They’ve done it again! Team USA, in what some might call an upset, successfully defended their Motocross of Nations title in an crowd-silencing performance. After a nail-biting day of racing, it came down to final final MX1/Open class moto, as it usually does, and just about everything that could happen, did happen. It really came down to three teams: Italy, France, and the U.S. of A. Since the teams get to drop a score at the end, it was actually quite difficult to predict any sort of outcome. But, when all was said and done, Ryan Dungey, Jake Weimer, and an veteran Ivan Tedesco held up the Chamberlain trophy alongside team manager Roger DeCoster. So, here is how it all went down at Autodromo di Franciacorta in Northern Italy…
MX1/MX2
On the world stage, 20 countries lined up for the first race of the 2009 Motocross of Nations. With the top gate pick and his home crowd cheering him on, Antonio Cairoli of Team Italy blasted out to an early lead with Australia’s Chad Reed right on his rear fender. Reed proceeded to chase Cairoli the entire moto in what he later said was “a really fun race.” Meanwhile, Spain’s Jonathan Barragan and USA’s Ryan Dungey moved in behind the two frontrunners. Dungey made relatively quick work of Barragan and ran the better part of the moto by himself; Cairoli and Reed had opened up a gap on the rest of the pack, and Dungey eventually dropped Barragan.
More than once, it looked as though Reed would make the pass on Cairoli, but the Italian Stallion held him off with an excellent ride of his own. Clement DeSalle of Belgium got around Barragan as well and bared down a Dungey late in the race, but the 250 Motocross National Champion held his ground and came away with the third-place finish.
RESULTS (Top 20)
1. Antonio Cairoli (FRA)
2. Chad Reed (AUS)
3. Ryan Dungey (USA)
4. Clement DeSalle (BEL)
5. Marvin Musquin (FRA)
6. Josh Coppins (NZL)
7. Tommy Searle (GBR)
8. Jake Weimer (USA)
9. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA)
10. Ken Roczen (GER)
11. Billy MacKenzie (GBR)
12. Jonathan Barragan (ESP)
13. Tyla Rattray (RSA)
14. Steven Frossard (FRA)
15. Joel Roelants (BEL)
16. Davide Guarneri (ITA)
17. Brett Metcalfe (AUS)
18. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN)
19. Rui Goncalves (POR)
20. Andreas Hultman (SWE)
PAGE 1 MX1 PAGE 2 MX2 PAGE 3 OPEN
TAGS: decoster, dirt bikes, Dungey, Franciacorta, Italy, motocross, Motocross of Nations, mx, MXon, Race Report, ryan, tedesco, USA, Weimer
