2012 Motocross des Nations

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2013)

The 2012 Motocross des Nations was a motocross race held on 29 September and 30 September 2012 in Lommel, Belgium.

Preview[]

For the first time in the last few years it looked as though the deep and energy-sapping sands of Lommel may offer up a chance for the European teams to un-seat the United States and end their 7-year winning streak. The Americans entered as reigning champions, but had three riders who had never experienced this sort of sand before. 2012 AMA MX1 Champion, Ryan Dungey led the charge and had been rarely beaten throughout the American season. , 2012 AMA MX2 champion and Justin Barcia had shown great speed throughout the season, whilst battling each other for the American MX2 crown.

The home team Belgium had three riders who were looking in great form, and most importantly for this event, consistent. Clement Desalle had had an injury free season and was the only real challenger to Tony Cairoli throughout the GP season. The same could be said of MX2 rider Jeremy van Horebeek, who finished in third place in the MX2 Grand Prix and was in his last year riding a 250cc machine before moving up to the MX1 class for 2013. The final member of the team had been picked up by KTM in 2012 to stand in for the injured Max Nagl, he stayed with the manufacturer once Nagl had returned and had played second fiddle to his world champion teammate Tony Cairoli throughout much of the season, when it looked as though he had the speed to beat him.

Cairoli himself had won yet another world title, mostly un-opposed, and led the Italian team which contained, Husqvarna factory rider and mid-pack MX2 runner Alessandro Lupino and Marchetti KTM MX1 racer . Neither could be described as sand riders though.

The MX2 world champion Jeffrey Herlings had an outside chance of taking to the top-step of the podium, but would have to carry potentially bad results from British Championship MX1 rider and fellow MX2 grand prix star Glenn Coldenhoff.

Germany had turned out their strongest team for some years. Max Nagl had spent the majority of the season out injured but came back with a bang in the final few rounds of the year. Ken Roczen had come back from a tough debut year in the United States, but had been picking up form and was capable of top 10 MX1 grand prix pace.

Last year's runners up France had a full strength team but weren't great in such deep sand, the same could be said for Great Britain.

Australia finished third in 2011, but where stricken by injuries to both Chad Reed and , along with MX2 GP runner . This years team consisted wholly of Australian Championship riders, and no-one knew how they would cope.

Injuries were a problem for many other teams. South Africa weren't expected to do as well as last year as they'd lost both Tyla Rattray and . Spain had lost number 1 rider Jonathan Barragan, Japan had lost both and Akira Narita, Finland legend had retired and Austria had lost both and .

For New Zealand legend and former MX1 world championship runner up Joshua Coppins this would be his last professional event before retirement.

Mongolia were scheduled to return to the MXDN but canceled at the last minute because of logistical reasons. An under-strength Brazil side were flown out to replace them but it was a team without any of its countries top 5 riders.

Entry List[]

The entry list is taken from the official Motocross World Championship website.^[1]

	Country	Nr	Rider	Class	Motorcycle
1	United States	1	Ryan Dungey	MX1	KTM 450
		2		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		3	Justin Barcia	Open	Honda 450
2	France	4	Gautier Paulin	MX1	Kawasaki 450
		5	Marvin Musquin	MX2	KTM 250
		6		Open	Kawasaki 450
3	Australia	7		MX1	Yamaha 450
		8		MX2	Yamaha 250
		9		Open	Suzuki 450
4	United Kingdom	10	Tommy Searle	MX1	Kawasaki 450
		11		MX2	KTM 250
		12		Open	Honda 250
5	Belgium	13	Clement Desalle	MX1	Suzuki 450
		14	Jeremy Van Horebeek	MX2	KTM 250
		15	Ken De Dycker	Open	KTM 450
6	South Africa	16		MX1	Yamaha 450
		17		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		18		Open	Honda 450
7	Germany	19	Maximilian Nagl	MX1	KTM 450
		20	Ken Roczen	MX2	KTM 250
		21		Open	Suzuki 450
8	Spain	22		MX1	Suzuki 450
		23		MX2	KTM 250
		24	Alvaro Lozano	Open	Honda 450
9	Netherlands	25		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		26	Glenn Coldenhoff	MX2	KTM 250
		27	Jeffrey Herlings	Open	KTM 250
10	Estonia	28		MX1	Honda 450
		29		MX2	KTM 250
		30	Tanel Leok	Open	Suzuki 450
11	Portugal	31		MX1	Honda 450
		32		MX2	Honda 250
		33		Open	Yamaha 450
12	Switzerland	34	Arnaud Tonus	MX1	Yamaha 450
		35	Jeremy Seewer	MX2	Suzuki 250
		36		Open	KTM 250
13	Japan	37		MX1	Honda 450
		38		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		39		Open	Suzuki 450
14	Czech Republic	40		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		41		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		42		Open	KTM 450
15	Russia	43		MX1	Honda 450
		44		MX2	Honda 250
		45		Open	Suzuki 450
16	Italy	46	Tony Cairoli	MX1	KTM 450
		47	Alessandro Lupino	MX2	Husqvarna 250
		48		Open	KTM 450
17	Finland	49		MX1	Honda 450
		50		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		51		Open	Kawasaki 450
18	Denmark	52	Nicolai Hansen	MX1	Suzuki 450
		53		MX2	Suzuki 250
		54		Open	Kawasaki 450
19	Ireland	55		MX1	Suzuki 450
		56		MX2	Yamaha 250
		57		Open	Suzuki 250
20	Austria	58		MX1	KTM 450
		59		MX2	KTM 250
		60		Open	KTM 450
21	Sweden	61		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		62	Karl Olsson	MX2	Honda 250
		63		Open	KTM 250
22	Latvia	64		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		65		MX2	Honda 250
		66		Open	Honda 450
23	Slovenia	67		MX1	Suzuki 450
		68	Tim Gajser	MX2	KTM 250
		69	Klemen Gercar	Open	Honda 450
24	Puerto Rico	70		MX1	Yamaha 450
		71	Zach Osborne	MX2	Yamaha 250
		72		Open	Kawasaki 450
25	Venezuela	73		MX1	Yamaha 450
		74	Hector Rodriguez	MX2	Yamaha 250
		75		Open	Honda 450
26	Norway	76		MX1	Honda 450
		77		MX2	KTM 250
		78		Open	KTM 250
27	Brazil	79		MX1	Yamaha 450
		80		MX2	Yamaha 250
		81		Open	Yamaha 450
28	New Zealand	85	Joshua Coppins	MX1	Yamaha 450
		86		MX2	KTM 250
		87		Open	Suzuki 450
29	Lithuania	91		MX1	Suzuki 450
		92		MX2	Kawasaki 250
		93		Open	Honda 450
30	Iceland	94		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		95		MX2	KTM 250
		96		Open	Honda 450
31	Greece	97		MX1	Honda 450
		98		MX2	Yamaha 250
		99		Open	KTM 450
32	Thailand	100		MX1	Honda 450
		101		MX2	Yamaha 250
		102		Open	Yamaha 450
33	Hungary	124		MX1	Kawasaki 450
		125		MX2	Yamaha 250
		126		Open	KTM 450
34	Mongolia	127		MX1
		128	E Munkhbolor	MX2
		129		Open

Note 1: Mongolia did not participate.

Qualifying[]

Qualified Countries[]

Pos	Country	Points
1	Germany	3
2	Belgium	4
3	Italy	6
4	Netherlands	7
5	France	8
6	Great Britain	9
7	United States	9
8	Estonia	12
9	Russia	12
10	Australia	14
11	Portugal	17
12	Denmark	23
13	Sweden	25
14	Ireland	25
15	Finland	26
16	Latvia	27
17	Switzerland	28
18	Norway	29
19	Slovenia	30

Countries admitted to the B Final[]

Pos	Country	Points
20	New Zealand	31
21	Czech Republic	32
22	Spain	33
23	Austria	38
24	Puerto Rico	41
25	Japan	43
26	Brazil	43
27	South Africa	44
28	Lithuania	47
29	Iceland	51
30	Greece	53
31	Venezuela	54
32	Hungary	60

Non-Qualified Countries[]

Pos	Country	Points
33	Thailand	61

B Final[]

Pos	Country	Points
1	New Zealand1	3
2	Czech republic	12
3	Lithuania	23
4	Puerto Rico	23
5	Austria	24
6	Spain	25
7	Japan	26
8	South Africa	26
9	Hungary	30
10	Venezuela	31
11	Iceland	40
12	Greece	49
13	Brazil	52

Note 1: New Zealand won the B final which meant they qualified for the main races.

Race[]

Pos	Country	Riders	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Points
1	Germany	Maximilian Nagl	3		6	25
		Ken Roczen	5	4
				7	(14)
2	Belgium	Clement Desalle	4		7	29
		Jeremy van Horebeek	10	(38)
		Ken De Dycker		3	5
3	United States	Ryan Dungey	7		9	39
			(14)	6
		Justin Barcia		14	3
4	Netherlands		9		17	44
		Glenn Coldenhoff	15	(39)
		Jeffrey Herlings		1	2
5	Italy	Tony Cairoli	1		1	45
		Alessandro Lupino	(37)	25
				5	13
6	France	Gautier Paulin	2		8	47
		Marvin Musquin	(19)	11
				10	16
7	Estonia		17		18	56
			(20)	15
		Tanel Leok		2	4
8	Great Britain	Tommy Searle	8		12	56
			16	(36)
				9	11
9	Portugal		12		10	80
			(33)	21
				13	24
10	Australia		21		19	83
			(26)	20
				8	15
11	Russia		6		(33)	93
			18	12
				31	26
12	Sweden		24		23	103
		Karl Olsson	(32)	18
				16	22
13	Ireland		13		21	106
			23	22
				27	(30)
14	Latvia		(28)		28	120
			22	24
				26	20
15	New Zealand	Joshua Coppins	11		34	127
			(34)	33
				17	32
16	Slovenia	134
17	Norway	151
18	Denmark	119
19	Switzerland	129
20	Finland	97

Note 1: Denmark and Switzerland both lost one rider through injury and Finland lost two, their scores are placed differently from the rest of the field who lost no riders.

References[]