 efore
2005, very few people would have bet on Ivan Tedesco taking home the
125cc National Championship, and then being the man to represent the
USA in the Motocross des Nations in the "tiddler" class.
As far as the MXdN goes, Ivan wasn't even originally the man slated
to go do battle in France...Mike Brown was. But when he got the
call, he was not only willing, but proud to race for Team USA.
"I got the phone call, and of course I was excited," Ivan
said. "It was an honor to go over there and race with Ricky [Carmichael]
and Kevin [Windham], and it was cool to bring home that trophy. I feel
bad for Mike. It kind of sucks the way that whole deal went down, but
I didn't request to go. I got the call, and that's the
way it turned out."
He even asked advice of young rival Mike Alessi before heading overseas.
Alessi had raced in some pre-season races there earlier in the year.
"I've been asking people's advice. I just talked
to Mike [Alessi], actually," Tedesco said. "I don't
keep up with it. I don't know nothing about it over there. I'm
going to try to get a video of the track and check it out, and I'm
sure we'll be fine. We've got three fast guys going over
there, and with Ricky, you can't lose."
The truth is, though, even with Ricky Carmichael on your side, you can
still lose.
It was a foregone conclusion that Carmichael would handle his motos at
the MXdN, and no one was really worried about Kevin Windham, but much
of the buzz surrounding Tedesco before the race was in regard to how
fast he would be in comparison to the GP racers.
He answered that in moto one, getting out in front of all of the other
125s and then leading them all home to the finish - finishing sixth
overall, first 125. He had to fight off MX legend Sebastien Tortelli
to do it.
"I got a good start against the 450s and I was around 10th or
so, and I came through. I was picking some guys off and I got myself
up into a good position," Tedesco said. "I didn't
know who was behind me. I didn't even look back. I saw him after
the finish line. But he was giving me some pressure and I think I rode
really well that first moto. That was probably one of the best I've
ridden all year. It was nice to be the first 125 and show those guys
that the Americans have some speed. There was talk that I wouldnÕt
be able to handle these guys on their turf, so it was good for me."
Tedesco and Tortelli went down together in moto two while battling for
position and both finished well off the pace. However, the MXdN format
only counts five of the six moto scores, and since Tedesco and the other
125s were so far down on horsepower, Team USA and many of the other teams
were all counting on tossing out one 125 score.
In the end, Ivan's moto-one performance
helped seal the victory for Team USA, tying the USA with Britain for
the most MXdN wins in history.
This ranks near the top of Tedesco's racing
achievements, which are considerable.
"I'd say this is close to the top," Tedesco said. "My
outdoor title was probably the best, but this is one of the coolest experiences
I've ever had with the crowd and such. You had to be there to
know what I'm saying, but it was great. I had a good time, and
hopefully I'll get picked in the future and I'll go back
for sure." 
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