It was another classic us versus them at this year’s 64th annual Motocross of Nations, the American stars versus the Grand Prix heroes in the one-off “Olympic Games of motocross”, this time at Thunder Valley Park, on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado.

But it seemed it was mission impossible again this time for anyone wanting to beat the Americans, especially that this year they were on their home turf.

With almost 25,000 mostly American fans cheering them on, Team USA – Ryan Dungey, Andrew Short and Trey Canard – raced away to their sixth consecutive MXoN win.

They didn’t have it all their own way, however, with the French, Belgians, Italians and Team New Zealand dishing out a few big hits.

The Kiwis – Taupo’s Ben Townley, Motueka’s Josh Coppins and Hawera’s Brad Groombridge – eventually finished eighth overall, three places better than the Kiwis had achieved when the race was held in Italy last year, but there were plenty of bright spots to go with the gloom.

Groombridge weathered a fierce storm in his MXoN debut and far from being overwhelmed, he fought his way to 29th and 36th in his two outings, looking comfortable as he banged handlebars with some of the cream of the world’s 250cc bike riders.

Coppins put in two solid performances, coming home 11th and 14th in his farewell ride for the Aprilia factory.  He has quit the GP scene and now returns to race for Yamaha in Australia and New Zealand from the start of 2011.

Townley was New Zealand’s top hope, the former world and US champion the hottest prospect for glory … and that’s exactly what shone through when the Honda ace won the day’s second race, leading home Puerto Rico’s Kyle Regal, German teen sensation Ken Roczen and Belgium’s Clement Desalle.

But it all went sour in his next race when he severely twisted his ankle and was forced to withdraw. He was running in second place at the time.

“It was a real shame for Ben (Townley),” said Coppins. He was our ace card. I’m pretty proud of Brad (Groombridge). He gave it 100 percent and I put it two steady rides but had trouble with my bike overheating, causing it to lose power.”

Overall runners-up were the men from Belgium, with Team Germany taking third place.

The Motocross of Nations next year is set for St Jean D’Angely in France.

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

Full story and more photos in your next issue of KIWI RIDER magazine.

RESULTS:

Results Race 1 (MX1 + MX2)

1 Dungey, Ryan USA

2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA

3 Metcalfe, Brett AUS

4 Barragan, Jonathan ESP

5 Paulin, Gautier FRA

6 Roczen, Ken GER

7 Ramon, Steve BEL

8 Wilson, Dean GBR

9 Goncalves, Rui POR

10 Leok, Tanel EST

11 Coppins, Joshua NZL

12 Canard, Trey USA

13 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL

14 Schiffer, Marcus GER

15 Osborne, Zach PUR

16 Karro, Matiss LAT

17 Walkner, Matthias AUT

18 Ferris, Dean AUS

19 Kullas, Harri FIN

20 Lupino, Alessandro ITA

21 Medaglia, Jeremy CAN

22 Butron, Jose Antonio ESP

23 Steinbergs, Ivo LAT

24 Rauchenecker, Pascal AUT

25 Benoit, Kaven CAN

26 Eriksson, Toni FIN

27 Rätsep, Priit EST

28 Guillod, Valentin SUI

29 Groombridge, Brad NZL

30 Mihara, Takuya JPN

31 Basaula, Hugo POR

32 Barr, Martin IRL

33 Edmonds, Stuart IRL

34 Castro, Cristopher BRA

35 Cidade, Anderson BRA

36 Ruiz, Christian PUR

37 Nicholls, Jake GBR

38 Narita, Akira JPN

39 Musquin, Marvin FRA

40 Wicht, Gregory SUI

Results Race 2 (MX2 + Open)

1 Townley, Ben NZL

2 Regal, Kyle PUR

3 Roczen, Ken GER

4 Desalle, Clement BEL

5 Nagl, Maximilian GER

6 Wilson, Dean GBR

7 Canard, Trey USA

8 Anderson, Brad GBR

9 Monni, Manuel ITA

10 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL

11 Boog, Xavier FRA

12 Balbi, Antonio BRA

13 Short, Andrew USA

14 Osborne, Zach PUR

15 Atsuta, Yoshitaka JPN

16 Tonus, Arnaud SUI

17 Keast, Kyle CAN

18 Marmont, Jay AUS

19 Kullas, Harri FIN

20 Karro, Matiss LAT

21 Lozano, Alvaro ESP

22 Correia, Luis POR

23 Crockard, Gordon IRL

24 Rauchenecker, Pascal AUT

25 Lupino, Alessandro ITA

26 Krestinov, Gert EST

27 Ferris, Dean AUS

28 Guillod, Valentin SUI

29 Basaula, Hugo POR

30 Mihara, Takuya JPN

31 Söderberg, Jon FIN

32 Castro, Cristopher BRA

33 Benoit, Kaven CAN

34 Barr, Martin IRL

35 Rätsep, Priit EST

36 Groombridge, Brad NZL

37 Freibergs, Lauris LAT

38 Schmidinger, Günter AUT

39 Butron, Jose Antonio ESP

40 Musquin, Marvin FRA KTM

Results Race 3 (MX1 + Open)

1 Dungey, Ryan USA

2 Short, Andrew USA

3 Desalle, Clement BEL

4 Cairoli, Antonio ITA

5 Metcalfe, Brett AUS

6 Ramon, Steve BEL

7 Boog, Xavier FRA

8 Tonus, Arnaud SUI

9 Paulin, Gautier FRA

10 Marmont, Jay AUS

11 Anderson, Brad GBR

12 Nicholls, Jake GBR

13 Goncalves, Rui POR

14 Coppins, Joshua NZL

15 Monni, Manuel ITA

16 Schiffer, Marcus GER

17 Balbi, Antonio BRA

18 Walkner, Matthias AUT

19 Atsuta, Yoshitaka JPN

20 Leok, Tanel EST

21 Correia, Luis POR

22 Wicht, Gregory SUI

23 Keast, Kyle CAN

24 Crockard, Gordon IRL

25 Eriksson, Toni FIN

26 Schmidinger, Günter AUT

27 Söderberg, Jon FIN

28 Cidade, Anderson BRA

29 Steinbergs, Ivo LAT

30 Edmonds, Stuart IRL

31 Lozano, Alvaro ESP

32 Ruiz, Christian PUR

33 Freibergs, Lauris LAT

34 Narita, Akira JPN

35 Townley, Ben NZL

36 Regal, Kyle PUR

37 Barragan, Jonathan ESP

38 Krestinov, Gert EST

39 Nagl, Maximilian GER