Team France wins 2023 Motocross of Nations, USA struggles to eighth
Team France won their sixth Motocross of Nations (MXoN) championship in the past 10 years on the strength of perfect top-10 performances by Romain Febvre, Maxime Renaux and Tom Vialle in Ernee, France. It was the first victory for the team since 2018 when they capped off five straight wins at RedBud in Buchanan, Michigan. Team France also won in 2001, giving them seven overall.
Febvre and Renaux won the first two motos with Renaux cruising to a third-place finish in Moto 3 for a combined total of 14 points.
The winner of Moto 3 was familiar to American SuperMotocross fans. Australian Jett Lawrence tracked down and passed Germany's Ken Roczen in that race to take the victory and propel Team Australia into second overall. It was a repeat showing of how they finished in the SMX finale at the Los Angeles Coliseum two weeks previously. Team Australia amassed more than twice as many points (34) as France in the Olympic-style scoring.
Italy took third overall on the strength of a top-five finish by Andrea Adamo in Moto 2 and top-10s by Andrea Bonacorsi and Alberto Forato.
Roczen's second-place finish in Moto 2 and third in Moto 1 helped Germany assume fourth in the standings. Roczen did most of the heavy lifting for Germany with Simon Laengenfelder finishing 11th and 14th in his two appearances.
Team Belgium rounded out the top five with three top-10 performances from Liam Everts and Jago Geerts.
With only two top-10s, (a fifth-place finish for Aaron Plessinger in the MXGP division of Moto 1 and a 10th for RJ Hampshire in Moto 2's MX2), Team USA struggled to finish eighth overall. Returning from an injury suffered in April in the Monster Energy Supercross series, Christian Craig had a best finish of 16th in the Open class.
During Friday's opening ceremonies for the 2023 Motocross of Nations, it was announced Matterley Basin in the United Kingdom will host the 2024 edition of this race. This venue has hosted the MXoN twice previously, won by France in the most recent edition in 2017 and Team USA, (James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto and Ivan Tedesco), in 2006.
The 2025 edition of this race will return to the United States with Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana as the rumored track.
