It’s been a wet few days at the RedBud Motocross of Nations, and as expected, the Brits don’t mind. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXThere was also a strong contingent of people dressed in Old Glory. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXWe found out that if you convince an Icelander to do something, they commit. This cooler top didn’t function well as a toboggan. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXTeam Puerto Rico manager/coach Ricky Johnson giving advice to Team Puerto Rico’s Travis Pastrana. There are eight National Championships and five Motocross of Nations wins between these two, but the bulk of them belong to RJ. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COX“Makes sense, huh?” PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXPastrana has been elevating his right leg (knee) between times on his bike. It’s very swollen. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXTeam Puerto Rico’s Kevin Windham spent much of his early afternoon today signing autographs. Puerto Rico qualified outside the top 19, so they must race the B Main tomorrow for a chance to get in. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXGEICO Honda’s new hire Hunter Lawrence was on the gas on Saturday at RedBud as part of Team Australia. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXAt the start of the first qualifier, for the MXGP class, Team Italy’s Antonio Cairoli (19) and Team Switzerland’s Valentin Guillod (13) nearly got into each other as Team Germany’s Ken Roczen (58) and Team France’s Gautier Paulin (1) attempt to capitalize. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXIn the MXGP qualifier, Team Netherlands’ Jeffrey Herlings (4) and Team Belgium’s Clement Desalle (10) practice their synchronized remounting after going down in the first turn. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXCairoli raced away with the MXGP qualifier victory. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXTeam Great Britain’s Tommy Searle grabbed a top-five in the MXGP qualifier. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXRemarkably, Herlings raced his way all the way back up to third place in the 20-minute MXGP qualifier after his first-turn fall. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXTeam USA’s Eli Tomac was running fifth past the halfway point of the MXGP qualifier when something happened and his motorcycle quit on him. He scored a DNF, which would be Team USA’s throwaway moto score for the day. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXHerlings was on rails. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXIn the MX2 qualifier, Team France’s Dylan Ferrandis (farthest from the camera) seemed to get the jump over Team USA’s Aaron Plessinger (this side of Ferrandis) but it was actually Plessinger who fought his way into the lead in the opening few laps. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXPlessinger led the MX2 qualifier until he went down past the halfway point. He ended up 11th in the moto. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXFerrandis (2) had to hold off a very game Hunter Lawrence from Team Australia for the final few laps of the MX2 qualifier. Ferrandis ended up winning over Lawrence and early leader Henry Jacobi of Team Germany. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXTravis Pastrana (51) opted not to take his sighting lap before the Open-class qualifier. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXPastrana was actually very racy in the early part of the Open qualifier on his RM250, battling inside the top-15 early in the moto before going down late in the race and scoring a DNF. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXWith a DNF from Eli Tomac and an 11th from Aaron Plessinger, Justin Barcia had to perform in the Open qualifier for Team USA to have a decent gate pick tomorrow. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXAlthough Barcia (27) wasn’t out front down the start straight, he sat second by the end of the first lap. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXNetherlands’ Glenn Coldenhoff led every lap of the Open qualifier. His team qualified first overall on the strength of Coldenhoff’s win and Herlings’ third place in the MXGP qualifier. The Netherlands has never won the Motocross of Nations. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXBarcia did his job for Team USA, scoring second in the Open qualifier to salvage a 9th-place overall qualifying effort for his team. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COXThere is less rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so the track may get better as the day goes on. The qualifying/gate-pick order is: The Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, Great Britain, Switzerland, USA, Sweden, Canada, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Brazil for the top 15. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COX
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