Image: Supplied.

Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha’s Gautier Paulin is pleased with Team France’s efforts at the weekend’s 2019 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN) in Assen, the squad seeing it’s five-year winning streak come to an end as the Netherlands earned the crown for the first time ever on home soil.

In rain-soaked conditions, Paulin came from outside the top 10 in the opening MXGP/MX2 encounter to finish fifth, while his second outing in the final race of the day saw his YZ450F run out fuel on the final lap, denying France of a podium result.

His French teammates, former world champion Jordi Tixier (KTM) and Maxime Renaux (Yamaha), put in respectable performances alongside Paulin, granting Team France fifth in the Nations classification.

“We have won five times in a row, this was a big highlight of the Motocross of Nations for Team France, but all good things come to an end and today we have to accept the fail,” Paulin explained. “For myself, I was very happy with my teammates, we put in a good amount of effort to be on the podium and on the second to last lap, I run out of fuel.

“It’s tough to accept, but I had a great experience this weekend. The track was gnarly, the atmosphere and fans were incredible. Thanks to the public, and congratulations to The Netherlands on the win. It was a wet and gnarly weekend, but as always, it was a weekend we all enjoyed and it will give us a lot of memories.”

Paulin is set to remain with Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha in the 2020 MXGP World Championship, which will become the official factory Yamaha team.

Image: Supplied.

World champion Tim Gajser rounded out his 2019 season with the opening moto victory and MXGP class overall at Assen’s Motocross of Nations (MXoN), adding to what has been a remarkable campaign.

The Honda HRC rider showed why he was able to capture a second MXGP championship this year by winning the opening MXGP and MX2 moto in sandy, tough conditions in the Netherlands and making history for Slovenia in the process.

Moto three, the MXGP and Open classes, saw Gajser once again grab the holeshot and lead for the first three laps before a small tip-over dropped him two places. He regrouped quickly though and set about trying to regain the lead, but couldn’t make the pass he needed to go 1-1.

“It was a good day,” Gajser commented. “The weather wasn’t the best and the track became a bit of a mess, but I took two good starts, two holeshots and then I was able to win the first moto too, so it was good.

“I’m a bit disappointed to make that little mistake in the second moto when I was winning, but I came back very close to the leader at the end, so overall I’m super-happy. It’s been an incredible season and this is just another great moment to win a moto and to become the first Slovenian rider ever to do so.”

Next up for the 2019 MXGP world champion is a trip stateside as he looks to take on the best supercross riders in the world at the Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas on 19 October, marking his first appearance there in two years.

Image: Supplied.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne has declared Sunday’s conditions at the 2019 Motocross of Nations (MXoN) as some of the worst he’s experienced in his career.

Osborne, who formed part of Team USA alongside Husqvarna teammate Jason Anderson and Yamaha-mounted Justin Cooper, finished fifth in the Open class via 5-15 results.

“It’s been a tough day for everyone, but maybe especially for Team USA,” he commented. “I feel that we did all we could, we came into the event with a great attitude and a great team, things just didn’t work out for us, but that’s racing.

“We prepared well, but conditions and luck weren’t with us. I think these might have been the worst conditions I’ve ever raced in, certainly some of the toughest. Each of my motos went okay – they were tough, but fifth in my first race was okay.

“My second race was harder. I got a decent start, but I found it hard to move forwards. Also, I had to change goggles once and, yeah, it was tough. From a team point of view, it’s not at all the result we wanted, but I’m sure we’d do it all again to be here racing for our country.”

It was a considerable effort from the high-profile American team, which arrived in Europe early to prepare, eventually credited sixth overall in the 2019 running following an incident-filled trio of motos on Sunday.

Image: Supplied.

Netherlands MXGP entry Jeffrey Herlings has confessed he wasn’t satisfied with his individual performance at the 2019 Motocross of Nations (MXoN), despite landing a historic home victory in the overall classification.

Herlings appeared ‘off’ for much of the weekend in the sand at Assen, finishing fifth in the MXGP heat and then recording 2-4 results on Sunday.

The MXGP and MX2 moto saw Herlings narrowly fall short of victory following a late surge in the wet conditions, but three falls in the second outing cost him any chance of gaining a class win on home soil.

“I messed up my starts twice today, so from an individual point of view I’m not satisfied,” Herlings recalled. “I almost won the first moto and then when down three times in the second, but still managed to finish fourth.

“We wanted a 1-1 and that didn’t happen, but what we really came here for today was to win as a Nation and we did that. My teammates did a great job and for such a small country to win this is amazing.”

The end result saw Herlings join Dutch teammates Glenn Coldenhoff and Calvin Vlaanderen on the top step of the Nations podium following three-consecutive runner-up finishes, also credited second in the MXGP class overall.

Image: Foremost Media.

The 2019 KTM Australian Junior Motocross Championship (AJMX) kicked off with practice and qualifying today at Gillman in South Australia.

Local South Australian Alex Larwood topped the Junior Lites 15 Years class ahead of Blake Fox and Levi Rogers, the trio replicating those results in the 125cc 15 Years class.

The Junior Lites 13-U15 Years category saw Brad West emerge fastest over Zachary Watson Liam Atkinson, as Brock Flynn, Jack Mather and Ryan Alexanderson completed the top three in the 125cc 13-U15 Years division.

In Mini Lites BW 14-U16 Years, Hunter Collins earned the top spot alongside Ben Novak and Watson, while Kobe Drew edged out Jett Burgess-Stevens and Connor Towill in the Mini Lites BW 12-U15 Years class. The Mini Lites SW 9-U12 Years class was topped by Koby Hantis, Jet Alsop and Kayden Minear.

Charli Cannon, Taylah McCutcheon and Taylor Thompson completed positions 1-3 in Junior Lites 13-U16 Years Girls division, the trio also topping the Mini Lites BW 12-U16 Years Girls class, with McCutcheon leading Cannon and Thompson.

Ky Woods, Jobe Dunne and Bodie Court were fastest in the 65cc 10-U12 Years, 65cc 7-U10 Years and 50cc 7-U9 Years classes. Racing kicks off tomorrow with the first rounds of heats and finals.

Detailed results

Image: Supplied.

Team Australia has drawn 13th gate pick in the ballot for Saturday’s qualification races at Assen’s 2019 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN), while Team Poland has been granted the number one spot.

Team Lithuania and Puerto Rico will line up second and third, while defending champions Team France is going to pick gate number 29. MXoN favourites Team Holland and Team USA drew positions 27 and 31.

The Australian squad will field Dean Ferris (Raceline Recover8 KTM), Kyle Webster (Penrite Pirelli CRF Honda Racing), and Regan Duffy (Raceline KTM Thor) in the MX1, MX2 and Open categories, donning numbers 10, 11 and 12 respectively.

For the race scheduled in AEST, and how to watch the event live, click here.

2019 Motocross of Nations ballot results:
1. Poland
2. Lithuania
3. Puerto Rico
4. Norway
5. Spain
6. Denmark
7. Iceland
8. Belgium
9. New Zealand
10. Latvia
11. Slovenia
12. Croatia
13. Australia
14. Greece
15. Brazil
16. Switzerland
17. Estonia
18. Japan
19. Italy
20. Sweden
21. South Africa
22. Portugal
23. Ukraine
24. Luxemburg
25. Ireland
26. Germany
27. Netherlands
28. Cyprus
29. France
30. Czech Republic
31. USA
32. Austria
33. Great Britain
34. Russia