Well, as expected, unexpected things happened at this year's FIM Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, held at Matterly Basin in Winchester, England. However, the more things change the more things stay the same. France won again!
Still, even that fourth-straight victory featured somewhat of a surprise, as France was expected to struggle with its MX2 spot, since both Dylan Ferrandis and Benoit Paturel were out with injury. The team turned to Christophe Charlier who was a front-line GP rider (and former Team France member) before but ended up in the EnduroGP Series this year. He had not raced motocross this year, but he ended up a strong sixth overall in his second moto while riding his 250 against 450s. That was more than enough to fill the spot and get France another victory.
It wasn't the only surprise. We identified three different standout performances here. Which do you think surprised the most?
Max Anstie going 1-1 in MXGP 2831 votes - 67.8%
Christophe Charlier's sixth in Race 2 (MX2 + Open) 349 votes - 8.4%
Hunter Lawrence winning MX2 891 votes - 21.3%
Other 107 votes - 2.6%
