MXoN: Team Australia Firm Favourites

The 2025 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations is set to take place this weekend, for the first time ever at Ironman Raceway, Indiana, in the USA. Team Australia secured the five-decades-in-the-making victory at Matterley Basin in 2024, and they are confident in retaining the prestigious Chamberlain Trophy as the same Honda-backed trio of Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence and Kyle Webster will represent the winning green and gold again.

This weekend marks the the sixth time that the United States has hosted the “Olympics of Motocross”, and Ironman will be the fifth venue to welcome the biggest Motocross event on the planet through its gates. Unadilla hosted the first American Nations event in 1987, and since then it has visited Budd’s Creek, Thunder Valley, and then twice at Red Bud in 2018 and 2022.  Team USA has won all but one of these contests, except for 2018 where Team France broke the home nation’s perfect record. Team USA hit the top step again in 2022, although that still stands as their only win since the last of their seven-year streak in 2011.

Team Australia’s stirring success last year came after a third place in 2022, and second in 2023. The battle gets even tougher now as Australia attempts to remain at the top of the motocross summit. The Lawrences, who hail from Landsborough, QLD, recently completed emphatic 1-2 finishes in both the American Pro Motocross Championship and SuperMotocross World Championship on their factory Hondas, with Jett edging out his sibling on both occasions.

Both Lawrence brothers have good records at Ironman, with Hunter winning the 450cc class event here in August, as well as sealing his 250cc title with a win in 2023.  That was the same day as when Jett completed his perfect season in the 450 class that year, and between the brothers they have racked up five overall victories around the Indiana valley.

As the Aussies have the exact same team as last year, it’s Kyle Webster again taking on the MX2 class duties after his 11-19 results were just about enough to see them to victory at Matterley Basin. Webster comes off a second-consecutive Australian ProMX MX1 championship title, along with having competed in a couple of 450cc Pro Motocross rounds, including Ironman Raceway, eking out multiple top 10 finishes. Webster’s since remained in America, punching out hours of shakedown testing in preparation for the MXoN.

For the first time in MXoN history, the Team Australia bikes will be hold numbers 1-3 as the defending champion. Jett will ride with No.1 in the MXGP class, with Webster No.2 (MX2) and Hunter No.3 (Open). Jett has so far always competed in the Open category, but he is entered as riding with the #1 plate in the MXGP class this season. After Open class wins in 2022 & 2024, and one race win in each of his three appearances so far, it wouldn’t be an entirely-unimaginable scenario to watch him go for a double win.

Australian Team Manager, Michael Byrne:
“It’s an old sporting adage that it’s hard to get to the top and even harder to stay there with the additional pressure. That said, our stocks have risen again over the last 12 months with Jett and Hunter continuing to be the standout riders in the American motocross scene and Kyle defending his ProMX championship in Australia. That blazing form is hard to ignore, and the dynamics in the Aussie ranks are just amazing – they’ve got each other’s back which is the essence of team sport. We know we have a target on our back, but we’ll just focus on what we need to do and play to our strengths. With a huge number of Aussies cheering us on again, we’ll be applying the heat until the very end.”

For the home squad, Eli Tomac lines up for his sixth Nations appearance, at a track where he has won three times overall and clinched his first two outdoor 450 crowns in 2017/2018.  He has only one Nations Gold Medal to his name, however, and just one race win at the event as well, both in 2022. 

His MX2 teammate from that event, Justin Cooper, has been drafted in to race the 250cc machine again this year, after injury forced a late withdrawal from AMA Champion Haiden Deegan. Cooper won the MX2 class that year at Red Bud, so he is certainly an able substitute for “Dangerboy”. Completing the line-up for the host nation is RJ Hampshire, replacing an injured Chase Sexton. Hampshire will be making his second MXoN appearance after his debut two years ago at Ernée. He will be looking to improve on his 16-10 results from that weekend, and prosper against European opposition like he did when he won the MX2 GP at WW Ranch in 2017.

Team USA finished runner up last year, with the Netherlands following in third. Both teams are very much expected to be in the mix again, as the Dutch three-rider line-up of Glenn Coldenhoff, Kay de Wolf and Calvin Vlaanderen each finished top six in their respective FIM Motocross World Championship classes which recently wrapped up in Darwin.

Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Slovenia also have stacked line-ups of international superstars, with Slovenian Tim Gasjer winning both his MXoN motos in 2024 as Jett Lawrence was successful in the other. A total of 36 nations will compete in the 2025 MXoN, with the roster whittled down to 20 for the main Sunday action after qualifying races on Saturday. There will three races at the MXoN, with every class competing against each other once. Teams are allowed to drop their worst result towards their final tally, with the lowest score declared the winner.