Photo By: KTM Images/Ray Archer – Charts: Steven Loyer – Words: Dan lamb
Last weekend, thirty-two motocross Nations converged in Belgium at the Lommel sand circuit for the 66th running of the Motocross of Nations. By now, most of you know that Team USA’s seven-year winning streak came to an end after Team Germany and Team Belgium took the top two spots on the box ahead of them. While Germany won their first-ever Motocross of Nations, it was Italy’s Antonio Cairoli, Jeffrey Herlings of the Netherlands and Germany’s Ken Roczen that dominated the lap time charts and all three classes. It was a virtual sand riding clinic put on by the Europeans.
The Europeans live near and train all year around at the Lommel circuit, so it was expected that Team USA would run into difficulties retaining the Chamberlain Trophy, but not many people expected their speed to be that inferior on the soft stuff. When you look at the times below, you will definitely scratch your heads wondering how any mortal could consistently go 5+ seconds a lap faster than our boys Ryan Dungey, Blake Baggett and Justin Barcia. It was incredible to watch the best sand riders in the world make it look easy, but being a proud American, I must admit it hurt.
In our lap time comparison graphs, we usually only show the top five finishers from each moto, but since Team USA only had one top five finish, we included them at the bottom of each moto’s chart.
Check out the top three recorded lap times from each class and the lap time comparison graphs below to see every lap time from all three motos. It is amazing to see the speed and consistency of Cairoli and Herlings over the course of 30+2 in the sand.
Fastest Laps MX1:
Antonio Cairoli: 1:54.699
Gautier Paulin: 1:54.800
Rui Goncalves: 1:57.534
Ryan Dungey 6th fastest: 1:58.777
Fastest Laps MX3:
Jeffrey Herlings: 1:55.720
Ken deDycker: 1:56.385
Justin Barcia: 1:57.672
Fastest Laps MX2:
Ken Roczen: 1:56.359
Jeremy vanHorebeek: 2:00.528
Blake Baggett: 2:01.918
For full 2012 MXoN results click here>>>
On the left of each graph, you will notice the lap times and the numbers on the bottom signifying each lap. Below that, we have the top riders in the order they finished and each lap time from the thirty minute plus two lap moto after their name. Also, note that each rider’s fastest lap is shaded in blue.
Click charts to view in full size and in a slide show
Moto 1 MX1/MX2 Combined – Click to view full size
Moto 2 MX2/Open Combined – Click to view full size
Moto 3 MX1/Open Combined – Click to view full size
