It is not yet known whether the Latvian team will be represented in the upcoming Motocross Nations Cup in the USA, the president of the Latvian Motorsport Federation (LAMSF) Mārtiņš Lazdovskis said on Wednesday.
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“Discussions are still taking place at the moment and we cannot claim that we will be represented in the Nations Cup,” explained Lazdovskis. “Sponsors have been partially found, but there is no clarity about the participation of Paul Jonas. He has expressed doubts about participating in the competition. If Paul does not drive, then everything changes.”
Motocross’s most prestigious team competition in solo classes will take place this year on September 25 in Buchanan, Michigan, USA. The competition was also held on this track four years ago, and then Latvia did not participate in the Nations Cup for the first time in 19 years.
It has already been reported that four motorcyclists – Pauls Jonass, Kārlis Sabulis, Toms Macuks and Kārlis Alberts Reišulis – are vying for three places in the national team.
“With Paula [Jonasu] I will meet at the weekend, then we will discuss the situation,” added Lazdovskis. “He himself promised to give an answer at the beginning of next week.”
Meanwhile, the head of the LAMSF Motocross Commission, Kristers Sergis, said that Jonas has probably already made the decision not to start in the Nations Cup.
“I had a conversation with him today and Paul said that he was not 100 percent ready after the difficult and difficult season, and that he would not go to the USA,” said Sergis.
“There is no point in war if you are not a warrior,” Sergis quoted Jonas as saying, adding that the cost to go to the US was too high. “If the competition was in Europe, then you could still think.”
LAMSF has to provide a total of ten national team starts in various competitions, so it is a big challenge for it as a non-Olympic sports federation. About 40,000 euros are needed for motor sportsmen to get to the USA with their vehicles.
Last year, the Latvian national team with Sabuli, Mairi Pumpura and Macuka won the 15th place in the Nations Cup held in Italy.
The representative of Latvia became the champion of the Nations Cup for the only time in 1968, when Arnis Angers was able to do it as part of the USSR national team. In the years of independence, Latvia previously achieved its best result in 1992, when it won 11th place in a relatively small competition, and then the most successful year was 2014, when it took 12th place at home on the “Golden Horse” track in Ķegum.
Since 1990, the Latvian national team has competed in the Motocross Nations Cup 27 times.
