2012 Motocross des Nations


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. Blake Baggett, 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 Ken de Dycker 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 Davide Guarneri. 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 Marc de Reuver 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 Markus Schiffer 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 Brett Metcalfe, along with MX2 GP runner Dean Ferris. 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 Gareth Swanepoel. Spain had lost number 1 rider Jonathan Barragan, Japan had lost both Yoshitaka Atsuta and Akira Narita, Finland legend Antti Pyrhonen had retired and Austria had lost both Pascal Raucheneker and Gunter Schmidiger.
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.
CountryNrRiderClassMotorcycle
1 United States1Ryan DungeyMX1KTM 450
1 United States2Blake BaggettMX2Kawasaki 250
1 United States3Justin BarciaOpenHonda 450
2 France4Gautier PaulinMX1Kawasaki 450
2 France5Marvin MusquinMX2KTM 250
2 France6Xavier BoogOpenKawasaki 450
3 Australia7Lawson BoppingMX1Yamaha 450
3 Australia8Luke StykeMX2Yamaha 250
3 Australia9Todd WatersOpenSuzuki 450
4 United Kingdom10Tommy SearleMX1Kawasaki 450
4 United Kingdom11Jake NichollsMX2KTM 250
4 United Kingdom12Max AnstieOpenHonda 250
5 Belgium13Clement DesalleMX1Suzuki 450
5 Belgium14Jeremy Van HorebeekMX2KTM 250
5 Belgium15Ken De DyckerOpenKTM 450
6 South Africa16Richard van der WesthuizenMX1Yamaha 450
6 South Africa17Shannon TerreblanceMX2Kawasaki 250
6 South Africa18Neville BradshawOpenHonda 450
7 Germany19Maximilian NaglMX1KTM 450
7 Germany20Ken RoczenMX2KTM 250
7 Germany21Marcus SchifferOpenSuzuki 450
8 Spain22Joan CrosMX1Suzuki 450
8 Spain23Jose ButronMX2KTM 250
8 Spain24Alvaro LozanoOpenHonda 450
9 Netherlands25Marc de ReuverMX1Kawasaki 450
9 Netherlands26Glenn ColdenhoffMX2KTM 250
9 Netherlands27Jeffrey HerlingsOpenKTM 250
10 Estonia28Gert KrestinovMX1Honda 450
10 Estonia29Priit RatsepMX2KTM 250
10 Estonia30Tanel LeokOpenSuzuki 450
11 Portugal31Rui GonçalvesMX1Honda 450
11 Portugal32Paulo AlbertoMX2Honda 250
11 Portugal33Luis CorreiaOpenYamaha 450
12 Switzerland34Arnaud TonusMX1Yamaha 450
12 Switzerland35Jeremy SeewerMX2Suzuki 250
12 Switzerland36Valentin GuillodOpenKTM 250
13 Japan37Makoto OgataMX1Honda 450
13 Japan38Junya TakenakaMX2Kawasaki 250
13 Japan39Yohei KojimaOpenSuzuki 450
14 Czech Republic40Filip NeugebauerMX1Kawasaki 450
14 Czech Republic41Milan SpicakMX2Kawasaki 250
14 Czech Republic42Martin MichekOpenKTM 450
15 Russia43Evgeny BobryshevMX1Honda 450
15 Russia44Aleksandr TonkovMX2Honda 250
15 Russia45Evgeny MikhaylovOpenSuzuki 450
16 Italy46Tony CairoliMX1KTM 450
16 Italy47Alessandro LupinoMX2Husqvarna 250
16 Italy48Davide GuarneriOpenKTM 450
17 Finland49Ludvig SöderbergMX1Honda 450
17 Finland50Teemu LehtinenMX2Kawasaki 250
17 Finland51Niko KoskelaOpenKawasaki 450
18 Denmark52Nicolai HansenMX1Suzuki 450
18 Denmark53Stefan Kjer OlsenMX2Suzuki 250
18 Denmark54Kasper LynggaardOpenKawasaki 450
19 Ireland55Martin BarrMX1Suzuki 450
19 Ireland56Graeme IrwinMX2Yamaha 250
19 Ireland57Stuart EdmondsOpenSuzuki 250
20 Austria58Marco SchöglerMX1KTM 450
20 Austria59Lukas NeurauterMX2KTM 250
20 Austria60Mattias WalknerOpenKTM 450
21 Sweden61Kim LindströmMX1Kawasaki 450
21 Sweden62Karl OlssonMX2Honda 250
21 Sweden63Filip BengtssonOpenKTM 250
22 Latvia64Davis IvanovsMX1Kawasaki 450
22 Latvia65Roberts JustsMX2Honda 250
22 Latvia66Lauris FreibergsOpenHonda 450
23 Slovenia67Matevz IrtMX1Suzuki 450
23 Slovenia68Tim GajserMX2KTM 250
23 Slovenia69Klemen GercarOpenHonda 450
24 Puerto Rico70Gino AponteMX1Yamaha 450
24 Puerto Rico71Zach OsborneMX2Yamaha 250
24 Puerto Rico72Kyle ChisholmOpenKawasaki 450
25 Venezuela73Carlos BadialiMX1Yamaha 450
25 Venezuela74Hector RodriguezMX2Yamaha 250
25 Venezuela75Humberto MartinOpenHonda 450
26 Norway76Kim Oiva JarvaMX1Honda 450
26 Norway77Even HeibyeMX2KTM 250
26 Norway78Magne KlingsheimOpenKTM 250
27 Brazil79Gabriel GentilMX1Yamaha 450
27 Brazil80Rafael Silva FariaMX2Yamaha 250
27 Brazil81Marcal MüllerOpenYamaha 450
28 New Zealand85Joshua CoppinsMX1Yamaha 450
28 New Zealand86Kayne LamontMX2KTM 250
28 New Zealand87Cody CooperOpenSuzuki 450
29 Lithuania91Nerijus RukstelaMX1Suzuki 450
29 Lithuania92Matas IndaMX2Kawasaki 250
29 Lithuania93Vytautas BucasOpenHonda 450
30 Iceland94Viktor GudbergssonMX1Kawasaki 450
30 Iceland95Ingvi Bjorn BirgirssonMX2KTM 250
30 Iceland96Solvi Borgar SveinssonOpenHonda 450
31 Greece97Panagiotis KouzisMX1Honda 450
31 Greece98Dimitris KotoletasMX2Yamaha 250
31 Greece99George LliopoulosOpenKTM 450
32 Thailand100Kritsada BoonateeMX1Honda 450
32 Thailand101Trakarn ThangthongMX2Yamaha 250
32 Thailand102Chaiyan RomphanOpenYamaha 450
33 Hungary124Mark SzokeMX1Kawasaki 450
33 Hungary125Erik HugyeczMX2Yamaha 250
33 Hungary126Kornel NemethOpenKTM 450
34 Mongolia127Erdenibileg KhaliunboldMX1
34 Mongolia128E MunkhbolorMX2
34 Mongolia129Purevdorj MurunOpen

Note 1: Mongolia did not participate.

Qualifying

Qualified Countries

PosCountryPoints
1 Germany3
2 Belgium4
3 Italy6
4 Netherlands7
5 France8
6 Great Britain9
7 United States9
8 Estonia12
9 Russia12
10 Australia14
11 Portugal17
12 Denmark23
13 Sweden25
14 Ireland25
15 Finland26
16 Latvia27
17 Switzerland28
18 Norway29
19 Slovenia30

Countries admitted to the B Final

PosCountryPoints
20 New Zealand31
21 Czech Republic32
22 Spain33
23 Austria38
24 Puerto Rico41
25 Japan43
26 Brazil43
27 South Africa44
28 Lithuania47
29 Iceland51
30 Greece53
31 Venezuela54
32 Hungary60

Non-Qualified Countries

PosCountryPoints
33 Thailand61

B Final

PosCountryPoints
1 New Zealand13
2 Czech republic12
3 Lithuania23
4 Puerto Rico23
5 Austria24
6 Spain25
7 Japan26
8 South Africa26
9 Hungary30
10 Venezuela31
11 Iceland40
12 Greece49
13 Brazil52

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

Race

PosCountryRidersRace 1Race 2Race 3Points
1 GermanyMaximilian Nagl3625
1 GermanyKen Roczen54-25
1 GermanyMarcus Schiffer725
2 BelgiumClement Desalle4729
2 BelgiumJeremy van Horebeek1029
2 BelgiumKen De Dycker3529
3 United StatesRyan Dungey7939
3 United StatesBlake Baggett639
3 United StatesJustin Barcia14339
4 NetherlandsMarc De Reuver91744
4 NetherlandsGlenn Coldenhoff1544
4 NetherlandsJeffrey Herlings1244
5 ItalyTony Cairoli1145
5 ItalyAlessandro Lupino2545
5 ItalyDavide Guarneri51345
6 FranceGautier Paulin2847
6 FranceMarvin Musquin1147
6 FranceXavier Boog101647
7 EstoniaGert Krestinov171856
7 EstoniaPriit Ratsep1556
7 EstoniaTanel Leok2456
8 Great BritainTommy Searle81256
8 Great BritainJake Nicholls1656
8 Great BritainMax Anstie91156
9 PortugalRui Goncalves121080
9 PortugalPaulo Alberto2180
9 PortugalLuis Correia132480
10 AustraliaLawson Bopping211983
10 AustraliaLuke Styke2083
10 AustraliaTodd Waters81583
11 RussiaEvgeny Bobryshev693
11 RussiaAleksandr Tonkov181293
11 RussiaEvgeny Mikhaylov312693
12 SwedenKim Lindstrom2423103
12 SwedenKarl Olsson18103
12 SwedenFilip Bengtsson1622103
13 IrelandMartin Barr1321106
13 IrelandGraeme Irwin2322106
13 IrelandStuart Edmonds27106
14 LatviaDavis Ivanovs28120
14 LatviaRoberts Justs2224120
14 LatviaLauris Freibergs2620120
15 New ZealandJoshua Coppins1134127
15 New ZealandKayne Lamont33127
15 New ZealandCody Cooper1732127
16 Slovenia134----
17 Norway151----
18 Denmark119----
19 Switzerland129----
20 Finland97----

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.