HOW THEY STACK UP | Bikesportnz

The respective teams from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland and Peurto Rico have been named and now it’s just a matter of them getting together – along with the teams from 30 or so other countries – in Belgium in a few weeks’ time, to sort out which is the best motocross country in the world.

New South Wales motocross and supercross star Lawson Bopping will lead the Australian team in Belgium, wearing the green and gold in the MX1 (450cc) class.

Bopping will be joined on the team by talented New South Wales rider Luke Styke. The current Australian MX Pro Lites challenger, who swept to third in the 2011 Australian Supercross Lites, will take up the MX2 (250cc) berth.

Rounding out the team in the MX3 (Open) class will be Gold Coast motocross pilot Todd Waters, who is currently running second in the 2012 Australian MX Nationals MX1 class.

Queensland’s Ford Dale has been appointed as reserve for the MX1 and MX3 classes, and Victoria’s Josh Cachia as reserve for MX2.

Italy announced that multi-time world champion Antonio Cairoli, Alessando Lupino and David Guarneri will represent them in the 2012 Motocross of Nations at Lommel, in Belgium, while Marcus Schiffer, Max Nagl and Ken Roczen will form the German team.

Ireland has named its team too. The Emerald Isle squad will comprise Martin Barr, Graeme Irwin and Stuart Edmonds. Ireland’s alternate rider is Wayne Garrett and former GP star Laurence Spence will be the team manager.

Team New Zealand comprises Motueka’s Josh Coppins, Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper and Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont, with Rhys Carter and Hamish Harwood as reserves.

The host Belgians have listed Jeremy Van Horebeek (MX2), Clément Desalle (MX1), Ken De Dycker (Open) as their three riders.

The team for Puerto Rico will consist of Gino Aponte, Zach Osborne and Jimmy Albertson. Aponte is the 450 Puerto Rican national champion.

The Swiss line-up this year is Arnaud Tonus (MX1 class), Jeremy Seewer (MX2) and Valentin Guillod (MX3).

British team manager Neil Prince has selected his riders and they are Tommy Searle in MX1, Max Anstie in the Open class and Jake Nicholls in the MX2 class.

Favourites for the event will, of course, be the reigning champions, Team USA, but Belgium will be hoping for a win on home soil, with Italy, France and Germany also in the running with very powerful teams again this season.

The three riders picked to represent the USA are Ryan Dungey, Justin Barcia and Blake Baggett.

The US has no circuit similar to the deep, almost bottomless sand like that of Lommel, so this could be the year that the USA win streak comes to an end.

Team USA is unbeaten since this great event was held in Zolder, in Belgium, in 2003, and this has now truly become a USA versus Rest of the World event.

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