France edged out the U.S. in what was a close battle right down to the very end. Photography by David Bulmer
After three extremely tight and tense motos, Team France ended up victorious over Team USA by just two points. Going into the final race the teams were tied (if you already threw away one of the scores) so basically it came down to a straight dogfight with the two powerhouse nations. For the Americans it was Justin Barcia (who won the first moto) and Cooper Webb while France had Romain Febvre and Gautier Paulin, and when the two pairs of riders lined up next to each other everyone knew sparks would fly.
In the end it was the French duo who got off the gate a lot better than their American counterparts and it was this that proved crucial as Barcia and Webb just couldn’t make up the gap in the 30-minute plus two lap moto. Febvre continued his excellent season by winning this moto (after also winning race two), while Gautier Paulin gutted out a fifth place which he knew was enough to secure victory, even though Barcia passed him near the end.
It proved an exciting finale to what was a crazy event as a record numbers of fans streamed on the hillside opposite the track. Exact numbers haven’t been released yet but the huge support that the French riders received played a massive part in their success and each rider made a point of mentioning that in the post-race press conference.
Team USA is obviously disappointed that they failed to bring back the Chamberlain trophy for a fourth year in a row, but felt that left everything out on the track and couldn’t have done much more, with Roger DeCoster pointing out Marvin Musquin’s inspired effort as the key factor.
In third place was Belgium who continued their amazing podium streak despite fielding what was definitely their B team. They ended up just edging out Estonia on what was an extremely high number of points for a podium spot as lots of other nations struggled to lay down five good scores.
The event now heads to Maggiora in Italy for 2016 and they have a tough act to follow as this will go down as one of the best ever, both in terms of attendance and drama on the track.
Motocross Of Nations 2015
RESULTS: September 27, 2015
Ernee, France
Race 1 – MXGP / MX2
1. Justin Barcia – USA
2. Evgeny Bobryshev – Russia
3. Max Nagl – Germany
4. Marvin Musquin – France
5. Jeremy Martin – USA
6. Ben Townley – New Zealand
7. Gautier Paulin – France
Race 2 – MX2 / Open
1. Romain Febvre – France
2. Cooper Webb – USA
3. Marvin Musquin – France
4. Jeremy van Horebeek – Belgium
5. Jeremy Martin – USA
Race 3 – MXGP / Open
1. Romain Febvre – France
2. Ben Townley – New Zealand
3. Justin Barcia – USA
4. Evgeny Bobryshev – Russia
5. Gautier Paulin – France
6. Cooper Webb – USA
Nations Overall
1. France – 14pts – 1,1,3,4,5
2. USA – 16pts – 1,2,3,5,5
3. Belgium – 56pts – 4,7,9,12,24
4. Estonia – 66pts – 8,12,15,15,16
5. Switzerland – 67pts – 9,10,10,14,24
