MXoN – Saturday?

As I see it, there are seven teams with three solid riders in this year’s Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. Defending champions France, Great Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and USA all have a serious shot at victory. Don’t be surprised if four or five teams are in contention as the racing comes to a close on Sunday afternoon.

Anything can happen in the MXoN, as we have seen many times in the past. As always we give how we think the Saturday qualification races might finish, and if our prediction is anything like what it will be, then its Team Great Britain who have a slight advantage over many of the others.

I have given the home team 4-2-5 results in the MXGP, MX2 and Open classes. In total they score 11 points on the Saturday from the three motos. I had France second with 13 points, as they go 2-9-2, but Christophe Charlier might find it tough in the MX2 class, fortunately the depth in the MX2 class isn’t really deep, and with some luck he might get even closer to the front. Come Sunday it might be another story though.

Third in my list for the Saturday races are the Belgians, with 14 points. They go 6-5-3 in my books, but both Van Horebeek and Strijbos are often good at the MXoN, so don’t be surprised to see them arrive as the pole sitters come Sunday morning.

Team USA, with their young team are fourth in my opinion, with 10-1-4, but that tenth place by Seely is just a guess, as I haven’t seen him race before, he was handled easily by Herlings and Ferris when they raced, so it’s hard to place him too close to the front guys. Will the MXoN rookie be able to deal with the pressure and tough MXGP riders? I have my doubts, thus a 10^th in his class. I might end up with egg on my face though. Team USA scored 15 points in my tally.

Other teams to do well are Team Netherlands with 7-8-1, Team Australia with 5-3-8, with both teams on 16 points. I really think the Aussies will surprise a lot of people, and Team Holland could also finish much higher in MXGP and MX2 with both Coldenhoff and Bogers in good form at the moment. Herlings in the Open class should be the king of the weekend.

My final team that has three strong candidates are Switzerland, with 8-7-6 results and 21 points.

Of course with the worst result thrown out on Saturday, France look the strongest, but Sunday Charlier will need to do something special. Sunday it will be about the most solid team winning, and in my opinion, that could be Team Great Britain, or Team Netherlands.

MXGP

MXGP is always the toughest class, and this year is no different, with 11 GP winners in this class. It will be hard to go past Antonio Cairoli winning this class, but Gautier Paulin and Tim Gajser won’t be making it easy for him.

If I had to pick my top ten from this class I would go Cairoli, Paulin, Gajser, Anstie, Ferris, Van Horebeek, Coldenhoff, Tonus, Nagl, and Seely 10^th.

Contenders: Paulin, Coldenhoff, Seely, Van Horebeek, Cairoli, Tonus, Anstie, Ferris, Ratsep, Facciotti, Bobryshev, Butron, Bengtsson, Starling, Larsen, Neugebauer, Cooper, Edmunds, Goncalves, Nagl, Gajser

MX2

MX2 is a little thin on the ground in my opinion, but there are five guys who could be important for their nation. I would go with Osborne winning it from Searle, Lawrence, Olsen, Lieber, Prado, Giullod, Bogers, Charlier, and Sanayei 10^th.

Contenders: Charlier, Bogers, Osborne, Lieber, Cervellin, Guillod, Searle, Lawrence, Kullas, Prado, Ostlund, Olsen, Natzke, Barr, Jacobi, Sanayei, Savaste

Open

Open class has some big guns, and Herlings is hard to go past on his current form. Herlings, Febvre, Strijbos, Covington, Wilson, Seewer, Irwin, Gibbs, Leok, and Lupino 10^th.

Contenders: Febvre, Herlings, Covington, Strijbos, Lupino, Seewer, Wilson, Gibbs, Leok, Noren, Irwin, Ulrich, Bradshaw, Weltin, Haavisto

Saturday Qualification (our tips)

1. Team Great Britain 11pts
2. Team France 13pts
3. Team Belgium 14pts
4. Team USA 15pts
5. Team Netherlands 16pts
6. Team Australia 16pts
7. Team Switzerlands 21pts