DES NEWS: TEAM USA WINS 2011 MOTOCROSS DES NATIONS; IT WAS A NAIL BITER UP UNTIL POURCEL DROPPED OUT

On Sep 18, 2011

This is the winning team at the 2011 Motocross des Nations. It was close up until the third moto of the day. From left to right; Dungey, Villopoto, Baggett and DeCoster.

At St Jean d’Angeley the American team left the outcome in doubt until the last moto of the day. Then, when the chips were on the line, Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey left everyone in their dust (although there wasn’t any dust on a rainy day in France.

Great Britain looked like they could win after the first 250/450 moto (Searle was fourth and Wilson eighth), but the wheels came off their train in moto two (250/MX3) when Wilson crashed back to 27th and Brad Anderson was 14th.

After moto two the French were leading (thanks to a moto win by Gautier Paulin in moto two and a solid eigth by Marvin Musquin) But mathematics is a tricky science. Since each team was allowed to drop its worst moto score (counting only five out of six scores), France went into the final moto with only a three-point lead over the USA (Villopoto and Dungey both had thirds).

The third moto looked like a rout for the Americans when Villopoto and Dungey started one-two. Christophe Pourcel put on a charge that scared the Americans, but then he DNF’ed. It was all over but the shouting as the battle now raged behind Team USA for the second and third spots on the podium.

France’s Gautier Paulin had a tussle with Aussie’s Metcalfe and Reed, while Brit Tommy Searle motored on through all of them. In the end, Tommy Searle’s efforts weren’t good enough to stop Australia from getting their first-ever MXDN podium.

Everybody in this podium photo must have contributed something to Team USA, but the riders, mechanics, team managers and AMA officials would be more than enough.

RACE ONE: 250/ 450 COMBINED
1. Chad Reed…Australia
2. Ken Roczen…Germany
3. Ryan Dungey…United States
4. Tommy Searle…Great Britain
5. Tyla Rattray…South Africa
6. Tanel Leok…Estonia
7. Jonathan Barragan…Spain
8. Marvin Musqin…France
9. Dean Wilson…Great Britain
10. Joel Roelants…Belgium
11. Christophe Pourcel…France
12. Rui Goncalves…Portugal
13. Yoshi Atsuta…Japan
14. Antti Pyrhonen…Finland
15. Filip Neugebauer…Czech Republic
Other notables: 17. Blake Baggett…United States; 19. Matt Moss …Australia; 28. Daniel Siegl…Germany; 34. Evgeny Bobryshev Russia; 39. Alessandro Lupino…Italy; 40. Tony Cairoli…Italy

Ryan Dungey went 3-2.

NATIONS STANDINGS (after race 1 of 3): 1. England…13, 2. France…19, 3. Australia…20, 4. USA…20, 5. Estonia…24, 6. Belgium…26

Only one of Blake Baggett’s two 17th place finishes was counted, but 17th was more than good enough.

RACE TWO: 250/MX3 COMBINED
1. Gautier Paulin…France
2. Jeffrey Herlings…Holland
3. Ryan Villopoto…United States
4. Antonio Cairoli…Italy
5. Kevin Strijbos…Belgium
6. Gareth Swanepoel…South Africa
7. Brett Metcalfe…Australia
8. Davide Guarneri…Italy
9. Carlos Campano…Spain
12. Marcus Schiffer…Germany
13. Yoshi Atsuta…Japan
14. Brad Anderson…Great Britain
15. Luis Correia…Czech Republic
Other notables: 17. Blake Baggett…United States; 27. Dean Wilson…Great Britain; 33. Alberto Paulo…Portugal; 36. Alessandro Lupino…Italy; 39. Matt Moss…Australia

Blake Baggett crashed in both motos, but raced hard enough to get the points we needed.

NATIONS STANDINGS (after race 2 of 3): 1. France…20, 2.USA…23, 3. England…27, 4. Australia…27, 5. Belgium…27, 6. South Africa…35

Ryan Villopoto won the third moto by 16 seconds, although he waited for Ryan Dungey so they could cross the finish line together.

Dean Wilson couldn’t get Great Britain on the podium. They missed by two points.

RACE THREE: 450/MX3 COMBINED
1. Ryan Villopoto…United States
2. Ryan Dungey…United States
3. Tyla Rattray…South Africa
4. Tommy Searle…Great BrItain
5. Davide Guarneri…Italy
6. Evgeny Bobryshev…Russia
7. Chad Reed…Australia
8. Gautier Paulin…France
9. Jeffrey Herlings…Holland
10. Brett Metcalfe…Australia
11. Kevin Strijbos…Belgium
12. Tanel Leok…Estonia
13. Tonus Arnaud…Switzerland
14. Jonathan Barragan…Spain
15. Brad Anderson…Great BrItain
Other notables: 18. Gareth Swanepoel…South Africa; 19. Carlos Campano…Spain; 23. Antti Pyrhonen…Finland; 35. Christophe Pourcel…France; 37. Tony Cairoli…Italy

Ryan Villopoto was the hero of the day (although each country had its moments. In fact in the first moto their were nine different countries with riders in the top ten).

FINAL 2011 MXDN STANDINGS
1. United States (Villopoto, Dungey, Baggett)…26
2. France (Pourcel, Paulin, Musquin)…39
3. Australia (Reed, Metcalfe, Moss)…44
4. Great Britain (Searle, Anderson, Wilson)…46
5. Belgium (Strijbos, Roelants, Van Daele)…54
6. South Africa (Rattray, Swanepoel, Terreblanche)…56
7. Germant (Roczen, Schiffer, Siegl)…68
8. Spain (Barragan, Campano, Butron)…68
9. Holland (Herlings, Bastemeijer, Brakke)…81
10. Estonia (Leok, Ratsep, Krestinov)…86