Race Report: Motocross of Nations 2024
Words By Kellen Brauer
Under cloudy skies and damp conditions, the 77th running of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations fired to life in the hills of Winchester, United Kingdom. After qualifying P1 on Saturday, Spain led the field into racing on Sunday with a host of nations eager to put their country on top. Here’s what happened:
Race 1 (MXGP & MX2)
The opening race saw the MXGP and MX2 riders square off against each other and it was no surprise to see Spain’s Jorge Prado rocket out to the holeshot. Most nations chose to put their MXGP rider on the inside gates except for France who let MX2 rider Tom Vialle have gate one. That left MXGP rider Romain Febvre with work to do and it didn’t pay off for Vialle either who came around mid-pack.
Slovenia’s Tim Gajser was able to wrestle the lead away from Prado in the opening third of the moto while USA’s Eli Tomac charged into second and began to battle Gajser for the lead. Prado would slip behind Febvre who charged all the way up to third as the lead five riders including Belgium’s MX2 rider Lucas Coenen sprinted away from the field.
Great Britain’s hopes took a turn for the worst as MX2 rider Max Anstie crashed out of the top 15 and did not finish the race. Soon after, Coenen hit the ground from P5 and also had to withdraw.
Much of the race became the race for clean goggles as Hunter Lawrence, Tom Vialle, Andrea Adamo, and many others chose to stop for a fresh pair. Febvre elected just to throw his goggles off in third which ended his chances at a fight with Tomac for second.
Gajser would go on to win the moto ahead of Tomac and Febvre, but it was The Netherlands who left the opening moto leading the pack. Newly crowned MX2 champion Kay De Wolf was the top rider on a 250 in P5 just ahead of his Dutch countryman Jeffrey Herlings putting them on 11 points. Cooper Webb finished P17 on his 250 which left USA in a tie for second on 19 points with Australia.
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Race 2 (MX2 & Open)
Race two combined the MX2 and Open Class riders as Australia’s Jett Lawrence got his first chance of the day. Spain’s Ruben Fernandez grabbed the holeshot but was quickly usurped by Lawrence who slowly inched away at the front.
Netherlands’ MX2 standout de Wolf charged to third early before falling. He then charged back into a fight for third before slipping down the order with goggle troubles. He fought back to P5 in the end which proved huge in keeping The Netherlands on top heading into the final moto.
Cooper Webb had his best ride of the weekend going P9 in his final moto. Along with Aaron Plessinger’s seventh place finish, USA sat second overall going into race three. Australia rolled into the final race sitting third after Jett took the win while Kyle Webster came home 19 th.
Five nations stood a chance to win between The Netherlands, USA, Australia, France, and Spain heading into race three.
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Race 3 (MXGP & Open)
With it all on the line, gates dropped in the final race and Eli Tomac launched out to the holeshot over Jorge Prado. Prado took the lead for a few laps, but Tomac went back to the front as Slovenia’s Tim Gajser moved to second and the battle was on in the lead.
Meanwhile, Spain and The Netherlands took huge hits early when their riders Ruben Fernandez and Glenn Coldenhoff both went down on the first lap together, essentially ending their chances at the win. Team France was in contention with Romain Febvre and Maxime Renaux, but Febvre shockingly pulled to a stop and fell over late in the moto, resulting in a DNF that cost them a podium result.
It came down to the USA versus Australia and Jett Lawrence and Hunter Lawrence worked forward together. They sealed off enough points to win when they moved to third and fourth, respectively, but Jett Lawrence was not done. He ran down the Tomac-Gajser battle ahead of him just as Gajser moved ahead into the lead. Jett went and passed both of them, but Gajser was not going down without a fight. With two corners to go, Gajser lunged down the inside to take the lead away from Jett and surged to victory in the final race.
But it didn’t matter in the overall classification as Australia still had done enough to claim the Peter Chamberlain Trophy for the first time ever. Jett Lawrence and Hunter Lawrence delivered P2 and P4 results in the final moto to stamp the win by just three points over Team USA who saw Eli Tomac and Aaron Plessinger finish P3 and P8, respectively.
“I could care less about my weekend [results] right now,” said Hunter Lawrence. “I just can’t help but think of all the Australians back home. All of them that are following and supporting us, staying up late. Thank you to everyone that fundraised and got us here. We appreciate it and we’re just so freaking pumped to get a gold plate for Australia for the first time ever.”
Individual class honors would go to Tim Gajser, Kay De Wolf, and Jett Lawrence. Gajser’s stand out 1-1 performance helped Slovenia earn P7 on the weekend, while Kay de Wolf’s 6-5 day led Netherlands onto the podium. Jett Lawrence hoisted the Open Class victory that he so coveted last year but lost out to Ken Roczen on in France.
With that, the 2024 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations ends with a first time win for Australia and a spectacular event all around. Australia will run the numbers 1-2-3 when the race comes to Ironman Raceway next October in 2025.
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