MXON : France wins the Nations… Belgium just misses the podium
Defending champion France has become the final victor of the 70th Motocross of Nations. At the legendary Maggiora circuit, where a historic Motocross of Nations was held in 1986, the French team with Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and Benoit Paturel performed the strongest. Yet it was not until the final laps when the American Cooper Webb made a mistake and thus handed over the almost certain overall victory to the American team. In addition to the winning team from France taking victory in the Motocross of Nations for the third time in a row, the Dutch team and American team also took the podium.
Team Belgium falls just short of the podium…
The Belgian team led by Team Manager Joel Smets also rode a strong race with Jeremy Van Horebeek who won his class on the MX2 bike with a fifth and seventh place. Kevin Strijbos also did what was expected of him and took third place twice in his heats. So we had to wait and see what newcomer to the team Brent Van Doninck would bring. For Brent it was certainly an adjustment to the 450 and which was also his first Nations, which also brought extra pressure. In the first series he crashed twice, so something to quickly forget. Van Doninck was in a good position in the second series, but already in the first lap he had to avoid a fallen rider and thus crashed. Yet the Yamaha rider still rode from 28th to 18th in the final series. Unfortunately, this was not enough for a podium finish and Team Belgium ended up in fourth place.
The Final Nations Classification
1. France 29p 2. Netherlands 30p 3. USA 33p 4. Belgium 36p 5. Italy 44p 6. Switzerland 44p 7. England 73p 8. Austria 76p 9. Estonia 93p 10. Canada 95p
Race 1 (MXGP-MX2): Febvre wins the first series…
Romain Febvre was the man who won the first series for Team France ahead of the strongly encouraged home rider Antonio Cairoli. Kevin Strijbos took third place and Jeremy van Horebeek was the first MX2 rider in a good fifth place. Among our compatriots was the first American rider Cooper Webb. Glen Coldenhoff was the first Dutchman in sixth place. After the first series, Team Belgium was in the lead with eight points ahead of the USA and France teams.
Race 1 (MXGP + MX2) – Classification
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:41.712; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:04.648; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:19.429; 4. Cooper Webb (USA, Yamaha), +0:25.658; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:34.398; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:37.475; 7. Todd Waters (AUS, Suzuki), +0:37.958; 8. Kaven Benoit (CAN, KTM), +0:41.284; 9. Alex Martin (USA, Yamaha), +0:50.538; 10. Cody Cooper (NZL, Honda), +0:52.837; 11. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:53.043; 12. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:54.749; 13. Valentine Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:55.417; 14. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:55.631; 15. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, House), +1:02.357; 16. Samuel Bernardini (ITA, TM), +1:05.040; 17. Nikolaj Larsen (DEN, KTM), +1:06.471; 18. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +1:08.168; 19. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), +1:09.696; 20. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +1:10.087;
Race 2 (MX2-Open): Anderson wins duel with Herlings…
In the second series we seemed to get a nice duel between Jason Anderson and Jeffrey Herlings for the series victory. Until the Dutchman himself made a mistake and the American Anderson rode to victory unthreatened. Our two compatriots Van Horebeek and Van Doninck got a reasonably good start in this second series. But unfortunately, Van Doninck, riding in fourteenth place, crashed twice and would only be classified 39th. Jeremy Van Horebeek, on the other hand, did excellently on the MX2 bike and was the first MX2 rider to cross the finish line in seventh place. So after the second series we got Team USA in the lead ahead of France and Switzerland.
Race 2 (MX2 + Open) – Classification
1. Jason Anderson (USA, Husqvarna), 34:59.493; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:06.109; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:07.356; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:08.861; 5. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +0:09.890; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:10.765; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:11.126; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:13.493; 9. Alex Martin (USA, Yamaha), +0:16.116; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:30.103; 11. Fredrik Noren (SWE, Honda), +0:43.567; 12. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:46.162; 13. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), +0:49.522; 14. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:50.063; 15. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:51.076; 16. Harri Kullas (EST, KTM), +0:55.512; 17. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:59.774; 18. Tyler Medaglia (CAN, Husqvarna), +1:00.894; 19. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +1:02.333; 20. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP, Honda), +1:13.325; cloth(s); 39. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), -1 lap(s)
Race 3 (Open-MXGP): Herlings dominates final series…
In this last and decisive series, the victory went to Jeffrey Herlings who beat home rider Antonio Cairoli. Our compatriot Kevin Strijbos came in third after starting seventh ahead of Frenchman Romain Febvre. Brent Van Doninck was in fourteenth place when he crashed in the first lap, Van Doninck immediately dropped to 28th place. Yet Van Doninck was still able to work his way up to 18th place.
Race 3 (MXGP + Open) – Classification
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:34.924; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:07.624; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:20.781; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:26.248; 5. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:28.215; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:34.054; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:42.218; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:44.343; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:45.113; 10. Cooper Webb (USA, Yamaha), +0:46.305; 11. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:46.977; 12. Kaven Benoit (CAN, KTM), +0:58.100; 13. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +1:02.631; 14. Todd Waters (AUS, Suzuki), +1:03.849; 15. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +1:22.424; 16. Valentine Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +1:33.393; 17. Nikolaj Larsen (DEN, KTM), +1:35.031; 18. Brent Vandoninck (BEL, Yamaha), +1:36.823; 19. Pascal Rauchecker (AUT, Husqvarna), +1:41.642; 20. Fredrik Noren (SWE, Honda), +1:42.573;
Text: @Kris…
Photo: CDS
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