France Wins MXoN, Aussies Sixth

There’s no denying that the French are the powerhouse of world motocross after taking out their fourth Motocross of Nations crown in a row in what was very testing muddy conditions at the picturesque Matterly Basin circuit in Great Britain yesterday.

This weekend was the pinnacle of what a Motocross of Nations event should be with enthusiastic, dedicated, and patriotic riders fighting for their nations glory and pride. The fans resembled the riders in enthusiasm, dedication, and patriotism doing everything in their power to motivate their motocross idols. All of which brought the atmosphere of the emotional and action packed event to an epic level.

Team France of Gautier Paulin, Christophe Charlier, and Romain Febvre were up against strong competition but handled the challenge with perfection winning their Fourth MXoN in a row. The team was however challenged by the Netherlands returning team of Glenn Coldenhoff, Brian Bogers, and Jeffrey Herlings, which for the second year in a row finished second. The final spot on the podium went to – for the first time in 20 years –Team Great Britain made up by Max Anstie, Tommy Searle, and Dean Wilson.

Although The Aussie team of Dean Ferris, Kirk Gibbs and Hunter Lawrence finished sixth overall they looked to be in with a real shot at a podium position before the final moto thanks to starring rides from Lawrence and Gibbs.

After a strong fourth-place finish in the first moto Lawrence stormed through the field into third in moto 2 from a mid-pack start passing American Zach Osbourne twice in the process. Gibbs ran third most of the race after a great start, but slipped back to fifth by the race end. Lawrence rode the wheels off his Suzuki RM-Z250 against the 450 machines, but in the super tough muddy conditions he dropped his machine with two laps to go and came home in eighth place, which was enough to give him the overall in his class. Of his performance, the young Aussie said, “The day started off really well, with a good start on my RM-Z250.

It was a good race with the 450s and I ended up fourth, which was really cool, finishing ahead of some top-quality riders and I was the first MX2 rider across the line. It was a short break between the two motos and I didn’t get as good of a start in the second race and I had to work my way through the pack. There was so much mud on my helmet and I had to take the goggles off but I was riding well and making passes. I took a rock to the eye at one stage and that hurt a lot but others were making mistakes and I kept charging and eventually got up to third. Unfortunately, my helmet was falling down across my eyes and I couldn’t see so well and I crashed a couple of laps from the end. Obviously, it was a massive let down for me as I ended up finishing eighth after that mistake.”

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All the Aussies needed in the final moto was a pair of good starts and solid top ten finishes from Ferris and Gibbs to cement the teams podium chances, but when the gate dropped both riders were bogged down midfield and by race end in treacherous conditions Gibbs’ 19^th and Ferris’s 23^rd result wasn’t enough to get the job done.

A sixth-place finish is still a great result for the Australian’s, and the rookie Lawrence sent a strong signal he is without doubt a rising star on the world stage after his dominating performance, stating, “I still won the MX2 class and won the Ricky Carmichael award for the best young rider so I’m really happy with that and with helping Australia to a sixth overall.”