Motocross of Nations 2015 Image Gallery A
Motocross of Nations 2015 Image Gallery A – Images by Hoppenworld
2015 Motocross of Nations – Ernee – France
The undulating Ernee circuit was full of enthusiastic motocross fans for both days of action but when it was all said and done team France defended their title with a narrow two point win over the all Yamaha mounted USA team – there was agro, fearless racing and crashes galore – here is how it went down……
Top 15 teams from Saturday Qualification
1. France – 2pts: 1. FEBVRE, Romain – Open. 1. MUSQUIN, Marvin – MX2. 1. PAULIN, Gautier – MXGP.
2. USA – 4pts: 2. WEBB, Cooper – Open. 2. MARTIN, Jeremy – MX2. 7. BARCIA, Justin. MXGP.
3. Belgium – 8pts: 3. VAN HOREBEEK, Jeremy – Open. 5. LIEBER, Julien – MX2. 5. DE DYCKER, Ken – MXGP.
4. Germany – 10pts: 4. NAGL, Maximilian – MXGP. 6. ULLRICH, Dennis – Open. 10. JACOBI, Henry – MX2.
5. New Zealand – 10pts: 2. TOWNLEY, Ben – MXGP. 8. COOPER, Cody – Open. 36. LAMONT, Kayne – MX2.
6. The Netherlands – 12pts: 4. COLDENHOFF, Glenn – Open. 8. KOUWENBERG, Nick – MX2. 22. BOGERS, Brian – MXGP.
7. Spain – 13pts: 6. ZARAGOZA, Jorge – MX2. 7. BUTRON, Jose – MXGP. 27. VALENTIN, Ander – Open.
8. Austria – 14pts: 4. RAUCHENECKER, Pascal – MX2. 10. SCHMIDINGER, Günter – Open. 16. NEURAUTER, Luka – MXGP.
9. Switzerland – 15pts: 3. SEEWER, Jeremy – MX2. 12. GUILLOD, Valentin – MXGP. 24. BAUMGARTNER, Andy – Open.
10. Estonia – 16pts: 7. KULLAS, Harri – MX2. 9. LEOK, Tanel – Open. 10. RATSEP, Priit – MXGP.
11. Australia – 16pts: 7. FERRIS, Dean – Open. 9. WATERS, Todd – MXGP. 24. CLOUT, Luke – MX2.
12. Great Britain – 16pts: 5. WILSON, Dean – Open. 11. SIMPSON, Shaun – MXGP. 35. ANSTIE, Max – MX2.
13. Sweden – 21pts: 8. BENGTSSON, Filip – MXGP. 13. JÖNSSON, Jesper – Open. 14. ÖSTLUND, Alvin – MX2.
14. Italy – 26pts: 11. CERVELLIN, Michele – MX2. 15. BERNARDINI, Samuele – Open. 19. MONTICELLI, Ivo – MXGP.
15. Ireland – 27pts: 12. IRWIN, Graeme – MX2. 15. BARR, Martin – MXGP. 17. EDMONDS, Stuart – Open.
Race One – MXGP & MX2
Race one demonstrated just what the motocross of nations is all about. Team USA’s Justin Barcia and Team France’s Marvin Musquin had an epic duel in the first half of the race as they held nothing back in their battle for the lead. While the intense French fans were backing the US based Frenchman, he threw it away in spectacular style on a jump at the bottom of the track, “I got too excited, the crowd was going crazy and I made too many mistakes and finally I went down” he said. Nevertheless, he was quick to regroup and only lost two positions.
In the time it took Musquin to regroup, Team Russia’s Evgeny Bobryshev and Team Germany’s Max Nagl took over the second and third positions and rode it home unchallenged.
At one point Team USA’s MX2 rider Jeremy Martin started closing in on Musquin for fourth, but as the Frenchman, who set a lap time 2 seconds faster than anyone else on track, returned to full force Martin couldn’t respond to the challenge and let him go.
Meanwhile Team New Zealand’s super spoiler Ben Townley was riding on rails as one of the veterans of the event and came home in sixth ahead of the defending champion and top qualifier Gautier Paulin who binned it when he got a little too trigger happy on the front brake. “It was scary moment,” he explained. “I landed, got on the brakes and hit a stone. I didn’t expect that and lost the front. Max Nagl hit my bike and the levers and bars were a bit bent.”
Todd Waters started the moto well outside the top 20 but managed to claw his way up to 13th by moto end while Luke Clout was taken out in the first corner and took ages to get his bike going so ended the moto back in 33rd place.
Race One Results: 1. Justin Barcia (USA, Yamaha), 35:41.061; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:13.103; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:16.316; 4. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:19.053; 5. Jeremy Martin (USA, Yamaha), +0:25.080; 6. Ben Townley (NZL, Honda), +0:36.939; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:39.665; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:00.544; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +1:03.697; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:15.508. 13. Todd Waters (AUS, Hus). 33. Luke Clout (AUS, Yam).
RACE 2 – MX2 & Open
With Team USA taking the early lead after Justin Barcia cleaned up in race one which was paired with the fifth of Jeremy Martin, their Open rider Cooper Webb was proper fired up and ready to maintain the solid attack of the stars and stripes. Webb banked the €1000 Fox Holeshot cheque after leading Great Britain’s Dean Wilson and Team France’s Romain Febvre around turn one. Febvre didn’t waste much time in getting around Wilson, who was riding a pretty wide line, and went after Webb who had pulled a slight gap.
After ditching Wilson, the hillside erupted with excitement as the home rider went up the inside of Webb for the lead. Webb didn’t let it go and kept hot on the heels of the reigning MXGP world champion before tipping over while trying to change his line in an attempt to avoid a slower rider.
Webb’s fall took the heat off of Febvre but he didn’t lose a position and still came home for a solid second. Meanwhile the battle for third was raging as Team Belgium’s Jeremy Van Horebeek and the MX2 hotshots Marvin Musquin and Jeremy Martin crept up on Wilson and nudged him back to sixth.
Van Horebeek was setting a fierce pace but couldn’t hold off the wrath of the Frenchman who was egged on by the patriotic crowd. Musquin, with his creative line choice, put a super sweet inside to outside pass on Van Horebeek and pulled a five second gap for a comfortable third. Van Horebeek and Martin rounded out the top five.
Dean Ferris was caught up in the first lap crash and worked his way from 35th to 20th by lap six but the Aussie crashed again to drop back to 27th but he bounce back to 19th by moto end while Luke Clout started the race in 20th place before working his way up to 13th place.
Clout posted this on his FB page: ‘What a day, struggled first moto with my injuries and bike set up was way off, but got everything sorted for 2nd moto and got a 13th! Solid solid ride considering I’m racing 450s! Now the trip home’
Race 2 Results: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 35:38.570; 2. Cooper Webb (USA, Yamaha), +0:03.133; 3. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:10.889; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:15.384; 5. Jeremy Martin (USA, Yamaha), +0:19.463; 6. Dean Wilson (GBR, KTM), +0:40.540; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +1:05.159; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Kawasaki), +1:14.771; 9. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), +1:23.712; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:25.074. 13. Luke Clout (AUS, Yam). 19. Dean Ferris (AUS, Hus).
RACE 3 – MXGP & OPEN
With the crowd louder than the sound of the forty revved out 450’s, the gates dropped with Team Sweden’s Fillip Bengtsson and Team New Zealand’s Ben Townley going neck and neck around turn one. Chasing them was France’s young phenomenon Romain Febvre followed by Team Russia’s Evgeny Bobryshev and Team Belgium’s Ken De Dycker.
Throwing a spanner in the works, both of the race 1 and race 2 holeshotters, Team USA’s Justin Barcia and Cooper Webb, were buried while a hungry Febvre was taking no prisoners on his mission to the lead. He managed to out-drag Townley in a bar to bar sprint towards turn one and although he made the pass stick he couldn’t shake the Kiwi who chased him home for a mind-blowing second.
As the race ticked over half way Webb hit the turbo button and caught his teammate Barcia who was running sixth at the time. With team tactics coming into play, Barcia pulled over for his hauling teammate Webb but the youngster came undone three turns later when he stalled the bike. Knowing what was at stake; Barcia decided to give his turbo a tap and impressively passed Paulin and Bobryshev to come home in third. Bobryshev put in another great ride for fourth ahead of Paulin while Webb managed to get his bike fired up third kick and came home in sixth.
Dean Ferris was in good form sitting in fourth place until lap 10 when he was passed by Paulin and Barcia but it wasn’t long before the Aussie hit the deck not once but twice to finish back in 20th place while Waters started the race just inside the top 20 and managed to work his way up to a credible 12th place by moto end.
Here is what Waters posted on his FB page: ‘Like everyone I was looking for a positive end to the 2015 MXGP series. The second half of the championship hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped, so I really wanted a strong finish. Unfortunately I had an issue in the first race, which meant I wasn’t able to charge like I wanted to. I stalled the bike in one corner and things just didn’t come together. In the second moto I just didn’t have what I needed for a better result’
It was complete and utter pandemonium at the checkers as Febvre bought home for France with a perfect score in the open class. Paulin finished fourth overall in the MXGP class which combined with Musquin’s overall victory in MX2 saw Team France defend the Chamberlain Cup on home soil for the first time in their history.
“To come here with a lot of pressure from the crowd was something special and I have never had it before. I’m really pumped that we won again,” Febvre said. “To cross the line first at any time is always special but to win the Nations in France for sure it was the best experience.”
Gautier Paulin has this to say. “Just everything today was about fighting, just to try and take this title. We know that we are here and all the best riders of each country are racing, so to defend the title here in France in front of the crowd of Ernée, it’s amazing. They were reaching for us. It’s unbelievable the feeling we have when we ride, and even in the paddock. I definitely want to thank my teammates, Romain and Marvin, they did a great job.”
“Yeah, it’s huge,” said Musquin. “It was a bummer not to be picked on the French team (last year), but that’s the way it is. They pick the riders that race the GPs over here. But this year, Pascal, the team manager, he came over to America twice. And he could see that my program with Aldon Baker; we were doing good. So he picked me for the 250 class. I really wanted to do good. To be back on the French team for des Nations riding at Ernée in France, I didn’t want to disappoint anybody and I gave my best. I’m so happy for all those guys.”
Team USA came so close yet so far with Barcia winning the MXGP class while his teammates Martin and Webb finished second in their classes for the team to lose by only two points while Team Belgium made the best of a bad day to round off the podium in third.
“The Motocross of Nations is a one of a kind,” said Martin, second overall in MX2. “It is something you want to be a part of as a racer. I have never heard fans so crazy. When you were on a French rider then you knew it! I’ve never heard so many chainsaws in my life.”
“The fans are unbelievable,” commented Barcia. “When I was behind Marvin I could hear all the cheering and then when I came around in front of him I couldn’t hear anything. They kill it. It will be nice to have one of these races in the U.S. The fans will be pumped up.”
“We don’t have anything like that,” said Webb of the crowd and atmosphere. “I thought in Glen Helen the fans were good there but this was a whole new level. I knew when Romain was on me, for sure! It was extreme and you had to stay calm and push it aside but it was hard when everybody was so loud and behind their team.”
Race 3 Results: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 35:29.211; 2. Ben Townley (NZL, Honda), +0:03.179; 3. Justin Barcia (USA, Yamaha), +0:04.708; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:13.119; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:14.435; 6. Cooper Webb (USA, Yamaha), +0:15.539; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:39.713; 8. Dean Wilson (GBR, KTM), +0:45.383; 9. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:54.619; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:57.639. 12. Todd Waters (AUS, Hus). 20. Dean Ferris (AUS, Hus).
Motocross of Nations Top Ten: 1. France. 2. USA. 3. Belgium. 4. Estonia. 5. Switzerland. 6. The Netherlands. 7. Australia 8. New Zealand. 9. Germany. 10. Austria.
