Moto 2: Open and MX2

Spain had a holeshot again with Rubin Fernandez, but this moto had Jett Lawrence in it, and he quickly made a few moves, took the lead from Fernandez and took off with the moto win. That was a big boost for Australia, and the Netherlands opened the door, slightly, to the other teams due to a few falls from de Wolf. He still ended up as the top MX2 rider overall with 6-5 scores, but did leave a few spots the Dutch desperately needed on the table. That was also hurt by Glenn Coldenhoff, who struggled and then crashed late to net 18th. Netherlands' big point lead from Moto 1 was gone.

Webster had a bad one with a bad start and a stop for goggles, he was 19th for Australia but that mattered little, it would be the team's one throwaway score. 

Team USA had an okay moto, Aaron Plessinger was up front early with a good start, but dropped some spots to finish seventh. Webb was better this time, bulldogging his 250 to ninth, which made him the fourth-best 250 on the track. 

Goggle management in the non-stop drizzle told so much of the story. Plessinger eventually had to throw his goggles, but so did so many others. Webb was wiping his goggles with his sleeve early to save his roll off film for the end. On the last lap Mikkel Haarup got to Webb and tried to make a pass, but Webb held him off by a wheel.

The French team took a hit based on a tough day for Tom Vialle, who went 22-12 in his two motos after winning the MX2 qualifier the previous day. Renaux was a solid fourth as the Open rider.

When it was all told, the points were incredibly close. Taking the drop score out, five teams were separated by four points! Netherlands and the USA led with 18, France and Spain had 19, and Australia had 20. It would all come down to the final moto, which, by the way, packed one of the most stacked gates in the history of the sport with each team bringing two 450 riders to the gate. It could not get any better.

Moto 3: MXGP and Open

It would come down to this. The final moto, with five teams with a chance to win and an all-time stacked gate. Who would be clutch and grab an incredibly-important start? How about Team USA’s Eli Tomac roaring off with the Fox Holeshot! On the first lap, the Netherlands and Spain found their hopes dashed when Coldenhoff and Fernandez got tangled in a pileup and were down in the back of the back. Now three teams remained with a shot: USA, Australia and France. France then saw hopes fade as Renaux crashed, and then Febvre crashed out of the moto completely when he knocked the wind out of himself.

It would come down to Team USA versus Australia, but also in the balance hung the bragging rights of a moto win against an all-time deep field. For the USA, Tomac took on early pressure from Prado, lost the lead, got it back, and then started to pull away. Plessinger was 15^th early but started to make passes as other riders faltered. Australia’s Lawrence brothers were fourth and fifth early, waiting for their chance.

As the race transpired, Gajser started to make tracks toward Tomac. Prado faded back and eventually finished 14th. Hunter and Jett got to third and fourth and the points were incredibly tight. Could the Lawrence’s move further forward? Could Tomac hold on for the win? Could Plessinger move up? At the halfway mark, Gajser really started pressing Tomac, but then Jett moved around Hunter to third and started putting blazing lap times together. Gajser passed Tomac for the lead and Tomac fought back. It was incredible racing as they traded the lead! Then Jett was there, he caught Tomac for second, made the move and closed down on Gajser. This was a massive boost for Australia’s chances, then Jett made a pass on the inside of turn one on Gajser to take the moto lead. He started pulling away briefly, but then Gajser responded with determination to latch back on to Lawrence. More great racing! Tomac remained in third.

At this point, the Lawrence’s 1-4 was going to be enough to bring the Chamberlain Trophy home. But Team USA gained some points as Plessinger moved forward and other riders went down. He would get to eighth from 15th. So much of the race ebbed and flowed with goggles, too, as the rain never quite let up. As the white flag waved, though, Australia was sitting on a four-point lead, but Gajser was on Jett’s rear wheel challenging for the moto win! Jett didn’t need to win it, but he explained that he wasn’t sure, so he was going all out to keep Gajser behind him but also not crash and throw the entire race away. Gajser, heartbroken over last week’s close loss of the MXGP World Title, had nothing to lose, and his nation, Slovenia, was not a contender for the win. It was his time. He absolutely sent the final lap and then with two turns to go got super aggressive and drove inside of Jett. He made the pass within sight of the finish! In this incredible moto, it was Tim Gajser with the bragging rights as the winner, and a 1-1 score in his two motos. Jett finished right behind him and Hunter’s fourth, behind Tomac, was enough to give Team Australia its first-ever Motocross of Nations win.