MXGP World champ Romain Febvre won the Open qualifying moto but again had to do it through Cooper Webb. Photography by David Bulmer.
While Saturday is “only” qualifying day at the Motocross of Nations, it still provides a good insight into things that might unfold for Sunday’s races in Ernee, France.
In the morning they hold a random draw which decides the gate pick for the qualifying races, with Great Britain having their only good luck of the day by drawing first gate pick. The French had sixth gate pick while USA had to wait until the 26th position before they were drawn. This obviously put them at a disadvantage going into the races but they soon showed in the practice session that lap times wouldn’t be a problem, as Justin Barcia, Jeremy Martin and Cooper Webb went 3-2-6 in their classes respectively. This was behind the French trio that went 2-1-1 who all looked extremely confident, cheered on by loud, partisan home crowd.
Of course that was just practice, a chance to give the fans to warm up their chainsaws, car engines and air horns for the races in the afternoon and boy did they ramp up the volume as the French team won all three of the class races to take first gate for the all important motos tomorrow.
In the MXGP class, Ben Townley rolled back the years to take the holeshot with Ken de Dycker and Gautier Paulin in close pursuit. Justin Barcia had a decent start but could only make his way to sixth after the first lap. Slowly but surely Paulin reeled in first de Dycker and then Townley, much to the delight of the vocal French supporters who were going absolutely crazy for the number-one plated rider. He ended up winning by quite a large margin although Townley will be delighted to have finished in second place. Third place was Justin Barcia who slowly but surely worked his way through the field, taking advantage of any mistakes by his rivals who struggled with back-markers. It was a solid performance and exactly what was needed by the team to start off their qualifying results.
MXGP RESULTS
1. Gautier Paulin – Franch
2. Ben Townley – New Zealand
3. Justin Barcia – USA
4. Max Nagl – Germany
5. Ken de Dycker – Belgium
(Left to right) Team manager Roger DeCoster, Cooper Webb, Jeremy Martin and Justin Barcia look good in qualifying but the powerful French team, urged on by the partisan crowd, are going to be tough to beat. Photography by David Bulmer
Much to the delight of the home crowd, Marvin Musquin ripped off a holeshot and never looked back in the MX2 qualifier. Jeremy Martin had a great start, lining up right on the far outside of the gate but ended up rounding the first corner in second place. It was a ballsy maneuver but one that paid off as the two were well clear after just half a lap. They were unfortunately aided by a horrendous crash as Max Anstie (who was in third at the time) stalled at the top of the big downhill triple. As he was kickstarting his bike, rolling down the hill, he was landed on by Pascal Rauchenecker who amazingly didn’t crash himself. Anstie rag-dolled through an advertising boarding before coming to a halt halfway down the slope where he was immediately attended to by physicians. This unfortunately rules Great Britain out of trophy contention but they still made the main event. Musquin ended up four seconds ahead of Martin with Jeremy Seewer having a great ride for Swizterland in third place almost a minute down on the Frenchman.
MX2 RESULTS
1. Marvin Musquin – France
2. Jeremy Martin – USA
3. Jeremy Seewer – Switzerland
4. Pascal Rauchenecker – Austria
5. Julien Lieber – Belgium
Justin Barcia worked his way up to third in the MXGP qualifier. Photography by David Bulmer
Proving the outside gate was no fluke, Cooper Webb swept around the outside and came out with the lead after the first turn. Dean Ferris was in third place for Australia with Romain Febvre quickly moving into fifth. Tim Gajser was pressuring Webb in second place but crashed on the first lap on the downhill, giving the young American some breathing space, as Ferris held up the Frenchman for a couple of laps. Soon though the pressure was too much and Febvre swept through, setting his sights on the Webb, who he’d battled with a week earlier at Glen Helen. In didn’t take long before Febvre was onto the back wheel of Webb, with the two playing a high speed game of cat and mouse. Webb tried his hardest to keep the MXGP champ behind him but eventually he gave in, settling for another American second place, which secures the second gate pick. Behind those two, Jeremy van Horebeek came through the pack well to give Belgian fans some hope of another podium spot in what has been an injury hit year for the Red Knights.
OPEN RESULTS
1. Romain Febvre – France
2. Cooper Webb – USA
3. Jeremy van Horebeek – Belgium
4. Glenn Coldenhoff – Netherlands
5. Dean Wilson – Great Britain
They are all fighting for this—the Peter Chamberlain Trophy. Photography by David Bulmer
Overall though it was France’s day, sweeping the three classes in comfortable fashion. America can be extremely pleased with their effort after drawing the 26th gate pick, knowing that tomorrow is a new day. All three riders look comfortable and with a day of riding under their belts they’ll be confident they can go even better in Sunday’s main events. It’ll be interesting to see what strategy they employ where they line up on the gate, and who gets the “better” pick, and it’s these decisions which could prove crucial. If anything, the results from today will have put even more pressure on the home team and if they don’t get off the gate well, the monumental crowd support could work against them.
Nations Qualification (two best results)
1. France – 2 pts
2. USA – 4pts
3. Belgium – 8pts
4. Germany – 10pts
5. New Zealand – 10pts
