Photo by: Honda

There is no greater motorsport race on Earth than the Motocross of Nations, and the 70th running of the event in Maggiora, Italy could go down in the history books as the greatest of them all. There have been some amazing MXoNs over the years, but never have we witnessed the drama we watched unfold over the weekend.

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Heading into Sunday in Maggiora, the big story was the abysmal qualifying effort from one of the race favorites on Saturday—Team USA qualified 15th—but the Americans quickly showed that they had put that behind them in the opening moto of the day. When the gate dropped on the 2016 MXoN with the MXGP and MX2 class combined, it was The Netherlands’ Glenn Coldenhoff grabbing the first holeshot of the day. Coldenhoff led for the first three laps before being passed by the Italian Antonio Cairoli, but the hometown hero was quickly reeled in and passed by the Frenchman Romain Febvre. From there it was all Romain. The former MXGP World Champ and defending MXGP class winner from a year ago ran away with the first moto of the day with Cairoli following him through in second.

Romain Febvre picked a great weekend to find his old form. Photo by: Chase Yocom
Romain Febvre picked a great weekend to find his old form. Photo by: Chase Yocom

Febvre and Cairoli rode their own race up front for the majority of the opening heat, but behind them was a long line of riders fighting to put their respective countries in a good position. The Belgians Kevin Strijbos (MXGP) and Jeremy vanHorebeek (MX2) started in ninth and eighth position and were on their way to the front. Strijbos and vanHorebeek both spent the opening moto moving forward with Strijbos crossing the line in third and vanHorebeek finished fifth behind American Cooper Webb. Team Belgium’s eight points put them in first place after the opening moto.

Like the Belgians, the two Team USA riders started moto one with bad starts, but their starts were on the miserable side of bad. Cooper rounded the first turn in 12th with Alex Martin buried down in 26th, and both of them were determined to erase their qualifying whoas from their legacies. By the conclusion of the thirty-minute plus two lap moto, Cooper had worked his way up from 12th to 4th, and A-Mart somehow made seventeen passes on a track every rider described as tough to pass on and finished 9th. Their 13-point score put the USA in second place just ahead of France. For France, Febvre’s win combined with Benoit Paturel‘s thirteenth place finish gave them 14 points and third overall heading into moto two.

Jeremy vanHorebeek might of been the surprise of the weekend in the MX2 class.
Jeremy vanHorebeek might of been the surprise of the weekend in the MX2 class.

Moto one had its own share of drama, but moto two had it all: an incredible battle for the win, a first time win from an MXoN rookie and a brutal plot twist after the finish line. It was a moto some will never forget and one the winner never got to celebrate and more than likely already forgot.

When the gate for moto two fell it was the American Jason Anderson showing everyone how to pull the holeshot from the 15th gate pick. Team USA put Anderson on the inside with his 450 Husqvarana and A-Mart on the outside with his 250 Yamaha, and Anderson thanked them with the holeshot. Anderson was followed by the Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus, The Netherlands’ Jeffrey Herlings and Team France’s Gautier Paulin, and for a few laps, it looked like Anderson might just sprint away.

That dream for the American fans was short-lived, because once Herlings got around Tonus, he quickly erased Anderson’s four-second gap and began hounding the MXoN rookie for the lead. For the next twenty minutes, Herlings tried everything to get around Anderson, but in the end, a Herlings crash let the man they call “El Hombre” off the hook. The crash gave Anderson a 14-second lead, and he easily cruised it home for his maiden MXoN moto win, but believe it or not, that is when disaster struck for Team USA.

A split second after this photo was snapped, that Honda 450 landed on Jason Anderson's head. Taking the USA's advantage away heading into moto 3. Photo by: Chase Yocom
A split second after this photo was snapped, that Honda 450 landed on Jason Anderson’s head. Taking the USA’s advantage away heading into moto 3. Photo by: Chase Yocom

As Anderson rolled the finish line with his arms extended over his head, a Team Japan lapper, Chihiro Notsuka, launched the finish line and ended the American’s celebration before it even began. The #59 Honda landed directly on the #6’s head, knocking him out and ending his MXoN debut early. It was a scary crash, but once awake, everything seemed to check out okay and Jason was taken to a local hospital to get checked out.

Behind the chaos, Herlings crossed the line with a secure second place finish for The Netherlands with Paulin, Tonus and Australia’s Dean Ferris rounding out the top five. After the moto, Team USA was now in the lead with a 23-point score, but with Anderson now out, Team USA would have to use his final moto as their throwaway score, and their hopes would rest solely on Webb to bring it home in moto three. Behind Team USA sat the French with 28 points, Team Switzerland with 36 and The Netherlands with 42. The leaders after moto one—Team Belgium—dropped way back due to Brent VanDonick‘s DNF. Belgian Jeremy vanHorebeek did lock down the MX2 individual overall win, though, on the merits of a 5-7 score.

Jeffrey Herlings was making his internation debut on the KTM 450. Photo by: Chase Yocom
Jeffrey Herlings was making his internation debut on the KTM 450. Photo by: Chase Yocom

What makes the Motocross of Nations so great is the myriad of factors that play into winning the event and how often it comes down to the last race of the day, but nobody expected the lead to change three times between three teams in the final two laps of the day. That’s exactly what happened in Maggiora yesterday.

When the dust cleared on the first turn of the final moto, Jeffrey Herlings and Glenn Coldenhoff immediately vaulted The Netherlands from a podium contender to a contender for the win with a first and fourth place start. At that moment, The Netherlands was vaulted into the lead on 27 points after dropping their worst score. The Netherlands came into the event an unlikely contender for the win, but nobody gave them that memo.

Behind Herlings, Antonio Cairoli knew the Italians were out of the overall hunt, but he was determined to give his home country something to celebrate. The former multi-time world champ made a few valiant runs at the young Dutchman and was the only rider that could keep him in sight, but in the end, it was a wire-to-wire win for the three-time and current MX2 champ. Herlings would finish the day with a moto win and the individual overall win in the Open class, and all he could do was hope it was enough for a solid overall finish.

At 31 years old Antonio Cairoli can still win the MXGP class at the biggest races in the world.  Photo by: Chase Yocom
At 31 years old Antonio Cairoli can still win the MXGP class at the biggest races in the world. Photo by: Chase Yocom

Quite a way back from Herlings and Cairoli, there was a war being waged for the overall win, and it would come down to the final lap of the day. Early in the race The Netherlands had the lead on the back of Herlings and Coldenhoff running first and fourth and Team France’s Febvre and Paulin running 9th and 11th, but when Webb made his way around Coldenhoff on lap ten, it was Team USA in control. With just eight laps remaining, it was USA on 27 points, The Netherlands on 28 points and the French on 31 points, but Febvre was on the charge.

By lap 12, you could cut the tension with a knife, and for the next four laps, Febvre was all over Webb for fifth as the two were pushing up to Great Britain’s Tommy Searle in fourth. Webb could allow Febvre go around, but if Febvre went on to pass Searle, France would then take the lead. With that, Webb could not afford to let the #1 pass, and in the end the pressure got the better of the American. With two laps to go, Webb fell over in the uphill banked corner, allowing Febvre around while he remounted way back in ninth.

Two days and three motos of racing all came down to these two world class competitors. Cooper Webb #4 and Romain Febvre #1 have battled two years in a row and so far the Frenchman has gotten the best of the American. Photo by: Chase Yocom
Two days and three motos of racing all came down to these two world class competitors. Cooper Webb #4 and Romain Febvre #1 have battled two years in a row and so far the Frenchman has gotten the best of the American. Photo by: Chase Yocom

When Webb fell, Coldenhoff moved up one position, giving the lead back to The Netherlands. Unfortunately for the very young Dutch team, Febvre was not done, and the #1 made an MXoN pass on Tommy Searle with just a half of a lap to go. The win would have been the first ever win for The Netherlands in the 70 years of the event, but instead, Febvre snatched his third-straight victory with a buzzer beater pass. With Febvre’s third and Paulin’s 11th, France finished the event with 29 points ahead of The Netherlands’ 30 points and Team USA’s 33 points. You often hear sports writers say things like “the greatest finish ever,” but it is all the hype of the moment. This time, though, I think we can honestly say that this was the greatest finish ever without a second thought.

In the end the French team stood on top of the world for the third straight year. Congrats gentlemen, you earned it.  Photo by: Chase Yocom
In the end the French team stood on top of the world for the third straight year. Congrats gentlemen, you earned it. Photo by: Chase Yocom

Check out the overall nation and moto results below.

2016 Motocross of Nation – Final Overall Nations Results – Results After Moto 1

1. France – 29 pts
2. The Netherlands – 30 pts
3. USA – 33 pts
4. Belgium – 36 pts
5. Italy – 44 pts
6. Switzerland – 44 pts
7. Great Britain – 73 pts
8. Australia – 76 pts
9. Estonia- 93 pts
10. Canada – 95 pts
11. Russia – 96 pts
12. Spain – 102 pts
13. Denmark – 102 pts
14. Austria – 137 pts
15. Czech Republic – 139 pts
16. Japan – 145 pts
17. Czech Republic – 139 pts
18. New Zealand – 140 pts
19. Lithuania – 158 pts
20. Ireland – DNF (only 2 riders)

MXGP / MX2 Combined Results – 2016 Motocross of Nations

Click Results to enlarge & view in Slideshow


MXGP / MX2 Combined Results - Moto 1 - 2016 Motocross of Nations - Click to Enlarge
MXGP / MX2 Combined Results – Moto 1 – 2016 Motocross of Nations – Click to Enlarge

MX2 / Open Combined Results – 2016 Motocross of Nations

Click Results to enlarge & view in Slideshow

Open/ MX2 Combined Results - Moto 2 - 2016 Motocross of Nations - Click to EnlargeClick Results to enlarge & view in Slideshow
Open/ MX2 Combined Results – Moto 2 – 2016 Motocross of Nations – Click to EnlargeClick Results to enlarge & view in Slideshow

MXGP / Open Combined Results – 2016 Motocross of Nations

Click Results to enlarge & view in Slideshow

Open/ MXGP Combined Results – Moto 3 – 2016 Motocross of Nations – Click to Enlarge


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Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.