The respective teams from New Zealand, the United States, France, 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 England in a few weeks’ time, to sort out which is the best motocross country in the world.

Team New Zealand this year comprises Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper, Takaka’s Hamish Harwood and Hamilton’s Josiah Natzke, the same line-up that represented the Kiwis at the Motocross of Nations in Italy last year.

They finished 17th overall last year, in the top half of the more than 35 countries entered, but they will, naturally, want to improve upon that when this year’s “Olympic Games of motocross” takes place at Matterley Basin, near Winchester, on the weekend of September 30 and October 1.

What might surprise many people is that the first ever motocross race was held 93 years ago and the birthplace of the sport just 50 kilometres from this Matterley Basin circuit.

Motocross was then known as “scrambling” and the first known scrambles event was held at Camberley in Surrey, in England, in 1924.

Favourites to win the MXoN there this year will, of course, be the reigning champions, Team France, but the Dutch, the Americans, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland will all consider themselves strong contenders for the win, along with Great Britain, which will be hoping for a win on home soil.

The three riders picked to represent the French are Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and Christophe Charlier, on paper again one of the strongest line-ups this time around.

Another team which must fancy its chances is the host nation’s line-up, Team Great Britain.

But it’s is now 16 years since Britain’s last FIM World Motocross Championship success (when James Dobb won the 125cc World Championship in 2001) and it’s 23 years since Team Great Britain won the MXoN (at Roggenburg, in Switzerland in 1994, with the trio of Kurt Nicoll, Rob Herring and Paul Malin).

It will be a new crop of British riders who try and uphold their nation’s honour at this year’s edition of the MXoN.

Max Anstie, Tommy Searle and Dean Wilson will try to again win the 2017 MXoN for Team GB, the Matterley Basin venue near Winchester also just 50 kilometres up the road from the 1924 birthplace of the sport (in Surrey).

These have been New Zealand’s results at the MXoN since 2000: 19th (in France in 2000); 3rd (in Belgium, 2001); No shows in Spain in 2002; 4th (Belgium, 2003); 7th (Netherlands, 2004); 4th (France, 2005); 3rd (UK, 2006); Failed to qualify in 2007 (Daryl Hurley and Ben Townley injured on day one); 8th (UK, 2008); 11th (Italy, 2009); 8th (USA, 2010); 30th (France, 2011); 15th (Belgium, 2012); 20th (Germany, 2013); 23rd (Latvia, 2014); 8th (France, 2015); 17th (Italy, 2016).

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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How they line up so far for 2017 MXoN:

France:

Gautier Paulin (MXGP), Romain Febvre (Open), Dylan Ferrandis (MX2)

Italy:

Antonio Cairoli (MXGP), Alessandro Lupino (Open), Michele Cervellin (MX2).

Belgium:

Clement Desalle (MXGP), Jeremy Van Horebeek (Open), Julien Lieber (MX2)

Netherlands:

Jeffrey Herlings (MXGP), Glenn Coldenhoff (Open), Brian Bogers (MX2)

USA:

Cole Seely (MXGP), Thomas Covington (MX2), Zach Osborne (Open)

Great Britain:

Max Anstie (MX1), Tommy Searle (MX2) and Dean Wilson (Open)

Germany:

Max Nagl (MXGP), Henry Jacobi (MX2), Dennis Ullrich (Open)

New Zealand:

Cody Cooper (MXGP), Hamish Harwood (Open Class), Josiah Natzke (MX2).

Australia:

Dean Ferris (MXGP), Kirk Gibbs (Open Class), Hunter Lawrence (MX2)

Puerto Rico:

Justin Starling (MXGP), Marshal Weltin (MX2), Darian Sanayei (Open)

Spain:

Jose Butron (MXGP), Iker Larranaja Olano (MX2), Jorge Prado (Open)

Ireland:

Graeme Irwin (MXGP), Martin Barr (MX2), Stuart Edmonds (Open)

Canada:

Colton Facciotti (MXGP), Shawn Maffenbeier (MX2), Tyler Medaglia (Open)

Slovenia:

Tim Gajser (MXGP), Jan Pancar (MX2), Jernej Irt (Open Class)

Sweden:

Thomas Kjer Olsen, Stefan Kjer Olsen and Nikolaj Larsen

Lithuania:

Arminas Jasikonis (MXGP) Dovydas Karka (MX2) Arnas Milevicius (Open)

Russia:

Evgeny Bobryshev (MXGP) Semen Rogozin (MX2) Evgeny Mikhaylov (Open)

Denmark:

Thomas Kjer Olsen, Stefan Kjer Olsen, Nikolaj Larsen

Czech Republic:

Filip Neugebauer, Petr Smitka, Jaromír Romančík

Japan:

Akira Narita, Takeru Kobayashi, Kei Yamamoto

Brazil:

Fabio Santos, Ramyller Alves, Eduardo Lima

Hungary:

Márk Szőke, Krisztian Tompa, Gábor Firtosvári

Slovakia:

Tomaš Šimko, Richard Šikyňa, Tomáš Kohút

Finland:

Juuso Matikaïnen, Kim Savaste, Jere Haavisto