Germany, Belgium, Italy on pole for 66th MXoN The qualifying heats of the 66th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations took place in Lommel today under fantastic sunshine and with an incredible crowd all around the Belgian track. At the end of the day, Germany finished at the top of the standings, Belgium was second and Italy third. MX1 The first heat of the day saw Max Nagl taking the holeshot and Germany led the first two laps, but Antonio Cairoli was coming really strong from behind and he managed to put Italy on top. However, Cairoli started feeling that he had some problems with his bike, so he decided to slow down a little to avoid a possible DNF. In the end, the Italian recovered the good feeling on his KTM, overtook Nagl and dominated the heat until the end with almost ten second difference with the German rider, who finished second. The third position was for home rider Clement Desalle, who managed to ride consistently in the third place until the chequered flag. Gautier Paulin did not have a good start, but he found a good rhythm by the middle of the heat, and he crossed the finish line fourth, followed by Russian Evgeny Bobryshev. American Ryan Dungey had some problems with his goggles, and by the middle of the heat he had to take them off. The American struggled a lot having sand coming into his eyes, so he could not keep the fourth position and he finished sixth. Marc De Reuver was one of the big surprised of the day, starting at the front of the MX1 heat and helping team the Netherlands qualifying fourth thanks to his seventh position. Rui Gonçalves from Portugal qualified eighth today and New Zealander Josh Coppins and British Tommy Searle completed the top ten.  MX2 Ken Roczen dominated the MX2 qualifying heat since the very beginning and he crossed the finish line in front of Jeremy Van Horebeek with almost ten seconds difference. Home rider Van Horebeek had really good feelings today and he hopes to help Team Belgium to be on the top of the podium. The third position was for Blake Baggett, who did not start at the front, but he managed to make all the way through to the top places and obtained the best result of Team USA. Marvin Musquin from France did not have a good start either, but he got back the good feeling racing on the sand and he moved from the seventh initial position up to fourth. Fifth was British rider Jake Nichols, who did an excellent start in the second place, but he could not keep the rhythm of the front riders. Glenn Coldenhoff started the qualifying heat placing The Netherlands in the third place, but having three laps to go he crashed and had to settle down with the sixth position. Eighth was Luke Styke from Australia, and Estonian Priit Rätsep and Even Heibye from Norway completed the top ten. Spanish José Butron crashed at the beginning of the heat, but he managed to move all the way back from the last position to twelfth. Unfortunately, team Spain was not qualified and they will have to give it all in the B-Final tomorrow to try to enter the main event. Zach Osborne, who is representing Puerto Rico, had a really good start, but he crashed when he was riding in fifth. In the end, Osborne obtained the 16th position in the MX2 qualifying heat.  OPEN  Cody Cooper is in there somewhere - he had 6th gate pick. Image - Youthstream. The Open class saw Jeffrey Herlings showing his outstanding potential in the sand; the Dutch rider made a mistake at the start and he anticipated the gate, so he was in the last position when he passed by the first corner. However, after the first lap, Herlings was already fourth and he crossed the finish line first. Home rider Ken De Dycker had a good start and rode consistently in the second position, while Tanel Leok was trying to catch him, but the Estonian had to settle down with the third place. Max Anstie started second, but he then made a mistake and crashed, but he managed to recover very quickly and handed team Great Britain a fourth result. Italian Guarneri did also a solid race in fifth and finished in front of Australian Todd Waters and German Marcus Schiffer. Valentin Guillod from Switzerland was eighth, and Portuguese Luis Correira and Swedish Filip Bengtsson completed the top ten. Justin Barcia from team USA managed to lead the beginning of the Open heat, but Herlings overtook him. Some laps after he made a mistake and he crashed, but although he eventually managed to go back to the race, he was disqualified for having accepted outside assistance. French rider Xavier Boog was riding sixth when he started having some problems with his bike and he finally had to pull out the race.  |