The Glen Helen Raceway hosted the final round of the 2015 Motocross World Championship on Sunday in San Bernardino, CA and though it didn't bring a wished for Championship showdown between American Ryan Villopoto and Italian Antonio Cairoli, Americans, taking advantage of the international series finale scheduled on home soil, dominated all afternoon in both classes.
Romain Febvre of France, who already won the premier MXGP class, got off to a great start winning Race 1 and taking second in Race 2 to win his eighth overall of the year but he was flanked by American newcomers Josh Grant, who took second overall with a third-place in Race 1 and first on Race 2, and Cooper Webb who went (2-3) for third overall.
The outcome for Grant is good news since he doesn't have a team for the 2016 season and the more than solid showing might just get him a deal. If Webb's performance is any indicator of what to expect on Sunday in France for the Motocross of Nations than Team USA just might be the team to beat.
"Overall I'm really happy, for me it was an awesome experience and I am looking forward to race MXoN next week," Webb said.
Webb who raced in the 250 class for Supercross and Motocross this year moved up to the 450 bike for next week's MXoN battle. There he'll face Marvin Musquin of France, a regular in American racing series, who also raced in the 450 class at Glen Helen but with less desirable results. Webb and Cooper had some heated moments this year in Motocross but Musquin, who narrowly lost the 250 Motocross Championship to Jeremy Martin, took 10th in Race 1 and only completed eight laps in race 2 for 26th place. Musquin swept Glen Helen in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series.
Jason Anderson finished 10th overall after a fourth-place Race 1 finish and a rough outing in Race 2 landed him 27th. Davi Millsaps took 16th in Race 1 and 10th in Race 2 in his first Motocross race since 2012. Millsaps raced in Supercross this year but had a falling out with his team which left him off the bike for the final three rounds and all of Motocross. Millsaps looks to defend his Monster Cup crown next month in Las Vegas.
Cairoli, the eight-time Champion, returned to action after missing five rounds because of injury and took fifth in Race 1 but didn't finish race 2 after crashing.
In the MX2 class, American Jessy Nelson swept but that didn't prevent Tim Gajser of Slovenia from claiming the title despite being bumped off the podium. In Race 1 it was an all-American finish with Nelson in first, Chris Alldredge in second and Shane McElrath third, all newcomers to the series. American Thomas Convington, a regular presence in the MXGPs who won last week in Mexico, couldn't keep up with his fellow countryman as he crashed in both Races but still managed 12th place in Race 1 and 17th in Race 2.
Gajser entered the round with an 18 point lead over Pauls Jonass of Latvia and went (6-4) on the day for fourth overall easily besting Jonass who finished ninth overall after a (10-6) day.
2015 MXGP of USA Results
- Romain Febvre (1-2)
- Josh Grant (3-1)
- Cooper Webb (2-3)
- Dean Wilson (7-4)
- Glenn Coldenhoff (6-6)
- Evgeny Bobryshev (9-5)
- Gautier Paulin (8-8)
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (12-7)
- Tommy Searle (13-9)
- Jason Anderson (4-27)
2015 MXGP Standings
- Romain Febvre (735) - 2015 MXGP Champion
- Gautier Paulin (592)
- Evgeny Bobryshev (567)
- Shaun Simpson (481)
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (449)
- Maximilian Nagl (442)
- Antonio Cairoli (432)
- Glenn Coldenhoff (423)
- Todd Waters (354)
- Clement Desalle (331)
MX2 Results
- Jessy Nelson (1-1)
- Shane McElrath (3-2)
- Valentin Guillod (5-3)
- Tim Gajser (6-4)
- Max Anstie (4-8)
- Chris Alldredge (2-13)
- Jeremy Seewer (8-5)
- Harri Kullas (7-7)
- Pauls Jonass (10-9)
- Benoit Paturel (13-9)
MX2 Championship Standings
- Tim Gajser (589) - MX2 Champion
- Pauls Jonass (564)
- Max Anstie (537)
- Valentin Guillod (511)
- Jeremy Seewer (496)
- Julien Lieber (430)
- Jeffrey Herlings (423)
- Jordi Tixier (393)
- Benoit Paturel (376)
- Petar Petrov (324)
