It was a wet and muddy track for the 2022 MX of Nations at Redbud but the Aussies were in with a good chance of winning the Chamberlain trophy for the first time.
Watch full race coverage below. Click here for highlights.
MX of Nations 2022 : QUALIFYING
RACE 1 – MXGP AND MX2
Mitch Evans and Hunter Lawrence both had a great jump off the line in Race 1 and came around turn 2 right in the mix, while Jago Geerts of Belgium and Eli Tomac of America lead the way. A few laps in and Mitch found himself in the top 5 behind Tomac, Geerts, Maxime Renaux of France, and Jeremy Seewer of Switzerland, while Hunter was the lead MX2 rider in 8th.
Mitch fended off attacks throughout the race to maintain his 5th place through to the finish, while Hunter mounted a charge on Cairoli in the late stages of the race to finish right behind in him 8th. A great result with 5-8 scores had Australia sitting second behind America with 1-9 scores after the first race.
RACE 2 – MX2 AND MX OPEN
Hunter lined up alongside brother Jett Lawrence for his MXoN (and 450) debut with Hunter on the inside gate and Jett starting out wide. They both managed to avoid the first turn pile up that claimed a number of other riders. Jett ended up in 3rd behind Italy’s Mattia Guadagnini and America’s Chase Sexton, while Hunter was also in the top alongside America’s Justin Cooper. Hunter and Cooper came together with our Aussie falling to outside the top 15 to remount and battle back through the field for an impressive 10th on his 250 machine.
Jett was locked in a three-way battle with Sexton and Guadagnini for the lead! Jett made his way through on Sexton into 2nd place before pushing past Guadagnini to put himself into the lead. Jett ended up nearly 15 seconds clear of Sexton in 2nd at the end of the race. Australia’s 1-10 scores in Race 2 had us sitting in second behind the USA with 5-8-1-10 scores compared to America’s 1-9-2-4, while France was close behind with 3-14-6-9 in third.
RACE 3 – MXGP AND MX OPEN
Mitch and Jett started in the top 10 through the first through corners, with Mitch coming unstuck halfway through the first lap and dropping well down the standings. Jett found himself in 6th place while France was out front with Ferrandis and Renaux in 1st and 2nd, with Sexton behind in 3rd.
Ferrandis then made a big mistake, throwing away the race lead and dropping to 6th. Jett passed Jeremy Seewer and Jorge Prado to put himself in 3rd place and in hot pursuit of Renaux and Sexton out front. They held position for several laps before Jett pushed past Sexton into 2nd, aiming for Renaux. Jett ditched his goggles late in the moto leading to reduced vision, but managed to hold onto 2nd place, giving Australia their second-ever podium at the MX of Nations.
The Aussies were stoked to be on the podium and are already looking forward to next year.
“It is great to get on the podium with Team Australia.” said Mitch Evans, “It hasn’t happened much in our history, so to be part of a team that’s done it is a massive honour. The first moto went well, just rode a nice consistent race and kept a good pace throughout. I knew it was important to get us off to a good start and together with Hunter we did that in race one. Jett and Hunter then did a great race two to give us a solid shot at the podium, and that’s what happened in race three. I would have liked to have done a bit better but its motocross and anything can happen, but thankfully we still did well enough to land on the podium. A big thank you to all of the team for the job they did in what ended up being really tough conditions, and I can’t wait to be part of this event again, where we will try to do even better.”
Hunter Lawrence was also pleased with the result “It was really good.” he said “In the past years, we have had where we come into the last race somewhat in contention and close to the podium, and we’ve just not been fortunate enough to pull it off, so to do so here is awesome. To do it with my brother, but also Mitch, it’s really cool! Just stoked for everyone. HRC they all came together that was really cool. So yeah, it’s good. And we’re excited for next year…”
A big congratulations to team Australia for an amazing effort and show of amazing skills.
