A very exciting 62nd edition of the Red Bull Motocross of Nations was won by Team USA for the 19th time in their history as James Stewart (MX1), Ryan Villopoto (MX2) and Tim Ferry (Open) rode strong throughout the three heats. Villopoto and Ferry also took the MX2 and Open Individual Overall wins with Stewart missing the MX1 win because of a final heat crash.
The French Team took second on the podium with Sebastien Pourcel snatching also the MX1 Individual Overall win from Stewart courtesy of his final heat triumph. Nicolas Aubin rode solid in the Open class with Anthony Boissiere damaging his front tyre in heat two.
Team Belgium rounded off the podium with MX1 rider Ken de Dycker, MX2 rider Jeremy van Horebeek and Open class rider Steve Ramon.
Great Britain dropped down from a virtual third to fourth after Billy Mackenzie made a mistake in heat three as Italy rounded off the top five. 60000 spectators turned out to watch the event at Donington Park.
MOTO 1 - MX1+MX2
Philippaerts took the holeshot to lead for the first two laps. Stewart came back to the Italian's tail until he moved past and cruised to the eventual victory. After a crash in the opening lap Pourcel recovered to second but once he came closer to Stewart the American stepped up the pace leaving Pourcel behind in second. Philippaerts and Barragan battled it out for third with the MX1 World Champion taking the honours as Spain's Barragan ended fourth. Switzerland's Bill was a solid fifth as Villopoto took tenth after an early crash saw him restart from the back of the pack. Great Britain was a sixth and a ninth with Mackenzie and Searle.
MOTO 2 - MX2+OPEN
A rainy second heat saw Cody Cooper take the holeshot for team New Zealand but USA's Villopoto got off to a great start as well to move past Cooper by the end of lap one. The American pulled away to win his only moto of the day as Cooper faced Boissiere's attacks until the Frenchman passed. Later on the Frenchman damaged his front tyre and went through the pit-lane for a quick check. He rejoined the race in 18th place. Cooper found himself back in second when Boissiere went out but Ramon charged to snatch the runner up spot. The New Zealander was also passed by Great Britain's Searle becoming the only home rider to take a top three finish in this Red Bull Motocross of Nations. Cooper was an eventual fourth ahead of Italy's Salvini and Puerto Rico's Zach Osborne recovering to sixth after a crash at the start.
MOTO 3 - MX1+OPEN
Pourcel led the pack into turn one with Stewart moving past him before the end of lap one. The Kawasaki duo ran away from the rest of the field following with a five second gap already after the first five minutes of racing. Pourcel moved past Stewart then the American took the lead again leaving Pourcel behind. With only a couple of minutes to go Stewart made a mistake and crashed; he was an eventual 23rd as Ferry brought the bike home in fifth saving team USA's win. Philippaerts ended right ahead of Stewart in 22nd as he also crashed with team Italy losing their podium chance. Pourcel was the eventual winner ahead of Leok making up for the mechanical failure of heat one. Nagl was third for Germany followed by Belgian De Dycker. It was a dramatic finale for home team Great Britain with Mackenzie crashing out when he was fifth; the squad dropped down the rankings as Mackenzie ended 11th.
James Stewart: "Even though I didn't have a great second moto I'm really happy with my weekend, I'm pleased to have won a race here in England and I would have won that second one too if I hadn't thrown it away but still the team won and overall. It's been a great day.
The first race went okay, I had a pretty decent start and I got around the leaders in a few laps.
After I grabbed the lead for the first time I had a pretty good battle with Philippaerts for a while but I ended up making a pass stick and then pulling away and winning - that was good.
In the second race I got another good start and I was battling with Pourcel this time but I was able to pull away again until I threw it away with just a couple of laps to go when I got a little cross rutted and jumped onto a hay bale - that ended my hopes of winning that moto right there."
Ryan Villopoto: "That first moto was a little rough,I got a decent start and I was running third but then in one of the turns I was just blasted from behind. That meant I had to work my way forward from last. It was hard to come through with the track the way it was and some of the guys were a little squirrely and that made it hard to predict what they'd do too - it was definitely a tough race.
I got another good start in moto two, I got away second and then worked my way into the lead. From there I just worked on creating a big gap - in the end I had a decent lead and I was able to cruise to the finish line.It was great to win - it was a real team deal. It was a lot tougher than last year but we all pulled together and it all came good in the end. The team, my bike and the weekend were just awesome - there are no other words to describe them."
Tim Ferry: "Today was amazing,It was really cool to win my class again but the biggest thing was we all worked together well as a team - we all had one bad moto but the other guys were there to pull us through. We definitely won as a team and that's what this race is all about - it has nothing to do with individuality.
I'm really happy with myself, for the team and for Kawasaki too. Kawasaki won all three races today and that says a lot about all the work the team does back home in America and also about Kawasaki as a brand."