Australia 3rd at the Motocross of Nations 2022

Overnight rain meant a wet and muddy Redbud track for the 2022 Motocross of Nations, but that did little to dampen the spirits of our Aussie boys as they headed into race day. We knew Australia were in with a good chance of winning the Chamberlain trophy for the first time ever and excitement was mounting as we closed in on the first gate drop of the day.

Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence and Mitch Evans.

Race 1 - MXGP and MX2

It was Mitch Evans and Hunter Lawrence getting things underway for Team Australia in Race 1, with Hunter on the 250 taking the inside gate pick and Mitch starting out wide. Both boys had a great jump off the line 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. 

The running in the top 10 was fairly consistent throughout the race, with Seewer on the charge multiple times before he crashed and remounted. It was Jorge Prado of Spain in 6th and Italian legend Toni Cairoli in 7th. Mitch fended off attacks from Prado 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. Justin Cooper of the USA was the second MX2 rider in 9th, while Kay De Wolf of the Netherlands rounded out the top 10. A great result from the boys with 5-8 scores had us sitting second behind America with 1-9 scores after the first race. Well done boys!

Mitch Evans HRC machine.

Race 2 - MX2 and MX Open

Race 2 would see Hunter line up alongside brother Jett Lawrence for his MXoN (and 450) debut and boy did the brothers deliver. With Hunter again on the inside gate and Jett starting out wide, there was plenty of green and gold right in the mix as the boys came through turn one, avoiding the carnage of a first turn pile up that claimed France's Dylan Ferrandis and a number of other riders. Jett came close to taking the holeshot from out wide, 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 not long into the race with our Aussie star coming off second best, falling to outside the top 15. Hunter showed plenty of heart and determination to remount and battle back through the field multiple times to end up in a very impressive 10th on his 250 machine.

Meanwhile up front, Jett was locked in a three-way battle with Sexton and Guadagnini for the lead! Sexton initially made the move on the Italian and looked to set sail, but Guadagnini pounced back to regain the lead not long after. Jett eased himself into the battle and made an aggressive move on Sexton right before the finish line, showing typical Aussie spirit with a wave of apology as he made his way through on Sexton into 2nd place. Not long after that, Jett pushed past Guadagnini to put himself into the lead and never looked back. Jett ended up nearly 15 seconds clear of Sexton in 2nd at the end of the race. Not a bad effort for his debut! Our 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 was going to be exciting with everything up for grabs!

Race 3 - MXGP and MX Open

Mitch and Jett suited up for race 3 in an all-450 affair. It was a jam packed start with both of the boys in the top 10 through the first through corners, with Mitch unfortunately 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. With Tomac finding his way to 7th for America, they held a comfortable lead in the overall standings despite France running 1-2 in the moto and the USA seemed content to finish that way and Australia looked destined for a 3rd place finished.

However, things changed in a hurry when Ferrandis threw away the race lead, dropping down to 6th after a costly mistake that put him on the ground. Jett was on the charge past 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 a large portion of the race before Jett pulled the trigger and pushed past Sexton into 2nd place, gunning hard for Renaux to go 1-1 on his Motocross of Nations debut. Vision became an issue as Jett ditched his goggles late in the moto however, holding on to finish up in 2nd place, giving Australia their second ever podium at this prestigious event.

Jett Lawrence sending Larocco's Leap.

A big congratulations to Jett, Hunter, and Mitch on a fantastic effort at this year's event. We couldn't be more proud of your efforts and we're already looking forward to next year's event!