With both Team Australia members Brett Metcalfe and Chad Reed racing full time in the US, most of the mechanics and technicians on the team were American’s.
For the past few years, Team Australia has always had a very strong team at the Motocross of Nations. This year, though, things finally came together for the team with Chad Reed winning a moto and Brett Metcalfe turning in some excellent rides in both his motos. In the final MX2 moto of the day, however, MX2 rider Matt Moss suffered bike problems and was unable to start the race. Needless to say, the team used his score as the throwaway to land themselves on the podium for the first time ever.
If there is one thing that the MXoN does, it always brings rivals together and everything that they battled over during the regular AMA series is left at home. Following their dominating 1-2 performance in the final race of the day, Villopoto and Dungey hugged it out after crossing the finish line. On the last lap, Villopoto had a huge lead, but slowed down dramatically to let Dungey catch up so the two could cross the line together and take the overall win for Team USA.
Reed’s first every MXoN experience came 11 years ago at the Saint Jean d’Angely facility, making it fitting that he won the first moto of the day in the first MXoN at the track since 2000.
For the seventh year in a row, Team USA has come out on top. For the past three years, though, it hasn’t been easy, and just like it did at Saint Jean d’Angely, the overall team win has been decided in the final moto of the day. Heading into the last race, Team USA had to go 1-2 in order to take the win away from Team France.
