Here's the official press release from Youthstream. Pics by BdJ.
G
ermany makes history in Lommel In front of HRH Prince Philippe of Belgium and Duke of Brabant and 65000 spectators, Team Germany made history today in Lommel after winning the 66th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations for the first time in the history of the event. The home team gave all their best, but could only finish second and team USA was third.
There was no doubt that team Germany was the clear dominant of this year’s MXoN, all the riders obtained solid results and non of them made any mistake and stayed on two wheels in all the heats. Different to previous editions, Team Germany was at the top of the Nations classification after each heat, so that shows the consistency of the German riders. 
Team Belgium started the weekend determined to win the MXoN at home, as it was a unique opportunity for them, but in the end they had to settle down with the second position after scoring four points more than team Germany. Team USA made a superb effort to claim back the Chamberlain Trophy, but they all admitted that they had never ridden a track like Lommel, but their consistent results made them complete the top three of the 2012 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Jeffrey Herlings was outstanding in the sand, but he struggled more than expected after crashing at the start of the second heat with his teammate Marc De Reuver. In the end his 1-2 result helped Team the Netherlands to finish fourth in the Nations standings, followed by Team Italy, with the two victories of Antonio Cairoli and the great performance of Davide Guarneri.
Team France was third after the first and second races, but in the end they finished sixth, ahead of Team Estonia and Team Great Britain. Team Portugal and Team Australia completed the top ten.
Russia finished eleventh and obtained one of the best results in the history of the MXoN, thanks to the great performances of Evgeny Bobryshev and Alexander Tonkov. In fact, they could have finished higher up in the standings, if Bobryshev had not crashed in the final race when he was riding fifth. RACE 1 (MX1 & MX2)
Antonio Cairoli put Italy at the top of the MXoN right after the start of the first race and he succeeded in leading it until the chequered flag with more than twenty-one seconds difference with Paulin, who had a good start and managed to find a good rhythm to move up to second. The French rider was catching the Italian by the end of the
heat, but he made a mistake and he lost some time. On the other hand, Max Nagl was very satisfied with his performance after race one and he mentioned that he was not too tired to face the following heat. Home rider Clement Desalle and German Roczen exchanged the fourth position in the beginning of the race, but it was the Belgian who finished fourth and Roczen fifth. Evgeny Bobryshev was sixth and American Ryan Dungey made several mistakes during the race and he was only able to finish seventh. Tommy Searle did not have a good start, but he managed to finish eighth, ahead of Marc De Reuver, who had to race with some plastic stuck in his rear wheel most of the race, and Jeremy Van Horebeek.
Alessandro Lupino crashed in the first lap and he dislocated his shoulder, but fortunately the shoulder was relocated by itself and he could enter the following heat and helped team Italy to finish on the podium.
Race 1 top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:26.888; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.182; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:28.933; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:38.741; 5. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), +0:40.180; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:05.036; 7. Ryan Dungey (USA, KTM), +1:11.286; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:38.040; 9. Marc de Reuver (NED, Kawasaki), +1:42.851; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +1:44.824; Nations top ten: Germany, Belgium, France, USA, Russia, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Italy.
RACE 2 (MX2& OPEN)
In race two Jeffrey Herlings proved once more his talent on the sand by taking the holeshot and crossing the finish line with more than fifty-eight seconds difference with the second classified. However, his teammate crashed in the very beginning of the race and the handle bar of his KTM was so damaged that he could not continue in the race. Tanel Leok did an incredible race for Estonia, and after exchanging the third and the second position several times with De Dycker, the Estonian managed to pass the Belgian with two laps to go and he put his country in the fourth place of the Nations standings.
Ken Roczen rode second for a few laps, but the fact of racing against the bigger bikes made the German drop several positions and crossed the finish line fourth. Fifth was Italian Guarneri, who showed a great rhythm during the heat and he was even able to overtake Barcia and rode in front of the American for four laps. However, Barcia passed him back, but by the end of the heat, Barcia crashed and the Italian recuperated the fifth place. Blake Baggett did a solid race, starting down in the tenth position and crossing the finish line in sixth, ahead of German Marcus Schiffer and Australian Todd Waters. Max Anstie was only able to finish ninth in his first race, and Xavier Boog, who started down in the twenty-sixth position, made an incredible recovery and crossed the finish line tenth. His com
patriot Marvin Musquin, who had crashed in the first heat and hurt his knee, did a massive effort to finish eleventh and helped France to keep the third position on the podium after the race. American Barcia started at the front and rode second during a couple of laps, but he then crashed when trying to overtake De Dycker and he dropped down to the fifth position. The American was able to go back quickly on his Honda, but on the last lap he made a mistake and he finished fourteenth.
Home rider Van Horebeek was looking forward to doing well at the MXoN, but he left with a bittersweet feeling, as his KTM stopped in the first laps of the race and he could not finish the heat. Race 2 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:41.619; 2. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), +0:58.141; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +1:00.358; 4. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), +1:48.464; 5. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +2:27.689; 6. Blake Baggett (USA, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); 7. Marcus Schiffer (GER, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 8. Todd Waters (AUS, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 9. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), -1 lap(s); 10. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s);
Nations top ten: Germany, USA, France, Estonia, Belgium, The Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Great Britain, Australia.
RACE 3 (MX1 & OPEN)
Race three started with Germany at the front with 22 points advantage over USA and 23 points over France, so Nagl and Schiffer had only to go out and finish the race without making any mistakes. In the end, everything went well for the Germans, and while Nagl finished sixth, Schiffer crossed the finish line fourteenth and helped his country to write their name in the history of the sport. However, there was one clear winner in Race 3, Antonio Cairoli. The Italian was looking forward to racing against Herlings to prove his skills on the sand against the Dutch rider, but Herlings crashed at the start of the race, so Cairoli was able to lead the race comfortably until the finish line.
Although Herlings crashed in the first turn together with his teammate De Reuver, the Dutch did an incredible recovery, and after five laps he was already second. At that point of the race, Cairoli had already opened a big gap with the rest, so even if Herlings gave it all, the Dutch had to settle down with the second position, while his teammate finished seventeenth.
Barcia had a really good start in the third race and he rode a solid moto, crossing the finish line third, ahead of Estonian Leok and Belgian De Dycker, who struggled a lot during the final heat with some cramps on his legs. Nagl’s goal was to finish the race without mistakes and so he did finishing sixth ahead of Belgian Desalle and Paulin, whose compatriot got stuck behind a rider who crashed in front of him and could only finish sixteenth.
Dungey started the race in the second place behind his teammate, so their hopes were still alive, but the KTM rider had a big crash and he dropped down to the thirteenth position. In the end the American was able to finish the race in the ninth position, and Rui Gonçalves completed the top ten. Anstie and Searle handed Great Britain the eleventh and twelfth position in race 3 and helped their country to finish eighth in the Nations standings.
Cairoli (ITA) took the individual MX1 victory, Roczen (Germany) won the MX2 class for the third year in a row, and Herlings (NED) won the Open class. Tim Gajser (Slovenia) obtained the Ricky Carmichael award for being the youngest best-classified rider in this 66th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations.
Race 3 top ten: 1. Cairoli, Antonio (ITA, KTM), 35:00.015; 2. Herlings, Jeffrey (NED,KTM), 3.037; 3. Barcia, Justin (USA, HON), 57.823; 4. Leok, Tanel (EST, SUZ), 1:23.257; 5. De Dycker, Ken (BEL, KTM), 1:29.784; 6. Nagl, Maximilian (GER, KTM), 1:37.774; 7. Desalle, Clement (BEL, SUZ), 1:49.089; 8. Paulin, Gautier (FRA, KAW), 1:56.647; 9. Dungey, Ryan (USA, KTM), 2:00.599; 10. Goncalves, Rui (POR, HON), 2:08.575.
Nations top ten: Germany, Belgium, USA, The Netherlands, Italy, France, Estonia, Great Britain, Portugal, Australia.
MONSTER ENERGY FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS – QUICK FACTS
-Circuit length: 1645m
-Type of ground: deep sand
-Temperature: 24° C
-Weather conditions: sunny
-Crowd attendance during weekend: 65000
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.