Team Australia qualify third after MXoN Heat races on Saturday

MXoN 2023

The RAM Qualifying Races of the 76th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations took place on Saturday, as the 37 nations that hope to compete for the Chamberlain Trophy, took to the historic circuit of Ernée amidst a resounding atmosphere.

The qualifying races today decided the 19 teams that will head straight into tomorrow’s races, while the rest will battle it out for the final spot in the B final tomorrow morning – Team Iceland were the winners of the C-Final to be admitted in the B-Final. For teams who have their eyes set on the podium, the qualifying heats were crucial to decide the best gate pick for the main action.

While it was Team France who qualified best as a nation with three strong performances, the individual RAM Qualifying race wins went to Team Spain’s Jorge Prado (MXGP), Team France’s Tom Vialle (MX2) and Maxime Renaux (Open).

MXoN 2023 Qualifying Top Ten

1. France 2pts
2. Spain 3pts
3. Australia 5pts
4. Germany 6pts
5. Switzerland 9pts
6. USA 10 pts
7. Belgium 10pts
8. Slovenia 13pts
9. The Netherlands 15pts
10. Italy 17pts.

MXGP Qualifying MXoN 2023

In the MXGP RAM Qualifying Race, Team Spain’s Jorge Prado reminded to his rivals why he was the new MXGP World Champion. The Spaniard did what he does best; a thunderous start and a great pace. In the lead going into the first corner, Prado gave Team Slovenia’s Tim Gajser – who was second at the start of the race – little chance of catching him. The Slovenian, already very busy with Team Switzerland’ Jeremy Seewer hot on his heels, had to work hard to defend his position, which he finally lost after to the Swiss rider on lap 2. The German Ken Roczen, in the meantime also took the opportunity to sneak into the Top 3 as he overtook Gajser.

The 2022 MXGP World Champion’s woes weren’t over yet, because you can always count on Romain Febvre to perform home soil. Halfway through the race, the Frenchman turned on the turbo and got away from the #118 in a corner, leaving “Tiga” at the mercy of Team Australia’s Jett Lawrence. The Australian let Gajser know it in two stages, with the Slovenian responding to the first attack from Jett, but unable to do anything about the second one. Lawrence then attacked Romain Febvre and managed to overtake him on the inside of a corner. Ken Roczen was only a few metres behind and, with two laps to go, Jett got both the German and Jeremy Seewer in a hard-fought elbow-to-elbow battle.

But it was Jorge Prado who crossed the finish line first, four-seconds ahead of his closest rival, Jett Lawrence. Jeremy Seewer finished 3rd. Ken Roczen was 4th and Romain Febvre got the 5th position.

Jorge Prado – P1

“It was a good race and i got a good start. Then the guys behind started to close on me but I then pulled away to win race. That’s what I have been doing all year so we’ll keep going like this for tomorrow.”

Jett Lawrence – P2

“It’s been awesome being back in Europe again, seeing familiar faces and just having a good time. We’ve done a warm-up and a qualification race and it didn’t go too bad. It’s just so different here to try and learn the racing on this side of the pond, and workout how the other rider’s race and how the track is meant to be ridden. It was a little bit of a struggle initially but I was able to come out with a second place, which has helped Australia to third position. It should be good tomorrow, get some good starts and hopefully have a good weekend.”

RAM Qualifying Heat MXGP

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Prado, Jorge	GASGAS	23m58.100
2	Lawrence, Jett	Honda	+0:04.376
3	Seewer, Jeremy	Yamaha	+0:06.438
4	Roczen, Ken	Suzuki	+0:08.476
5	Febvre, Romain	Kawasaki	+0:15.670
6	Gajser, Tim	Honda	+0:23.761
7	Geerts, Jago	Yamaha	+0:32.181
8	Plessinger, Aaron	KTM	+0:45.364
9	Jonass, Pauls	Honda	+0:46.219
10	Watson, Ben	Beta	+0:49.578
11	Vlaanderen, Calvin	Yamaha	+1m04.191
12	Sihvonen, Miro	Husqvarna	+1m16.973
13	Östlund, Alvin	Honda	+1m25.463
14	Cooper, Cody	GASGAS	+1m31.310
15	Toendel, Cornelius	Honda	+1m41.369
16	Forato, Alberto	KTM	+1m46.010
17	Barr, Martin	Husqvarna	+2m00.501
18	Jazdauskas, Domantas	KTM	1 lap
19	Leok, Tanel	Husqvarna	1 lap
20	Cordovez, Miguel	KTM	1 lap
21	Repcak, Pavol	KTM	1 lap
22	Durow, Cameron Anthony	KTM	1 lap
23	Kelava, Matija	Honda	1 lap
24	Outeiro, Luis	Yamaha	1 lap
25	Soulimani, Saad	Kawasaki	1 lap
26	Fierro, Arturo Humberto	Kawasaki	1 lap
27	Barczewski, Jakub	KTM	1 lap
28	Lima, Eduardo	Husqvarna	1 lap
29	Petursson, Mani Freyr	Fantic	1 lap
30	Andreou, Andreas	Yamaha	2 laps
31	Kizlyak, Pavlo	KTM	2 laps
32	De Muyser, Damien	Honda	3 laps
33	Wright, Dylan	Honda	8 laps
34	Pavez, Matías	Honda	11 laps
35	Harlan, Grant	Yamaha	12 laps

MX2 Qualifying MXoN 2023

In the MX2 class, the reunion between Team France’s Tom Vialle and the French public was bound to live up to the hype. And the KTM rider did not disappoint the thousands of fans present at Ernée on Saturday. Starting in second place, behind Team USA’s RJ Hampshire, Vialle initially saw Team’s Germany Simon Laengenfelder pass him, but soon found his rhythm and the 2nd place when Hampshire crashed early on. From then on, the Frenchman stayed in close observation behind Laengenfelder, waiting to find a gap to take the lead. His chasing work was made easier by the distance he put between himself and Team Australia’s Hunter Lawrence in 3rd place. More than five-seconds separated the two riders.

Meanwhile, the battle for the 4th and 5th place was fierce. 7th in the first two laps, Team Netherlands’ Kay de Wolf managed to overtake Puerto Rican Jack Chambers on lap 2. Then, on lap 4, the Dutchman took on Team South Africa’s Camden Mc Lellan for 5th place, after the South African had conceded a few seconds earlier under pressure from Hampshire. Behind them, Slovenia’s Jan Pancar and Spain’s Oriol Oliver were battling it out to get as close as possible to the Top 5, but eventually finished 7th and 8th.

It wasn’t until the final moments of the race – the last lap to be precise – that Tom Vialle put into practice a long-considered attack on Simon Laengenfelder. The Frenchman took the inside of a corner with authority, in front of a stunned Laengenfelder and a jubilant crowd. It was impossible for the German to do anything in response. The rider gave Team France a precvious victory that was hoped for by his fans, ahead of Simon Laengenfelder 2nd, and Hunter Lawrence, 3rd. Kay de Wolf 4th, also created a late charge on Hampshire, who completed the Top 5.

Tom Vialle – P1

“It was amazing and the fans were great I had a good start and was behind Simon (Laengenfelder). The pace was not that fast but I struggle to pass but I was checking Hunter (Lawrence) behind as he was catching us a bit. I feel confident and i was really happy to pass him on the last lap amd win the MX2 Race.”

Hunter Lawrence – P3

“It’s been fun to be racing in Europe once again. We go to the line in P3 tomorrow so that’s good, which gives us a good chance and is a much better place than our ballot placing of P13, so we should be able to get out of the gate better. I’m happy with riding myself into form throughout the day, as it’s been a long time since we’ve ridden conditions like this as we just don’t get them in America. My back was pretty good and that is important too, so that was a relief to ride and that be okay, so now it’s just go out there tomorrow and get the job done.”

RAM Qualifying Heat MX2

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Vialle, Tom	KTM	24m26.568
2	Laengenfelder, Simon	GASGAS	+0:01.855
3	Lawrence, Hunter	Honda	+0:05.701
4	de Wolf, Kay	Husqvarna	+0:13.432
5	Hampshire, RJ	Husqvarna	+0:14.132
6	Mc Lellan, Camden	Honda	+0:44.104
7	Pancar, Jan	KTM	+0:58.059
8	Oliver, Oriol	KTM	+0:58.579
9	Chambers, Jack	Kawasaki	+1m02.938
10	Adamo, Andrea	KTM	+1m04.712
11	Horgmo, Kevin	Kawasaki	+1m08.152
12	Garib, Benjamin	Kawasaki	+1m12.689
13	Tonus, Arnaud	Yamaha	+1m20.576
14	Talviku, Jorgen-Matthias	Husqvarna	+1m23.582
15	Reisulis, Janis Martins	Yamaha	+1m27.003
16	Varize, Joshua	KTM	+1m28.179
17	McCormick, Glenn	GASGAS	+1m28.803
18	Gilbert, Josh	Honda	+1m33.039
19	Weckman, Emil	Honda	+1m40.001
20	Mikula, Julius	Yamaha	+1m42.010
21	Scott, James	Yamaha	+1m43.814
22	Coenen, Lucas	Husqvarna	+1m45.359
23	Bengtsson, Filip	KTM	1 lap
24	Antezana, Marco	KTM	1 lap
25	Zdunek, Damian	Honda	1 lap
26	Jayal, Noam	Kawasaki	1 lap
27	Kunic, Luka	Yamaha	1 lap
28	Bresolin, Guilherme	Yamaha	1 lap
29	Palmarsson, Eidur Orri	Yamaha	1 lap
30	Katrinak, Jaroslav	GASGAS	2 laps
31	McNabb, Ryder	KTM	2 laps
32	Mackonis, Erlandas	KTM	2 laps
33	Garcia, Victor Francisco	KTM	2 laps
34	Gomes, Afonso	Yamaha	2 laps
35	Heinen, Jamie	KTM	2 laps
36	Bakas, Dimitrios	Yamaha	3 laps
37	Marchuk, Dmytro	GASGAS	3 laps

Open Qualifying MXoN 2023

After Tom Vialle’s 1st place in MX2, the French fans could only hope for the same performance from Maxime Renaux. The crowd favourite knew he was expected to do well, and he coped marvelously with the pressure of the event by getting off to a flying start. First over the first corner, ahead of Cristian Craig, Harri Kullas, Jere Haavisto and Fabio Santos, the Frenchman showed off his speed. The #6 also set the fastest time of the race, in 1’51’896.

Behind, Team USA’s Craig, Estonian Harri Kullas and Australian Dean Ferris battled it out for 2nd and 3rd place, but it was Team’s Spain Ruben Fernandez, in 5th place, who was the man to watch. Ferris was the Spaniard’s first victim, at the end of the first lap, when he was caught out and flipped off the bike which saw the Australian slip a long way down the order and ultimately finish nine laps down.

A lap later, it was Craig who found himself overtaken by the speed of the #18, who closed the door on 3rd place in a with a strong move. The American lost another place after an individual error that benefited Team Belgium’s Liam Everts. In any case, Fernandez didn’t stop at the last step of the podium and on lap 6, he played with Kullas downhill and took 2nd position before the corner. He could have lost the benefit of his hard work with two laps to go, after a crash of his own making, but he got up quickly and finished the race in 2nd place despite pressure from Kullas. The Estonian gave up his 3rd place a few moments later to Liam Everts. The Belgian was delighted to finish behind Fernandez in 2nd and Maxime Renaux in 1st. Harri Kullas and Christian Craig completed the Top 5 in 4th and 5th respectively.

Maxime Renaux – P1

“It was amazing, I managed to make a gap and hopefully tomorrow it will be the same, as easy at it was today for me. I had a great race with a really good start and managed well all race long. I’m also super happy for team France that qualified first in front of our home crowd so we are ready and in shape for tomorow.”

RAM Qualifying Heat Open – Classification

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Renaux, Maxime	Yamaha	24m36.875
2	Fernandez, Ruben	Honda	+0:11.139
3	Everts, Liam	KTM	+0:14.659
4	Kullas, Harri	Yamaha	+0:21.036
5	Craig, Christian	Husqvarna	+0:29.938
6	Guillod, Valentin	Honda	+0:34.351
7	Bonacorsi, Andrea	Yamaha	+0:36.304
8	Koch, Tom	KTM	+0:50.560
9	Santos, Fabio	Yamaha	+0:55.992
10	Harwood, Hamish	KTM	+0:57.441
11	Teresak, Jakub	Husqvarna	+0:58.691
12	Fredriksen, Hakon	Yamaha	+1m05.392
13	Jost, Simon	KTM	+1m22.022
14	Pettis, Jess	KTM	+1m04.724
15	Poli, Joaquin	Kawasaki	+1m28.475
16	Reisulis, Karlis Alberts	Yamaha	+1m35.472
17	Meara, Jason	GASGAS	+1m38.596
18	Haavisto, Jere	KTM	+1m56.356
19	Lipanovich, Sean	KTM	+2m00.208
20	Israel, Nicolas	KTM	1 lap
21	Karka, Dovydas	Yamaha	1 lap
22	Mewse, Conrad	Honda	1 lap
23	Rubalcava, Jorge Israel	Husqvarna	1 lap
24	Bubnic, Miha	KTM	1 lap
25	Kowalski, Jakub	GASGAS	1 lap
26	Kuc, Alexander Adam	GASGAS	1 lap
27	Sterpin, Matija	Yamaha	2 laps
28	Wright, Jesse	Yamaha	2 laps
29	Simon, Maxime	Honda	2 laps
30	Avgeris, Athanasios	Yamaha	3 laps
31	Stark, Joé	Honda	3 laps
32	Kurosh, Vasyl	KTM	3 laps
33	Ferris, Dean	Yamaha	9 laps
34	Alberto, Paulo	Yamaha	10 laps
35	Gifting, Isak	GASGAS	11 laps
36	MORALES, Edwardo	Kawasaki	11 laps
37	Coldenhoff, Glenn	Yamaha	11 laps