It all comes down to the 20th and final round of the FIM Motocross World Championships and the event will feature at least one Kiwi rider, Honda ace Seth Morrow.
The young man from Invercargill, who now calls Silverdale, north of Auckland, his home, pictured here, is apparently the sole New Zealand entrant in the major championship categories and BikesportNZ.com wishes him all the best as he tackles the MX2 class in Darwin.
The final round of the season takes place this weekend to decide the fate of all three world titles at the brand-new Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex not far from the centre of the Northern Territory’s capital city of Darwin.
The 2025 MXGP, MX2, and WMX World Champions will all be crowned at the MXGP of Australia.
This will be only the fifth time that World Championship Motocross will be run within the world’s biggest island nation, at adult level anyway, as the first event was held way back in 1992, when the Team USA line-up of Billy Liles, Mike LaRocco and Jeff Emig won the Motocross des Nations at the south-eastern venue of Manjimup.
The first GP was held at the same circuit a year later, and saw Dutchman Pedro Tragter clinch the 125cc World Championship with second overall behind Italian Andrea Bartolini.
Eight years later and the 500cc class visited these shores, at the south-western venue of Broadford near Melbourne.
Current Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team manager Joel Smets was victorious in Victoria that day, and he was back there the following year as the 2001 three-class format was run for the most recent Grand Prix in Australia. Britain’s James Dobb, Frenchman Mickael Pichon and Belgium’s Stefan Everts took the single-race GP wins that weekend.
Australia also hosted a World Junior Motocross Championship event in 2018, at the Horsham venue, also in the southern state of Victoria.
Local riders Bailey Malkiewicz and Braden Plath took titles that day, as did American Caden Braswell.
Several riders who are lining up this weekend were also there at Horsham seven years ago, and will be hoping to take advantage of their southern hemisphere experience.
Fast forward to 2025, and Smets’ top rider Jeffrey Herlings brings a three-GP winning streak to the event down under for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
However, the championship battle is between French veteran Romain Febvre, red plate holder for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, and the teenage Belgian tearaway Lucas Coenen for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
For the second year running, Coenen heads to the final round with a mountain to climb if he is to come away with gold, but he also knows that nothing is over until the final chequered flag flies.
As per usual, things are much closer in MX2, with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s red plate holder Simon Längenfelder holding a slim margin over reigning World Champion and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Kay de Wolf.
The German is looking to end a run of three years of bronze medals by striking gold this weekend, and top three positions in all three races will do the job, even if his Dutch rival takes all three race wins.
In the wild and unpredictable MX2 class, however, anything is possible with a hatful of contenders able to get amongst the title combatants.
With strong consistency over the last two Grands Prix, Febvre has rebuilt his championship lead to a mighty 47 points over Belgium’s Lucas Coenen, who struggled in the heat of Shanghai last weekend with 12th place overall, his worst result of the entire season.
After a second corner crash in race two, the young Belgian seemed resigned to his fate, and needs major issues for the red plate holder in order to deprive him of the title.
Febvre, aiming to take his second world crown, 10 years and eight days (maybe seven) after his first, could wrap things up in Saturday’s qualifying race if he scores four points more than Coenen.
He only needs to score 14 points across the whole weekend to be Champion, even if the Belgian wins all three outings.
Behind them, Glenn Coldenhoff has wrapped up third place in the World Championship for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
It’s the second bronze medal of his distinguished 16-year GP career, and the 35-year-old Dutch veteran could well be lining up at a Grand Prix for the final time this weekend if some rumours are to be believed.
China saw a welcome return to form for Ruben Fernandez, taking his third podium of the year for Honda HRC, and he needs to stay on the gas this weekend as he holds just a 15-point advantage over Herlings for fourth in the championship.
In the form Jeffrey’s in, he might need every point of that gap.
Herlings’ three-GP win streak has moved him past Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Calvin Vlaanderen for fifth in the series, while Calvin’s team-mate Maxime Renaux is a further 35 points back in seventh.
Both Yamaha riders will be looking to finish their season off with a podium result after looking strong in recent GPs.
Renaux has got to watch for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Andrea Bonacorsi, who is only 17 points behind him in the series, but the final two spots in the top ten are virtually sealed.
Tim Gajser looked strong in China for Honda HRC, and will be out for nothing less than a victorious end to the season after looking like the title favourite before his shoulder injury.
Jeremy Seewer is pretty secure in tenth for Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team, which is a fine result for the Italian brand in their first full year of competition at the very top of the sport.
Jeremy’s Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Mattia Guadagnini actually finished second in the 125cc Junior World Championship in Australia in 2018, to Bailey Malkiewicz in the 125cc class, while Aussie wildcard Zac Watson competed in the 85cc class that day too.
It will be a landmark day for many in the MXGP World Championship, with stories of many top riders likely to change teams after this race, so this might be the last time they run with the colours that we are very used to seeing many of them in
© Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
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LEADING STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 19:
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 929 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 882 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 665 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 599 p.; 5. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 582 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 560 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 525 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 508 p.; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 464 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 368 p.
MX2 – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 884 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 868 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 817 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 756 p.; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 612 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 606 p.; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 603 p.; 8. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 461 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 447 p.; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 434 p.