport, to help build American motocross what it is today. Then you have Giuseppe Luongo, a legendary promoter himself, who has brought his son (David) into the sport to continue his legacy. Both are very much about family, something I have huge respect for, as I am the same. Both have a strong will to do something better than ever, and both have a lot of pride.

I have known both men for probably 20 years or more, and while my relationship with Luongo has always been very good, built on respect and loyalty, my relationship with Coombs has been like a rollercoaster, as I was one of the euro media who sided with Youthstream in their charge to take over American motocross back 10 years ago.

I don’t regret my role, and I don’t really regret anything I have ever written about how good I feel the MXGP series is. I have mellowed in my debate about which is better, and do my best to give compliments where I feel they are deserved. I know since RV was here I haven’t really written a negative story about US, because he simply put me straight and told me it hurts good people, not just the negative people on forums.

This new business venture ends what has been a bitter war of words between the American media and fans, and the Euro media and fans. Sure, we will still brag our series is better, and they will do the same about their series. We still want to see Team USA get beaten, and we still want a bunch of America riders racing in Europe.

For now, let’s all just enjoy the fact the two biggest motocross promoters in the world, are working together for the good of the sport, and not for money. Because at the end of the day, we all got into watching this sport because we wanted great racing.

So now, with six month or so until we head to Florida for the USGP, we can all be nice to each other, and remember that the sport is pretty healthy on both sides of the Atlantic, and the future looks brighter than ever.

In many ways we can also thank a guy called Roger DeCoster for making this mis-match, a match. “The Man” who brought so many (including myself) into the sport, has once again worked his magic in making people see how important this sport is to us all.

Reprint from MXLarge.com