2014 MXoN: Qualifying

Results, highlights and images from the 2014 Motocross of Nations’ Qualifying…

MX1

The first race of the weekend just wrapped and Gautier Paulin was the star of the show. He came from a mediocre start, through the pack and pulled a small lead en route to the win. He was followed through the field by Jeremy Van Horebeek, of the Belgian team, just ahead of America’s Ryan Dungey in third. Fourth would be Max Nagl and Shaun Simpson would round out the top five for Great Britain.

Chad Reed was inside the top ten on the start but suffered a crash on the first lap in traffic and then another around the halfway mark, relegating him to a 14th place finish. He was outside the top 20 at one point, so it was a strong effort to salvage a decent score for the Aussie contingent.

Next up is the MX2 class, featuring eight-time World MX Champion, Antonio Cairoli, and newly crowned champions, Jeremy Martin and Luke Clout, from America and Australia, respectively. Cairoli and Martin were very close in free practice so it should be an interesting showdown on the smaller bore machines.

Keep in mind that the top 19 countries qualify directly into Sunday’s A final, with one country transferring on Sunday morning from the B final. The top two of three total scores from Saturday will be used to determine the 19 countries receiving the direct transfer. With two more qualifying races to go, the calculators will be heating up for many of the hopeful nations!

MX2

Race two of the day saw high drama for many of the Motocross of Nations hopefuls. The early laps bred battles all through the field, with favorites Jeremy Martin and Antonio Cairoli at the bottom of the top ten. Both would move forward quickly, but it would be Cairoli that would prove to be the class of this field. He sliced his way all the way to the lead by the checkered flag, giving Italy a great score. Jeremy Martin would end up having a huge crash that led to a 33rd place finish and likely a throw-away score for the USA. Australia MX2 rider, Luke Clout, was running inside the top ten until veering off course and into the billboard signs. Another casualty would be Belgium’s Julien Lieber as his bike expired mid-race and scored a DNF.

The pressure is on for many nations now going into the Open qualifier. Australia, Belgium and the USA have no margin for error after disastrous MX2 scores. Of course, the last resort is the B Main on Sunday morning, but no one is looking to be in that race. The tension is high as the riders head to the starting gates for the Open qualifier!

Open

Well that was an interesting first day! The qualifiers have officially finished and there are 19 nations ready for Sunday afternoon’s motos. The B final is still left to run before we get underway with New Zealand on the outside looking in as of now.

The Open qualifier saw a big first turn crash taking Eli Tomac and Matt Moss down in the fray. Dean Wilson and Kevin Strijbos avoided all of that and jumped out into an early battle. The Belgian Strijbos sprinted away to a comfortable gap, leaving Wilson to fend off Tim Gajser and Tanel Leok the rest of the way. Matt Moss would fight back up to 12th while Tomac would charge all the way back up to 8th. Both Australia and the USA would salvage good enough scores to get the transfer.

19 Qualified Nations

1. Belgium
2. France
3. Great Britain
4. Netherlands
5. Italy
6. Estonia
7. Germany
8. USA
9. Switzerland
10. Russia
11. Slovenia
12. Latvia
13. Sweden
14. Canada
15. Denmark
16. Portugal
17. Australia
18. Puerto Rico
19. Finland