Germany makes history in Lommel
HRH Prince Philippe of Belgium and Duke of
Brabant handed the Chamberlain Trophy to Team Germany
Team Belgium started the weekend determined to win the MXoN at home, as it was a unique opportunity for them, but in the end they had to settle down with the second position after scoring four points more than team Germany. Team USA made a superb effort to claim back the Chamberlain Trophy, but they all admitted that they had never ridden a track like Lommel, but their consistent results made them complete the top three of the 2012 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Jeffrey Herlings was outstanding in the sand, but he struggled more than expected after crashing at the start of the second heat with his teammate Marc De Reuver. In the end his 1-2 result helped Team the Netherlands to finish fourth in the Nations standings, followed by Team Italy, with the two victories of Antonio Cairoli and the great performance of Davide Guarneri. Team France was third after the first and second races, but in the end they finished sixth, ahead of Team Estonia and Team Great Britain. Team Portugal and Team Australia completed the top ten. (New Zealand was 15th) Russia finished eleventh and obtained one of the best results in the history of the MXoN, thanks to the great performances of Evgeny Bobryshev and Alexander Tonkov. In fact, they could have finished higher up in the standings, if Bobryshev had not crashed in the final race when he was riding fifth. RACE 1 (MX1 & MX2) Antonio Cairoli put Italy at the top of the MXoN right after the start of the first race and he succeeded in leading it until the chequered flag with more than twenty-one seconds difference with Paulin, who had a good start and managed to find a good rhythm to move up to second. The French rider was catching the Italian by the end of the heat, but he made a mistake and he lost some time. On the other hand, Max Nagl was very satisfied with his performance after race one and he mentioned that he was not too tired to face the following heat. Home rider Clement Desalle and German Roczen exchanged the fourth position in the beginning of the race, but it was the Belgian who finished fourth and Roczen fifth. Evgeny Bobryshev was sixth and American Ryan Dungey made several mistakes during the race and he was only able to finish seventh. Tommy Searle did not have a good start, but he managed to finish eighth, ahead of Marc De Reuver, who had to race with some plastic stuck in his rear wheel most of the race, and Jeremy Van Horebeek. Alessandro Lupino crashed in the first lap and he dislocated his shoulder, but fortunately the shoulder was relocated by itself and he could enter the following heat and helped team Italy to finish on the podium. Race 1 top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:26.888; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.182; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:28.933; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:38.741; 5. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), +0:40.180; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:05.036; 7. Ryan Dungey (USA, KTM), +1:11.286; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:38.040; 9. Marc de Reuver (NED, Kawasaki), +1:42.851; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +1:44.824; Nations top ten: Germany, Belgium, France, USA, Russia, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Italy. RACE 2 (MX2& OPEN) In race two Jeffrey Herlings proved once more his talent on the sand by taking the holeshot and crossing the finish line with more than fifty-eight seconds difference with the second classified. However, his teammate crashed in the very beginning of the race and the handle bar of his KTM was so damaged that he could not continue in the race. Tanel Leok did an incredible race for Estonia, and after exchanging the third and the second position several times with De Dycker, the Estonian managed to pass the Belgian with two laps to go and he put his country in the fourth place of the Nations standings. Ken Roczen rode second for a few laps, but the fact of racing against the bigger bikes made the German drop several positions and crossed the finish line fourth. Fifth was Italian Guarneri, who showed a great rhythm during the heat and he was even able to overtake Barcia and rode in front of the American for four laps. However, Barcia passed him back, but by the end of the heat, Barcia crashed and the Italian recuperated the fifth place. Blake Baggett did a solid race, starting down in the tenth position and crossing the finish line in sixth, ahead of German Marcus Schiffer and Australian Todd Waters. Max Anstie was only able to finish ninth in his first race, and Xavier Boog, who started down in the twenty-sixth position, made an incredible recovery and crossed the finish line tenth. His compatriot Marvin Musquin, who had crashed in the first heat and hurt his knee, did a massive effort to finish eleventh and helped France to keep the third position on the podium after the race. American Barcia started at the front and rode second during a couple of laps, but he then crashed when trying to overtake De Dycker and he dropped down to the fifth position. The American was able to go back quickly on his Honda, but on the last lap he made a mistake and he finished fourteenth. Home rider Van Horebeek was looking forward to doing well at the MXoN, but he left with a bittersweet feeling, as his KTM stopped in the first laps of the race and he could not finish the heat. Race 2 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:41.619; 2. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), +0:58.141; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +1:00.358; 4. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), +1:48.464; 5. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +2:27.689; 6. Blake Baggett (USA, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); 7. Marcus Schiffer (GER, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 8. Todd Waters (AUS, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 9. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), -1 lap(s); 10. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); Nations top ten: Germany, USA, France, Estonia, Belgium, The Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Great Britain, Australia. RACE 3 (MX1 & OPEN) Race three started with Germany at the front with 22 points advantage over USA and 23 points over France, so Nagl and Schiffer had only to go out and finish the race without making any mistakes. In the end, everything went well for the Germans, and while Nagl finished sixth, Schiffer crossed the finish line fourteenth and helped his country to write their name in the history of the sport. However, there was one clear winner in Race 3, Antonio Cairoli. The Italian was looking forward to racing against Herlings to prove his skills on the sand against the Dutch rider, but Herlings crashed at the start of the race, so Cairoli was able to lead the race comfortably until the finish line. Although Herlings crashed in the first turn together with his teammate De Reuver, the Dutch did an incredible recovery, and after five laps he was already second. At that point of the race, Cairoli had already opened a big gap with the rest, so even if Herlings gave it all, the Dutch had to settle down with the second position, while his teammate finished seventeenth. Barcia had a really good start in the third race and he rode a solid moto, crossing the finish line third, ahead of Estonian Leok and Belgian De Dycker, who struggled a lot during the final heat with some cramps on his legs. Nagl’s goal was to finish the race without mistakes and so he did finishing sixth ahead of Belgian Desalle and Paulin, whose compatriot got stuck behind a rider who crashed in front of him and could only finish sixteenth. Dungey started the race in the second place behind his teammate, so their hopes were still alive, but the KTM rider had a big crash and he dropped down to the thirteenth position. In the end the American was able to finish the race in the ninth position, and Rui Gonçalves completed the top ten. Anstie and Searle handed Great Britain the eleventh and twelfth position in race 3 and helped their country to finish eighth in the Nations standings. Cairoli (ITA) took the individual MX1 victory, Roczen (Germany) won the MX2 class for the third year in a row, and Herlings (NED) won the Open class. Tim Gajser (Slovenia) obtained the Ricky Carmichael award for being the youngest best-classified rider in this 66th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Race 3 top ten: 1. Cairoli, Antonio (ITA, KTM), 35:00.015; 2. Herlings, Jeffrey (NED,KTM), 3.037; 3. Barcia, Justin (USA, HON), 57.823; 4. Leok, Tanel (EST, SUZ), 1:23.257; 5. De Dycker, Ken (BEL, KTM), 1:29.784; 6. Nagl, Maximilian (GER, KTM), 1:37.774; 7. Desalle, Clement (BEL, SUZ), 1:49.089; 8. Paulin, Gautier (FRA, KAW), 1:56.647; 9. Dungey, Ryan (USA, KTM), 2:00.599; 10. Goncalves, Rui (POR, HON), 2:08.575. Nations top ten: Germany, Belgium, USA, The Netherlands, Italy, France, Estonia, Great Britain, Portugal, Australia. Quote from: www.fullnoise.com.au The New Zealand team of Josh Coppins, Cody Cooper and Kayne Lamont finished the day in 15th position after qualifying for the final races via the B Final which they won early in the day. The extra race may have been a little to much for the Kiwi's with Coppins pulling out of his final professional race mid way through the race and both Lamont and Coppins struggling late in both motos. Team Australia's line up of Lawson Bopping, Luke Styke and Todd Waters raced to a very solid 10th place overall finish in the tricky conditions. In the opening MX1/MX2 race both Styke and Bopping started outside the top 20. Bopping was able to work his way up inside the top 20 before a mistake seen him eventually finish in 21st, while Styke was one of the leading MX2 riders finishing in 26th position. In the following MX2/MX3 race, Waters put in the race of his life. Starting from 22nd position the first time across the line, he worked his way up through the field including catching and passing Americas 250 motocross champion Blake Bagget late in the race. The move past Bagget had Waters running as high as sixth position and going head to head with Bagget for the second half of the race. On the final lap of the race Waters lost the place to Bagget as well as another spot to German rider Schiffer, though was able to pick up a place with Barcia's trouble finishing in 8th place, which would be Australia's best individual result for Sunday's main races. Styke held on for 20th position and was once again one of the top placed MX2 riders on a track that certainly favoured the bigger 450 machines. Stykes 20th place finish would prove pivotal in Ausralia finishing inside the top ten. In the final MX1/MX2 race, Bopping and Waters started side by side in 16th and 17th places early in the race. Both riders took turns moving up through the field and sliding back. Waters found his way up to 13th place near the end of the race. A last lap crash seen him finish in 15th place in a stacked world class line up, with Bopping not far behind in 19th position. |