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 fielded its strongest team in several years. Max Nagl, who had missed most of the season due to injury, returned for the final rounds. 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 team that was viewed as favorites on paper but struggled in the deep sand on the course, 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 States 1 Ryan Dungey MX1 KTM 450 2 Blake Baggett MX2 Kawasaki 250 3 Justin Barcia Open Honda 450 2 France 4 Gautier Paulin MX1 Kawasaki 450 5 Marvin Musquin MX2 KTM 250 6 Xavier Boog Open Kawasaki 450 3 Australia 7 Lawson Bopping MX1 Yamaha 450 8 Luke Styke MX2 Yamaha 250 9 Todd Waters Open Suzuki 450 4 United Kingdom 10 Tommy Searle MX1 Kawasaki 450 11 Jake Nicholls MX2 KTM 250 12 Max Anstie 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 Richard van der Westhuizen MX1 Yamaha 450 17 Shannon Terreblance MX2 Kawasaki 250 18 Neville Bradshaw Open Honda 450 7 Germany 19 Maximilian Nagl MX1 KTM 450 20 Ken Roczen MX2 KTM 250 21 Marcus Schiffer Open Suzuki 450 8 Spain 22 Joan Cros MX1 Suzuki 450 23 José Butrón MX2 KTM 250 24 Alvaro Lozano Open Honda 450 9 Netherlands 25 Marc de Reuver MX1 Kawasaki 450 26 Glenn Coldenhoff MX2 KTM 250 27 Jeffrey Herlings Open KTM 250 10 Estonia 28 Gert Krestinov MX1 Honda 450 29 Priit Rätsep MX2 KTM 250 30 Tanel Leok Open Suzuki 450 11 Portugal 31 Rui Gonçalves MX1 Honda 450 32 Paulo Alberto MX2 Honda 250 33 Luis Correia Open Yamaha 450 12 Switzerland 34 Arnaud Tonus MX1 Yamaha 450 35 Jeremy Seewer MX2 Suzuki 250 36 Valentin Guillod Open KTM 250 13 Japan 37 Makoto Ogata MX1 Honda 450 38 Junya Takenaka MX2 Kawasaki 250 39 Yohei Kojima Open Suzuki 450 14 Czech Republic 40 Filip Neugebauer MX1 Kawasaki 450 41 Milan Spicak MX2 Kawasaki 250 42 Martin Michek Open KTM 450 15 Russia 43 Evgeny Bobryshev MX1 Honda 450 44 Aleksandr Tonkov MX2 Honda 250 45 Evgeny Mikhaylov Open Suzuki 450 16 Italy 46 Tony Cairoli MX1 KTM 450 47 Alessandro Lupino MX2 Husqvarna 250 48 Davide Guarneri Open KTM 45017 Finland 49 Ludvig Söderberg MX1 Honda 450 50 Teemu Lehtinen MX2 Kawasaki 250 51 Niko Koskela Open Kawasaki 45018 Denmark 52 Nicolai Hansen MX1 Suzuki 450 53 Stefan Kjer Olsen MX2 Suzuki 250 54 Kasper Lynggaard Open Kawasaki 45019 Ireland 55 Martin Barr MX1 Suzuki 450 56 Graeme Irwin MX2 Yamaha 250 57 Stuart Edmonds Open Suzuki 25020 Austria 58 Marco Schögler MX1 KTM 450 59 Lukas Neurauter MX2 KTM 250 60 Mattias Walkner Open KTM 45021 Sweden 61 Kim Lindström MX1 Kawasaki 450 62 Karl Olsson MX2 Honda 250 63 Filip Bengtsson Open KTM 25022 Latvia 64 Davis Ivanovs MX1 Kawasaki 450 65 Roberts Justs MX2 Honda 250 66 Lauris Freibergs Open Honda 45023 Slovenia 67 Matevz Irt MX1 Suzuki 450 68 Tim Gajser MX2 KTM 250 69 Klemen Gercar Open Honda 45024 Puerto Rico 70 Gino Aponte MX1 Yamaha 450 71 Zach Osborne MX2 Yamaha 250 72 Kyle Chisholm Open Kawasaki 45025 Venezuela 73 Carlos Badiali MX1 Yamaha 450 74 Hector Rodriguez MX2 Yamaha 250 75 Humberto Martin Open Honda 45026 Norway 76 Kim Oiva Jarva MX1 Honda 450 77 Even Heibye MX2 KTM 250 78 Magne Klingsheim Open KTM 25027 Brazil 79 Gabriel Gentil MX1 Yamaha 450 80 Rafael Silva Faria MX2 Yamaha 250 81 Marcal Müller Open Yamaha 45028 New Zealand 85 Joshua Coppins MX1 Yamaha 450 86 Kayne Lamont MX2 KTM 250 87 Cody Cooper Open Suzuki 45029 Lithuania 91 Nerijus Rukstela MX1 Suzuki 450 92Matas Inda MX2 Kawasaki 250 93 Vytautas Bucas Open Honda 45030 Iceland 94 Viktor Gudbergsson MX1 Kawasaki 450 95 Ingvi Bjorn Birgirsson MX2 KTM 250 96 Solvi Borgar Sveinsson Open Honda 450 31 Greece 97 Panagiotis Kouzis MX1 Honda 450 98 Dimitris Kotoletas MX2 Yamaha 250 99 George Lliopoulos Open KTM 450 32 Thailand 100 Kritsada Boonatee MX1 Honda 450 101 Trakarn Thangthong MX2 Yamaha 250 102 Chaiyan Romphan Open Yamaha 45033 Hungary 124 Mark Szoke MX1 Kawasaki 450 125 Erik Hugyecz MX2 Yamaha 250 126 Kornel Nemeth Open KTM 45034 Mongolia 127 Erdenibileg Khaliunbold MX1 128 E Munkhbolor MX2 129 Purevdorj Murun Open

Note 1: Mongolia did not participate.

Qualifying

Qualified Countries

PosCountryPoints1 Germany32 Belgium43 Italy64 Netherlands75 France86 Great Britain97 United States98 Estonia129 Russia1210 Australia1411 Portugal1712 Denmark2313 Sweden2514 Ireland2515 Finland2616 Latvia2717 Switzerland2818 Norway2919 Slovenia30

Countries admitted to the B Final

PosCountryPoints20 New Zealand3121 Czech Republic3222 Spain3323 Austria3824 Puerto Rico4125 Japan4326 Brazil4327 South Africa4428 Lithuania4729 Iceland5130 Greece5331 Venezuela5432 Hungary60

Non-Qualified Countries

PosCountryPoints33 Thailand61

B Final

PosCountryPoints1 New Zealand132 Czech Republic123 Lithuania234 Puerto Rico235 Austria246 Spain257 Japan268 South Africa269 Hungary3010 Venezuela3111 Iceland4012 Greece4913 Brazil52 Note 1: New Zealand won the B final which meant they qualified for the main races.

Race

PosCountryRidersRace 1Race 2Race 3Points1 Germany Maximilian Nagl 3 625 Ken Roczen 5 4 Marcus Schiffer 7 (14)2 Belgium Clement Desalle 4 729 Jeremy van Horebeek 10 (38) Ken De Dycker 3 53 United States Ryan Dungey 7 939 Blake Baggett (14) 6 Justin Barcia 14 34 Netherlands Marc De Reuver 9 1744 Glenn Coldenhoff 15 (39) Jeffrey Herlings 1 2 5 Italy Tony Cairoli 1 1 45 Alessandro Lupino (37) 25 Davide Guarneri 5 136 France Gautier Paulin 2 847 Marvin Musquin (19) 11 Xavier Boog 10 167 Estonia Gert Krestinov 17 1856 Priit Rätsep (20) 15 Tanel Leok 2 48 Great Britain Tommy Searle 8 1256 Jake Nicholls 16(36) Max Anstie 9 119 Portugal Rui Goncalves 12 1080 Paulo Alberto(33) 21 Luis Correia 13 2410 Australia Lawson Bopping 21 1983 Luke Styke (26) 20 Todd Waters 8 1511 Russia Evgeny Bobryshev 6 (33)93 Aleksandr Tonkov 18 12 Evgeny Mikhaylov 31 2612 Sweden Kim Lindstrom 24 23103 Karl Olsson (32) 18 Filip Bengtsson 16 2213 Ireland Martin Barr 13 21106 Graeme Irwin 23 22 Stuart Edmonds 27 (30)14 Latvia Davis Ivanovs (28) 28120 Roberts Justs 22 24 Lauris Freibergs 26 2015 New Zealand Joshua Coppins 11 34127 Kayne Lamont (34) 33 Cody Cooper 17 3216 Slovenia13417 Norway15118 Denmark11919 Switzerland12920 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.

References