Race Report: 2008 Motocross of Nations 3

Easily one of the most interesting events every year is the Motocross of Nations. It’s the one time per year that you get the top outdoor riders from around the world together to mix it up. Whether they’re GP competitors, National series competitors, or just trying to make their mark on the moto scene (who knew there was a Team Mongolia?) it’s all about national pride, and it makes for fascinating spectating. You also get some interesting combinations with the three-moto format, as you get one each for MX1/MX2, MX2/Open, and MX1/Open classes.

The format is pretty simple. A country sends its best three riders, they each race twice, and the best five of six moto scores is used to determine a team’s overall final score.

This year’s event was held in the infield of the Donington Park road racing circuit in Great Britain, and it was a beautiful facility. The mix of permanent infrastructure (like the garages that some teams used), bathrooms and other facilities, as well as a very cool, extremely jump-filled MX track, it was cool indeed. Weather for Saturday’s qualifying races was held in beautiful sunny weather, and it was cloudy with just a bit of rain on Sunday, which definitely made the track a lot slicker. Spectator count? A claimed 60,000.

The track prep (or lack of it) was very interesting. The first turn was groomed to perfection for each moto. But the rest of the track? Other than watering, it appeared to be untouched from Saturday to Sunday. We’d guess that it was easily the roughest track that the U.S. riders had seen all year.

So who were this year’s heroes? Sebastien Pourcel (France/MX1), Ryan Villopoto (USA/MX2), and Timmy Ferry (USA/Open) took the individual honors, but that only tells part of the story.

In the MX1 class, James Stewart won the first moto, and looked well on his way to taking a win in his second moto as well…up until he crashed with only a handful of laps left, and had trouble restarting his bike. That left him nearly a lap down, and handed the win to Pourcel. It also made for some nailbiting, as the teams scrambled to figure out points…and made the final team title much closer than it might have been otherwise.

Pourcel was involved in an incident in the first race as well, where Ryan Villopoto ended up on the ground. Ryan was left to charge through the pack and try to salvage a good score, and he ended up tenth. Ryan then came back in the second moto to grab a big moto win on his 250F against the Open bikes.

Timmy Ferry struggled in the first moto, both with the track, and with a clutch lever that was moving around. As mentioned earlier, he also still scored the overall win for the Open class, and his steady ride in the second moto iced the win for the USA. That gives them 19 wins in the 62 years that the race has been run. Team France (Sebastien Pourcel, Nicholas Aubin, and Anthony Boissiere); and Team Belgium (Steve Ramon, Ken De Dycker, and Jeremy van Horebeek) took the third spot.

Click into the photo gallery (see the link above), for much more from Donington Park, and check out the results below.

Race 1 MX1/MX2
1. James Stewart (USA/Kawasaki)

2. Sebastien Pourcel (France/Kawasaki)

3. David Phillipaerts (Italy/Yamaha)

4. Jonathan Barragan (Spain/KTM)

5. Julien Bill (Switzerland/Honda)

6. Billy MacKenzie (Great Britain/Honda)

7. Josh Coppins (New Zealand/Yamaha)

8. Ken De Dycker (Belgium/Suzuki)

9. Tommy Searle (Great Britain/KTM)

10. Ryan Villopoto (USA/Kawasaki)

11. Anthony Broissiere (France/KTM)

12. Chad Reed (Australia/Suzuki)

13. Max Nagl (Germany/KTM)

14. Manuel Monni (Italy/Yamaha)

15. Carlos Campano (Spain/Yamaha)

Race 2 MX2/Open
1. Ryan Villopoto (USA/Kawasaki)

2. Steve Ramon (Belgium/Suzuki)

3. Tommy Searle (Great Britain/KTM)

4. Cody Cooper (New Zealand/Suzuki)

5. Alex Salvini (Italy/Suzuki)

6. Zach Osborne (Puerto Rico/Yamaha)

7. Nicolas Aubin (France/Yamaha)

8. Michael Byrne (Australia/Suzuki)

9. Timmy Ferry (USA/Kawasaki)

10. Brett Metcalfe (Australia/Kawasaki)

11. Manuel Monni (Italy/Yamaha)

12. Antonio Balbi (Brazil/Honda)

13. Jeremy van Horebeek (Belgium/KTM)

14. Carlos Campano (Spain/Yamaha)

15. Shaun Simpson (Great Britain/KTM)

Race 3 MX1/Open
1. Sebastien Pourcel (France/Kawasaki)

2. Tanel Leok (Estonia/Kawasaki)

3. Max Nagl (Germany/KTM)

4. Ken De Dycker (Belgium/Suzuki)

5. Timmy Ferry (USA/Kawasaki)

6. Josh Coppins (New Zealand/Yamaha)

7. Julien Bill (Switzerland/Honda)

8. Chad Reed (Australia/Suzuki)

9. Jonathan Barragan (Spain/KTM)

10. Nicolas Aubin (France/Yamaha)

11. Billy MacKenzie (Great Britain/Honda)

12. Alex Salvini (Italy/Suzuki)

13. Shaun Simpson (Great Britain/KTM)

14. Steve Ramon (Belgium/Suzuki)

15. Colton Facciotti (Canada/Yamaha)

Individual
MX1
1. Sebastien Pourcel (France/Kawasaki) 2-1

2. Ken De Dycker (Belgium/Suzuki) 8-4

3. Julien Bill (Switzerland/Honda) 5-7

4. Josh Coppins (New Zealand/Yamaha) 7-6

5. Jonathan Barragan (Spain/KTM) 4/9

MX2
1. Ryan Villopoto (USA/Kawasaki) 10-1

2. Tommy Searle (Great Britain/KTM) 9-3

3. Manuel Monni (Italy/Yamaha) 14-11

4. Brett Metcalfe (Australia/Kawasaki) 17-10

5. Jeremy van Horebeek (Belgium/KTM) 16-13

Open
1. Timmy Ferry (USA/Kawasaki) 9-5

2. Steve Ramon (Belgium/Suzuki) 2-14

3. Nicolas Aubin (France/Yamaha) 7-10

4. Alex Salvini (Italy/Suzuki) 5-12

5. Cody Cooper (New Zealand/Suzuki) 4/21

Team Standings
1. USA 26

2. France 31

3. Belgium 41

4. Great Britain 42

5. Italy 45

6. Australia 55

7. Spain 58

8. New Zealand 63

9. Switzerland82

10. Germany 96

11. Finland 98

12. Estonia 103

13. Canada 107

14. Brazil 113

15. South Africa 117

16. Latvia 143

17. Japan 160

18. Netherlands 164

19. Puerto Rico 100

20. Denmark 134

21. Ireland 12

22. Russia 14

23. Sweden 16

24. Portugal 17

25. Czech Republic 19

26. Slovenia 21

27. Norway 35

28. Lithuania 49

29. Slovakia 50

30. Iceland 51

31. Venezuela 58

32. Mongolia 64