Team Australia has powered to a brilliant second place in the 2023 FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN), held in Ernee, France on the weekend of October 7-8.
In what is now a new benchmark for the Aussies – eclipsing the third-place results in 2011 and 2022 – Honda-backed siblings Jett and Hunter Lawrence joined forces with Dean Ferris (Yamaha) to produce the stellar performance in front of a massive and partisan race day crowd – which ultimately got what it wanted with a French victory in the annual teams’ showstopper.
France (Maxime Renaux, Tom Vialle and Romain Febvre) was in control from the outset and completed the three-race MXoN on 14pts to loft the Chamberlain Trophy for the first time since 2018, followed by the MXstore-supported Australia (34), a slow-starting Italy (43), Germany (47) and Belgium (50).
Australia came home with a wet sail thanks to the precocious talents of Jett Lawrence, who was jubilant after getting the better of a spirited battle with German star Ken Roczen (Suzuki) in race three (MXGP/Open).
And Jett could have been a double winner if not for an early fall in race one (MXGP/Moto2), which preceded a stirring fightback through the pack from outside the top 30. He eventually finished sixth, with Hunter 10th.
Race two (Open/MX2) saw Hunter continue his excellent form in fifth place, while Ferris was 12th in his first outing for the day – a tough-as-nails riposte from the reigning Aussie MX1 champion after a big crash in his qualifying race on Saturday.
Ferris then finished 16th in race two, but MXoN rules allow a team’s worst result to be set aside in the final scoring.
Across the individual standings, Hunter was second overall in the MX2 class, with Jett and Ferris third and fifth respectively in MXGP and Open.
Quotes attributable to Jett Lawrence:
“The first race, the start wasn’t too bad, I was there. I was in the top 10 and I thought I had a good chance of winning but I made an aggressive pass on the outside and went down. Starting dead last wasn’t ideal but I had a pretty good flow around the track and felt fit and didn’t get tired at all. My last six laps were the fastest so I was happy with that.
“The second moto I wanted to go out and win the thing. I had a decent start, around third, then I made a quick move for second and was chasing Kenny again like back in America. I felt at home, although he had a lot better lines than I did at the start so I was following him for a bit, but once I was able to get around him, I put my head down and flowed just like home. It was good to get the win and finish on a high.”
Quotes attributable to Hunter Lawrence:
“It was the best result ever for Australia, so it’s awesome but I’m already looking forward to next year. It was a wild day, the track was super gnarly, it was brutal so we’re happy that everyone was able to do their best, and the boys gave their all, and left everything on the track. If everyone gives their 100 per cent effort, you can’t ask for much more.”
Images: Alex Kelly Photos