France won their fifth straight Motocross of Nations on Saturday at RedBud Motocross in Buchanan, MI taking the Chamberlain Trophy by two points over Italy. The Netherlands rounded out the "Olympics of Motocross" podium in third.
Despite all the hoopla surrounding Team USA and des Nations taking place on home turf, the squad consisting of Eli Tomac (2018 450 class Motocross Champion), Justin Barcia (fourth in points for the 2018 450 class season) and Aaron Plessinger (2018 250 class Motocross Champion) struggled in the muddy conditions but ultimately failed to challenge their overseas competitors. USA finished sixth, a point behind fourth-place Australia and fifth-place United Kingdom. Tomac, who raced in the MXGP (450) class placed the highest for Team USA finishing fourth in Race 1 consisting of the MXGP and MX2 (250) class and seventh in Race 3 consisting of the MXGP class and Open class.
The Netherlands, with 2018 Motocross World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, won all three races with their squad as Herlings (MXGP) took first in Race 1 and second in Race 3 while his teammate Glenn Coldenhoff (Open) took first in Race 2 and Race 3. Unfortunately, Calvin Vlaanderen (MX2) took a rock in one of his eyes during Race 1 and was unable to compete in Race 2 preventing the points needed to take the win.
Team Puerto Rico which made headlines this summer qualified with the retired Travis Pastrana and Kevin Windham along with the versatile Ryan Sipes and finished 19th. Read more about Team Puerto Rico in our interview with Pastrana.
Check out all the action from the 2018 Motocross of Nations at Redbud. Photos by Ryne Swanberg.
2018 Motocross of Nations
