MXGP #121 2023 by MXGP MAG

#121 2023

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Chief Editor: Marionna Leiva Photos: MXGP INFRONT MOTO RACING MEDIA World Trade Center II Rte de Pré-Bois 29 1215 Geneva 15 Airport Switzerland MXGP Mag #121 2023 The articles published in this magazine do not necessarily reﬂect the oﬃcial position of Infront Moto Racing.

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Then content of this publication is based on the best knowledge and information available at the time the articles were written.

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MXGP MAG

L A I R O T I D E

David Luongo CEO of Infront Moto Racing

Dear MXGP Friends, What an end of season it was! First of all, the comeback of MXGP to Maggiora, one of the most appreciated tracks in the world, where the Italian fans could witness a fantastic Grand Prix. Saturday started with heavy rain that stayed for the whole day, but the two leaders of both MX2 and MXGP classes kept their heads cool and relaxed. Alberto Forato won for the first time in his career the RAM MXGP Qualifying race in front of his home fans and scored a fantastic 4th position at the Overall GP classification. Jorge Prado finished the work on Sunday with a victory in the first race that brought his first MXGP World Title after a very consistent season! In MX2 Andrea Adamo also secured the World Title in the second race of the day. With the victory of both Prado and Adamo, the MXGP World Championship is showing the diversity of talents it has. Both champions are coming from the very base of the pyramid Infront Moto Racing put in place more than a decade ago with the European Championship. It also shows that

THIS YEAR’S MXON EDITION MADE HISTORY WITH A CUMULATED ATTENDANCE OF MORE THAN 100.000 SPECTATORS despite having already a lot of fantastic talents and World Champions in the MXGP class, we have a new World Champion coming from a different country. Jorge Prado is writing the history of his country becoming the first ever Spanish rider to be crowned MXGP World Champion. I want to congratulate both Jorge and Andrea for their great season! The final Grand Prix of the season brought us to UK, probably the most beautiful track of the World Championship, Matterley Basin. As you may know after our announcement last week, the 2024 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations will take place in Great Britain on this beautiful facility, the tickets

will be on sale very soon. In UK, Jago Geerts secured his second position in the championship after a fantastic battle through the pack in the last race, setting the final podium with Simon Laengenfelder, who also ended the season with a terrific rhythm. In MXGP, Romain Febvre ended the season on the second position of the Championship in front of Seewer that once again made a very consistent season. One week off and the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations took place in Ernée. We wrote the motocross history during that weekend. There are not enough words to explain how great it was, especially coming after 2 years of lockdown with Covid and all the challenges we had to face to keep this sport on top of this game. Let’s say that we do this job for this kind of moments. Last time Ernée hosted a MXoN was in 2015, an edition that was already great, and the plans were to organize it again in 2020. Unfortunately, it had to be cancelled because of Covid, so this 2023 edition was very symbolic for us. A massive 37 Nations participated to the event, with one of the best line-up

ever in the Motocross of Nations history. It was very difficult to predict the final result. Ernée is a natural theatre and give a perfect view of the action to the fans. The event started already on Friday with the traditional balloting for the gate pick and the Nations presentation parade to the public. An immense crowd showed up already on Friday to support their country. This year’s MXoN edition made history with a cumulated attendance of more than 100.000 spectators from Friday to Sunday that came to support their nation. We broke the record of attendance during a motocross event, and it was a fantastic moment of communion for all the Motocross community. This is the power of MXoN! The atmosphere was

unique, and those who were not at Ernée had the chance to see it during the LIVE broadcast of the races, but also during the new LIVE show called “Inside the Paddock” which was broadcast between the main races on Sunday. The French team obtained a clear victory on their home soil. The intensity of the first race was amazing with the battle between Prado and Febvre, and Jett Lawrence coming back from last to 6th after a crash in the third corner. Team Australia secured a historical second overall position on the podium and Italy finished third with a very young team. Germany ended 4th, with a strong performance of Ken Roczen, and finally the Belgium team finished 5th with one of the youngest teams engaged with Liam Everts, Jago Geerts and Lucas Coenen.

During the Motocross of Nations, there are always many announcements, and the presentation of MX2 Triumph bike arrival into the World Championship was probably the most awaited by the community. It is a fantastic statement to our sport to have the arrival of a new official manufacturer into the competition. We are sure that Triumph will help the sport to raise the bar! I would like to thank all the stakeholders of our sport, the manufacturers, our partners, the media, the FIM and FIM Europe, all our organizers, and finally all the riders and the fans for the fantastic season we had together. It is now time to enjoy the short winter break and to prepare the 2024 MXGP Season!

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EPILOGUE

THE MXGP SEASON HAS DELIVERED ITS VERDICT, WITH JORGE PRADO WORLD CHAMPION IN THE REIGNING CLASS AND ANDREA ADAMO IN MX2. WHILE THE BEST STARTER IN THE HISTORY OF MOTOCROSS CONTINUES TO DOMINATE IN HIS FAVOURITE EXERCISE, A NEW CHALLENGER HAS EMERGED FOR THE YEARS TO COME, IN THE PERSON OF SIMON LAENGENFELDER.

Jorge Prado put GASGAS on top of the World. The Galician gave the manufacturer of his bike its first MXGP Championship title. A deserved result, given the consistency and self-sacrifice shown by the #61 on every track this year. But it has to be said, this feat is also the result of a strategy developed for a long time, of which Prado has become the undisputed expert: the fast start. And in this little game, the GASGAS clan has become a master at this, with Simon Laengenfelder joining the list of the best starters in the MX2 class. The German succeeds the Frenchman Tom Vialle, who joined the United States since. However, things were far from easy for the two teammates, and everything came down to the penultimate Grand Prix.

The first to celebrate was JP61. On the Italian track of Maggiora, the Spaniard didn’t tremble to take the lead, crossing the Fox line ahead of his pursuers. And it was far from an easy thing. The day before, during the qualifying races, the sky was falling on the riders’ heads with pouring rain that can sometimes be found in faraway places. The next day, the water had penetrated the soil, making it even more difficult to race but leaving even more suspense when leaving the gate. But not everyone is Jorge Prado, and Davide de Carli’s rider was in the lead at the first corner in the first heat, despite the aggressiveness of Romain Febvre and Jeremy Seewer behind him. A crash by the Frenchman on Lap 6 definitively sealed the World Championship standings, allowing the Red Bull rider to celebrate the first World title of

his career. At the same time, his 13th Fox Holeshot of the year gave him two lengths ahead of his challenger, Jeremy Seewer, synonymous with a Fox trophy in case of another lightning start in one of the last three races of the season. He didn’t have to wait long. In Race 2, in the euphoria of an already celebrated feat, the Man-who-starts-fasterthan-his-shadow once again found himself ahead of the pack, before experiencing a lessthan-successful end to the race. No matter, the double victory was there: World Champion and winner of the Fox Holeshot Award. In MX2, only Jago Geerts was still in a position to prevent Simon Laengenfelder from collecting the prize decerned by Fox. The German had eight black plates, one more than his opponent, and four of them had been obtained in Race 1 of the four previous GPs. So, there was no question 19

of dithering at the start for the Yamaha rider. But things didn’t go according to plan. Like a cannonball, the #516 of GASGAS crushed any potential rebellion, with two new hot starts. The die was cast and the game won for a smiling Laengenfelder at the end of the second heat, despite an overall 2nd place. Geerts was able to console himself by adding another GP to his record book. The following weekend, in the Kingdom of England, despite four final races with little at stake, the pride of not letting their rivals overtake them made it possible to maintain a very high level of competition. In the MX2 class, Simon Laengenfelder won his 11th and final Fox Holeshot of the year at Race 1 (again!), while Liam Everts ended his 2023 Fox campaign in 3rd place, with a 4th black plate to his name in Race 2.

In MXGP, Glenn Coldenhoff completed a respectable double, entering the first corner as leader twice. With five units, the Dutchman joined Romain Febvre in 3rd position in the Fox Holeshot contest, far behind Jeremy Seewer (11) and Jorge Prado (14), not a little proud to receive the reward promised by the equipment manufacturer at the MXGP Awards, along with his MX2 teammate. The season wasn’t completely over for most of the MX contingent, which headed to France for the 2023 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. The event was worthy of the best competitions organized on a global scale, with 102,000 fans coming from all over the world for the occasion. In the first heat, the now MXGP World Champion, Jorge Prado, showed that two weeks of celebration had not taken a toll on his form by snatching

another Fox Holeshot, before giving in at the end of the race under pressure from Romain Febvre at home. The Spaniard had time to rest during Race 2, which concerned the MX2 and Open classes. Valentin Guillod, in this category, got off to the best possible start, before dropping back to 6th place. And in the final race, Simon Laengenfelder and Tom Koch’s teammate, Ken Roczen, put on a closing show aboard his Suzuki, crossing the white line ahead of Maxime Renaux and Jett Lawrence, before finally relinquishing the lead to the Australian midway through the race. This 2023 edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations marked the end of an intense and thrilling sporting season until the end. It’s going to be a long break, so look forward to 2024!

P U G H N ATC I C A C R

… N E V A E 6 7 H N O H X M 7T Z T I L B E C N A R F S A

WOW! JUST WOW! POSSIBLY THE ONLY WAY TO DESCRIBE THE 76TH EDITION OF THE MONSTER ENERGY FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS AT ERNÉE, WHERE TEAM FRANCE SECURED ITS 7TH VICTORY IN FRONT OF A RECORD-BREAKING CROWD OF 102,000 FANS OVER THE COURSE OF THE WEEKEND.

The atmosphere was out of this world, the spectacle was amazing and the racing more than encapsulated the spirit of what the ‘nations is all about. If you are French, then you are probably still feeling the after-effects of the race even now, but even if you’re a neutral, you cannot deny that the weekend was something special and possibly the best race we have ever witnessed so far, and will no doubt live long in all our memories, even for Australia and Italy, who joined France on the podium. Here’s a snippet of how things went down over the course of the weekend. After five consecutive MXoN’s where the weather left a lot to be desired, you’d be forgiven for being one of those nervous ‘weather-checkers’

Saturday. on the run up to this year’s event; but you needn’t have worried. By the time we arrived at the circuit on Wednesday, the long-range forecast was already predicting unusually summer-like temperatures well into the mid-to-high twenties. Nothing strange in that, except this was not July or August; it was October! Not that we were complaining though. It meant that the ‘Circuit Raymond Demy’ would be dry with the racing set to be at a high tempo, something that was missing since 2016 and the last dry ‘nations at Maggiora, Italy. Busy times Compared to an MXGP weekend, the MXoN is a supersized version in every way, and it all begins on Friday. The Media Centre is a hive of activity with opening speeches and announcements aplenty. However, midday is where things start to get interesting and maybe even a little tense, as this is when the Ballot takes place to determine the grid positions for the RAM Qualifying Races on

The Ballot sees two Perspex boxes filled with 37 balls in each box - 37 being the number of teams at this year’s MXoN. The balls contain the name of the country and a series of numbers from 1-37. From the first box, the FIM/CMS Director Mr. Antonio Alia Portela would select a ball and open it up to reveal the name of a country. From the second box he would do the same, only the ball would reveal a number from 1-37, and from this we determine the gate picks. Morocco managed gate 1 for the second consecutive year. Defending champions Team USA had 6th choice, Germany 10th, Belgium 12th with Australia 13th, and with Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy and France all having 23-26 picks, all eyes were going to be aimed at the centre of the gate when it came to the gate drops! With the Ballot decided, the next commitment for some of the riders and teams was the official press

conference, which is a chance for the media to get to hear from the favourites about the weekend ahead. The press conference kicked off with Group 1, which was Team USA, Australia, Italy and Belgium. Group 2, Spain, The Netherlands and Great Britain, with the final group consisting of Germany, Switzerland and France. Following on from that was the popular ‘Rider Parade’ where the teams are paraded in front of the fans on the back of the RAM pick-up trucks, and on this particular occasion it seemed to go off bigger and better than ever before. The scenes were unbelievable, the noise sensational! The parade was broadcast on MXGPTV and apologies if you were unable to fully-hear what was being asked or what the riders were saying, because so loud was the noise. Of course, the biggest and the loudest cheers were reserved for Team France, the host nation who upon seeing their team up on the podium, burst out into an impromptu chorus of ‘La Marseillaise’ - the French National Anthem. Impressive was an understatement, but nothing compared to what was to come during 25

the weekend. With all of the activities and official duties taken care of, it was almost time to go racing, and our sights were now set to Saturday and the RAM Qualifying Races.

WATCH THE VIDEO

A taste of things to come … Kicking things off for us on Saturday was the YZ bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup Superfinale, the Yamaha competition where riders on YZ65, 85 and 125cc machinery race for the opportunity to obtain Yamaha Motor Europe support for the 2024 season. These Yamaha riders all qualified via their various national championships, and for all of the riders who took part, it was an experience they will never forget. Why? Simply because of the chance to get to race on the biggest stage of all and on this occasion, in front of the biggest crowd of all. Not only that, after their race was over, they get to watch their heroes compete for the Peter Chamberlain Trophy. Each of the groups had a FREE/Timed Practice and one race, the Superfinale, and in the 65cc class it was Willads Gordon of Denmark who took the win from Maurice Heidegger (Austria) and Ryan Lustenberger (France). The best female rider was Maria Inês Gandum of Portugal. In the 85cc category, it was another good day for Denmark as Storm Maymann ‘stormed’ to the victory from Davide Duer (Austria) and Bertram Thorius (Denmark), with the best female rider this time being Elin Rotsthen from Sweden. Finally, in the 125cc class, it was a convincing win for EMX125 championship regular Simone Mancini, who was followed over the line by fellow Italian Giorgio Orlando and Noe Zumstein of Switzerland, with Nellie Fransson (SWE) finishing as the best female rider. All of these riders plus two wildcards from each class will now head to the Yamaha Masterclass in November, where they will be put through their paces over a two-day period, in the hope of gaining that invaluable support from Yamaha for 2024. Good luck to of those who are chosen. As for the MXoN, it was clear from the very first lap of the Free Practice sessions that all eyes were on Team France, and

whenever Romain Febvre, Tom Vialle and Maxime Renaux were on track, you just knew which part of the circuit they were on. At the ‘nations, the times in practice don’t really count for anything other than bragging rights, but as a 40-minute session, and the only practice before the RAM Qualifying Race, it’s important for each rider to gather as much information as possible about the track and the bike, in order to be ready to race for their country. With the gate picks already pre-determined by the Ballot on Friday, the results from these races would now be decided the grid positions for the main races on Sunday. Super Saturday With the Free Practice sessions done and dusted, our attentions shifted to the first of three RAM Qualifying races. The first was for the MXGP class riders, followed by MX2 and OPEN. There were no real surprises when newly crowned MXGP World Champion pulled a holeshot, and from there the rider for Team Spain remained unchallenged for the entire race. Australia’s Jett Lawrence eventually came home in 2nd place after battling through from a poor start, but the ‘7’ showed pure determination to get to the front with some outstanding passes on some of the MXGP class regulars, such as Tim Gajser, Romain Febvre and Jeremy Seewer. In the MX2 RAM Qualifying race, Germany’s Simon Laengenfelder seemed to have things under control, but with a final push in the last couple of laps, Tom Vialle made a dramatic pass on the final half lap to win the race. With Febvre’s 5th in the MXGP qualifier, and Vialle’s 1st, France were on provisional Pole Position by a single point from Spain, with just the OPEN class race remaining. Maxime Renaux was in no mood for playing games, and the French ‘6’ led from start to finish to give the home nation the first pick of the gates for Sunday’s races, picking up the lowest score of 2 points from the three races. Ruben Fernandez took 2nd in the race from Liam Everts of Belgium - the ‘15’ coming from outside the top ten and riding a KTM 350cc. Estonia’s Harry Kullas and Christian Craig (USA) rounded out the top five. When all was said and done, the grid positions and points looked like this: 1. France (2) - 2. Spain (3) - 3. Australia (5) - 4. Germany (6) - 5. Switzerland (9) - 6. USA (10) - 7. Belgium (10) - 8. Slovenia (13) - 9. The Netherlands (15) - 10. Italy 30

(17). Some riders and teams fared better than others though, and from the favourites, we lost Glenn Coldenhoff (Team NL) on the opening lap of the Open qualifying race, and was deemed unfit to race on Sunday, ending any chances for The Netherlands of a decent result. From the 37 nations entered only 19 would make the cut directly to Sunday’s main races; the rest from 20th to 31st were headed to the B-Final, with team placed 32nd to 37th having to contest a C-Final in order to make it into the B-Final. The C-Final was held on Saturday evening after the RAM Qualifying Races and was won by Team Luxembourg. As for the B-Final, this is always a fascinating contest and rarely disappoints, and the usual fireworks went off on this occasion as well. The race itself was won by Portugal’s Paulo Alberto with Sweden’s Alvin Östlund taking 2nd, but with the second-best rider for Sweden (Filip Bengtsson) taking 5th compared to Portugal’s Louis Outeiro (7th), the Swede’s claimed that final qualifying spot for the main races. The good news was, they were through to the MXoN main event; the bad news, they had a short turnaround time to be ready for the first race - MXGP/MX2. Sensational Sunday Just when you thought the crowd couldn’t get any bigger, think again! After the dominance of Saturday and the home nation starting from Pole Position, the French fans showed their support for Febvre, Vialle and Renaux in the best way possible and that meant a lot of singing, airhorns, chainsaws and just pure loudness never seen or heard before. There was a lot of support from plenty of other nations too and believe us when we say, it did not go unnoticed. The first race of the day, Race One was the combined race of MXGP and MX2 riders and when Jorge Prado took the first Fox Holeshot, the Spanish fans erupted. That was soon eclipsed by a wall of noise from the home fans when they saw that Romain Febvre was in 3rd behind Jeremy Seewer (Switzerland). Aaron Plessinger (USA), Ken Roczen (Germany) and Jett Lawrence (Australia) filled out the next few positions, but in turn three, Lawrence pushed too

hard to make a pass, and went down. He re-mounted in last place, and on a difficult-to-pass track, things looked shaky for the Aussies. At the end of the first lap, the ‘7’ of Lawrence had advanced to 23rd but by Lap 6, he was up to 14th, and with the top ten in his sights, he pushed on once more. Whilst neutral eyes were on Lawrence, the majority of the fans were keeping tabs with what was happening up front between Prado and Febvre, who refused to let the ‘16’ out of his sights. On Lap 6, Febvre muscled his way past the Spaniard and set about making a run for it, but the red and yellow ‘16’ remained glued to the rear wheel of Febvre’s Kawasaki, and for nine tense, and high-tempo laps the duel for supremacy was as frantic as it was epic. As Febvre continued to lead, the French fans dared to dream of a race victory, but Prado had other ideas and on Lap 15 of 18, the Spaniard led once more. However, on this occasion, his lead would last two laps, and when Febvre moved by on the penultimate lap, he managed to pull a two second buffer, which he held on to the chequered flag. Just as we witnessed in 2015 when Febvre won the first race, the scenes were unapologetically loud, especially as Febvre’s wingman Tom Vialle crossed the line as the first MX2 rider in 8th. Ken Roczen had an up and down race, moving from 5th to 3rd, back to 5th again after stalling his bike, before claiming 3rd at the flag from Jeremy Seewer and Aaraon Plessinger, who was solid for team USA. Behind them in 6th, Jett Lawrence who passed Tim Gajser on the exit of the final turn, pipping the Slovenian by 0.103s. An incredible ride by the Aussie, overshadowed by Febvre’s win. Standings after Race One 1.France (9) - 2. Australia (16) - 3. Germany (17) - 4. USA (21) - 5. Spain (26) RACE 2 - MX2/OPEN With less than one hour between the end of race one and the start of race two, the MX2 riders had no time to hang around as they prepared for their second outing; it’s part of the fascination of this event. Having watched Febvre and Vialle come up with the goods, Maxime Renaux knew a good start was essential to maintain their advantage, and that’s exactly what he got. Valentin Guillod (Switzerland) took the Fox Holeshot, but had already been 34

shuffled back to 7th by the end of the opening lap, as Ruben Fernandez and Renaux moved into the top two positions. Somehow, Tom Vialle had emerged as the best MX2 rider in 4th, but by Lap 3 he had passed Liam Everts (Belgium/ OPEN) for 3rd. Newly crowned MX2 World Champion Andrea Adamo (Italy) was 5th early on, and by the time the chequered flag fell, ended the race in 4th. His last-minute teammate Andrea Bonacorsi took 8th - impressive for his first outing on a 450cc. Upfront, the race was a tale of two halves. Fernandez (Spain) led the first nine laps, but was constantly under pressure from Renaux, whose first attempt at a pass for the lead almost ended badly, as he jumped off-track on the uphill quad. Fortunately, this mistake only cost him a little time, but on Lap 10, the ‘6’ was more decisive. Shortly after the pass for the lead, Fernandez fell from 2nd to 8th, eventually coming home in 7th, but that mistake promoted Vialle to 2nd sending the crowd into a state of delirium. Eight laps later, Renaux and Vialle crossed the line for a French 1-2 and this MXoN was now theirs to lose. They now held a 21-point advantage - with all races counting - heading into Race 3. One of the stand-out rides came from America’s RJ Hampshire, with the ‘2’ coming from outside the top 25 to finish 10th, and as far as Team Italy, they were suddenly up to 3rd after a 4-8 score from Adamo and Bonacorsi. With things so tight, could they make the podium? Standings after Race 2 1.France (12) - 2. Australia (33) - 3. Italy (42) - 4. Germany (45) - 5. USA (47) RACE 3 - MXGP/OPEN The final gate drop of the weekend and this time the Fox Holeshot belonged to ‘Kickstart’ Ken Roczen, the ‘22’ a bike length clear of his rivals, and with Germany just 3 points off the podium heading into race three, all eyes immediately focussed on his teammate Tom Koch, who was right at the back after a problem on the opening lap. Just behind Roczen was Jett Lawrence with Maxime Renaux 3rd; if the Frenchman stayed there, Team France would be crowned world champions. Spain

had also made a good start, with Prado in 4th and Fernandez 5th, which, if things remained like that, would almost guarantee a first ever podium at the MXoN for Spain. Things were looking good, until they weren’t, when Fernandez fell from 5th on Lap 3! So near, yet so far. With France way out front, and Australia eyeing up the silver medal position, Italy was homing in a ninth podium, provided Alberto Forato and Andrea Bonacorsi remained solid. Which they did! Forato crossed the line 8th with his teammate 11th, enough to edge Germany off the box by four points. When Renaux crossed the line after 18 laps of racing, he knew, and so too did the ecstatic French fans, that France were the winners of the Peter Chamberlain Trophy for the 7th time, and for the second time at Ernée. Romain Febvre and Maxime Renaux both won a race and Vialle was the first MX2 rider home in both of his races, including that impressive 2nd place in Race Two. This victory also meant that the home nation has now won the last four Motocross of Nations: The Netherlands won at Assen in 2019, Italy won at Mantova in 2021 and the USA were victorious last year at RedBud. For Australia, 2nd overall was the highest they had ever finished and only the third podium for the Green and Gold riders, and after qualifying in 10th, Italy’s 3rd overall was pretty impressive; especially as they were lying 8th after the first race. In the individual classes, Ken Roczen added the MXGP class win to his four MX2 class wins from 2010, ’11, ’12 and ’13, thus ticking off another box on the ‘to do’ list. Tom Vialle won the MX2 Class and Maxime Renaux added the Open class win to the MXGP class win he picked up in America last year. Romain Febvre may have missed out on the individual win, but he now joins a very small list of 4-time winners at the Motocross of Nations, and for that he can be very happy and proud. Next year the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations returns to Matterley Basin, Great Britain, scheduled for October 4,5,6, and if this year was anything to go by, then the atmosphere should once again be off the charts. We will see you there! FINAL STANDINGS 1.France (14) - 2. Australia (34) - 3. Italy (43) - 4. Germany (47) - 5. Belgium (55) 38

MONSTER ENERGY FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS

RESULTS

THE SPECIAL EPISODE ON THE 2023 MONSTER ENERGY FIM MXoN TAKES YOU FOR A WILD RIDE

L A I C O S P G X M

@andreaadamo80

@jorgeprado61 MXGP World Champion � MXGP Athena best rider � MXGP FOX Holeshot winner � MXGP Acerbis Best Lap � Proud I won everything I was competing for this year 2023

@kenroczen94 What an incredible experience here this weekend in Erneè I had goosebumps the whole weekend. It’s honestly hard to describe how special this weekend was. You had to be there to get an experience like that.

MXoN of France �� So nice to be able to end such a special year with a podium at the Motocross of Nations. Thanks to the whole team ITALIA �� and to my teammates, we did everything to get on that podium and we did it. ��

@tiga243 What a great way to end the MXGP season 2023. I really wanna thank my team and everyone around me for all support in the most difficult time. I work hard to be here where we are today and i can’t wait season 2024

@jagogeerts93 I can assure you that I’m extremely happy to end my MX2 career this way. Third and first in the motos and a GP victory. After all I went through this season, this silver medal is really a special one.

@aaronplessinger_7 I came as the proudest American and I leave the same way. Proud of the riders, crew from USA, and everyone that made this event possible. Better results needed, end of story. The euro fans(102k) in attendance made this atmosphere surreal. But it’s safe to say Cowboy fever is spreading worldwide!

GoPro Lap | Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations 2023: Jump on board with Maxime Renaux and Ken Roczen for a lap around Ernée track and their GoPro Hero 12! 42

@ktmfactoryracing What a rider and what a year! There really is no better feeling than winning your first world championship @AndreaAdamo80, and we’re all so proud of what you’ve achieved in 2023!

@mxgp Infront Moto Racing is thrilled to unveil the provisional 2024 FIM Motocross World Championship Calendar, featuring a line-up of exciting locations

Team Presentation to the crowd | Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations 2023: Watch the TEAMS Presentation to the Crowd - Monster Energy FIM MXoN 2023 � Live from Ernée - France #MXoN #MXGP #Motocross #MX #Motorsport

@rubenfernandez70 It wasn’t the result we hoped for or deserved, for me many failures and it’s frustrating but you learn from everything. Next year we will have another chance. Thanks to all the Spanish team

@autierpaulin �MXON WORLD CHAMPION 2023 @GoPro with the shot

Final Press Conference | Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations 2023: Watch the Final Press Conference from the 2023 Monster Energy FIM MXoN with the Top 3 teams: France, Australia and Italy!

P G X M # D OF ORL W E H IN T

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R E S T L S R I N G MO

P U G H N ATC I C A C R

, O M D A L R D A O W & E O H D T A E LOF T PR T I S G KIN 49

THE MOTOCROSS SEASON ENDED WITH JORGE PRADO TAKING THE MXGP TITLE AND ANDREA ADAMO THE MX2 CROWN. THE TWO RED BULL RIDERS MANAGED TO CONCLUDE THIS 2023 EXERCISE DURING THE PENULTIMATE ROUND OF THE SEASON, AGAINST RIVALS WHO HAD DONE THEIR UTMOST TO KEEP THE SUSPENSE ALIVE RIGHT UP TO THE FINAL ROUND... IN VAIN.

Arriving in Piedmont, a region particularly renowned for its refined cuisine and excellent wines, the sky threatened to spoil the Italian Grand Prix, the penultimate round of a season where everything could still change, in MXGP as well as in MX2. Ten days earlier, at Afyonkarahisar, Turkey, bad weather had prevented the qualifying session from taking place, leaving the Motocross authorities with no option but to rely on Time Practice to set a pole. The specter of a similar situation loomed large on Saturday, with mudslides lining the hills of the Maggiora track. However, a lull finally allowed the program to take place, on a particularly complicated track. An hour after the start of the

RAM Qualifying races, all was forgotten when Alberto Forato signed the feat of the day at home. The Big Man from SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery took pole position for the first time in his career in front of a jubilant crowd, while in MX2, Simon Laengelfelder continued his superb second half of the season, finishing ahead of Jago Geerts and Lucas Coenen. On Sunday, the skies were much more clement and the atmosphere a little less humid, which hardened the soil slightly and allowed for a spectacle of a different quality. This was the moment that Jorge Prado chose to finish the business. The Spaniard won the first race, and at the same time, his first MXGP World Championship title. He immediately took the lead at the Fox Holeshot corner,

without however separating himself from his pursuers Jeremy Seewer and Romain Febvre. The Frenchman’s misfortune has made the GASGAS rider’s happiness, when he first fell and then saw his bike suffered a mechanical problem. It was the end of the race for the Kawasaki rider on Lap 7, which meant the end of the Championship if the NO.61 retained the lead. He did just that, despite Jeremy Seewer’s pressure to pass him. With this victory, GASGAS secured the first title in its history. Behind him, Alberto Forato again rode a great race to achieve his best result of the season, finishing 3rd. Calvin Vlaanderen and Ruben Fernandez completed the Top 5.

breathtaking fight until Lap 8, when the NO. 3 finally found his way past, followed then by Tim Gajser, who was determined to make the most of his chance of a podium finish. It was his turn now to play cat and mouse with Febvre, but the latter didn’t give in to the pressure and finally won by a second and a half over his rival. Behind, JP61, who was in 3rd place, crashed on Lap 17. Ruben Fernandez took the opportunity to confirm his seat on the podium and eventually got 3rd place, ahead of Jeremy Seewer, who at the same time won the Italian GP. Alberto Forato was finally the Unfortunate-Manof-The-Day, as could have been on the podium for the 1st time of his career but failed to make it. Adamo, crowned after Race 2

Romain Febvre consoled himself slightly by winning Race 2. It was impossible to count the number of attacks made on Prado when the Frenchman was 2nd behind him. The two put up a

In MX2 Race 1, a Simon Laengenfelder in sparkling form quickly broke away from the rest of the pack, crossing the Holeshot line first in the process. That was the start 51

of 30 minutes of racing in the lead without being worried by anyone. Behind him, Jago Geerts was unable to join the GASGAS rider and finished the race six seconds behind him, but five seconds ahead of Andrea Adamo. The Red Plate holder had a few scares during the race, although he seemed to be putting the pressure on Geerts. But a bad landing on a jump meant he lost the thread of the race and preferred to secure a precious 3rd place. Liam Everts and Lucas Coenen, who came from nowhere in the final moments, completed the Top 5. In the second heat, Jago Geerts won the race ahead of Simon Laengenfelder, obtaining at the same time his 23rd GP win in his young career. But history will remember Andrea Adamo’s third place, synonymous with the MX2 World Championship title for the KTM rider. Starting behind the frontrunners, like the other title contender Liam Everts, the Italian nevertheless managed his race well, avoiding the attacks of his rivals, while claiming 4th place at the expense of Thibaut Benistant on lap 7. At that point, the two KTMs were two positions apart, before Adamo attacked Oriol Oliver a lap later. Third place for the NO.80, which he held until the end, without necessarily knowing that behind him Everts had crashed, thus giving him the title that he had been waiting for. There was immense joy as Adamo crossed the finish line, just as Prado had done an hour earlier. Besides, both men congratulated each other after their respective victories, no doubt remembering that at the start of the season, they were considered simple outsiders in the competition. But the Champion title always belongs to the one who shows the most consistency throughout the year. And once again, fate will not have contradicted this observation. Matterley Basin, not without a stake There was only one left. Matterley Basin, the 19th and final GP of the season, on the fields of the recently crowned Charles III. Three Kings in the same territory and at the same time is far from ordinary. Regardless, the stakes remained high, particularly in MX2 where the 2nd and 3rd steps of the podium could still be decided 52

between Simon Laengenfelder, Jago Geerts and Liam Everts. On Saturday, the German took the psychological advantage by winning the RAM Qualifying Race, ahead of new World Champion Andrea Adamo and Geerts, who limited the damage. Sunday, halfway through the Grand Prix, the GASGAS rider was provisionally 2nd overall. He got off to a great start, capturing his 11th Fox Holeshot of the season in the process. He quickly distanced himself from the rest of the peloton and in particular Jago Geerts. The Belgian remained stuck in 3rd position behind his teammate Thibault Benistant, before attempting an attack in the last two laps. The battle between the two Monster Energy Yamaha Factory men led them to indirectly reduce the distance with Laengenfelder on the last lap, but the Red Bull GASGAS resident did what was necessary to cross the line in the lead. Andrea Adamo and Roan Van de Moosdijk completed the Top 5. In the second heat, Jago Geerts made the latest predictions lie and killed two birds with one stone by winning this race, synonymous with the 2nd place in the Championship rankings. The Belgian had to work hard to finish at the top of the race, after a slightly sluggish start, between 8th and 10th place. But he has pride and he made it known by overcoming his opponents one by one. The battle with Andrea Adamo was probably one of the best of the season and the Italian could not do anything with three laps to go, facing the speed of the NO.93 coming out of a double corner. Kay de Wolf took less time to resist the Belgian steamroller a lap later, definitively burying Simon Laengenfelder’s hopes of taking 2nd place in the season classification. The German had overtaken his other rival, Liam Everts, halfway through the race and was never worried by the KTM rider, who therefore ranked 4th in the MX2 season. Top 5 of this last race of the season: Jago Geerts, Kay de Wolf, Andrea

Adamo, Simon Laengenfelder and Liam Everts. Coldenhoﬀ 4th, Fernandez 5th In the reigning category, the podium had already been decided a week earlier, with Romain Febvre 2nd and Jeremy Seewer 3rd. However, the suspense remained over the last two places in the Top 5. So, Glenn Coldenhoff and Ruben Fernandez were the two protagonists in this final round, and it was the Dutchman who consolidated his 4th place, finishing 4th in this GP overall. The first race was quite calm, until the last five laps where everything accelerated. In the lead throughout the race, Coldenhoff came under pressure from Tim Gajser to the point of giving way to the Slovenian with three laps to go. Jeremy Seewer also seized his chance when he saw his

teammate destabilized by Gajser’s attack and, with two laps to go, Coldenhoff lost another place on the podium. The new World Champion Jorge Prado would also have seen himself in the Top 3 but this time, it did not work out for the Spaniard who finally left 3rd place to the Dutchman and got the 4th, ahead of Romain Febvre. Two hours later in Race 2, Monster Energy Yamaha Glenn Coldenhoff took his 5th Fox Holeshot of the season, but Tim Gajser did not give him time to escape too far with the lead. From Lap 3, he took action to dislodge the Dutchman from 1st place. No worries then for TiGa243, who put his opponents more than five seconds behind, before crossing the finish line ahead for the last time of the season. Second, Romain Febvre got a solid race, overtaking Glenn Coldenhoff on Lap 6, then

Jeremy Seewer on Lap 9. The Kawasaki man eventually took 3rd place overall. Behind him, Ruben Fernandez played a bad trick on a – perhaps – not very attentive enough Jeremy Seewer, by overtaking him on the very last lap. Which caused the Swiss to lose 1st place in the GP, as he finished 4th in the heat, and mathematically excluded of the podium the unfortunate Glenn Coldenhoff, who completed the Top 5 of the race. At the end of this British Grand Prix, the curtain fell on a new MXGP season rich in emotions, punctuated by the crowning of two young stars of the discipline, who still have great years ahead of them. But the maturity shown by the other riders, some of whom are still very young, augurs only one thing: the competition will be at an extreme level in the years to come.

TIM GAJSER

2022 MXGP WORLD CHAMPION

TOM VIALLE

2022 MX2 WORLD CHAMPION

“WE SELL WHAT WE RACE, WE RACE WHAT WE SELL”

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G N I T A R B E E C L E N E C L L E C X

THE ANNUAL MXGP AWARDS MARKED THE CONCLUSION OF AN EXCITING SEASON IN THE FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, TAKING PLACE AT THE FINAL ROUND IN MATTERLEY BASIN, GREAT BRITAIN. THE EVENT CONFIRMED THE 2023 WORLD CHAMPIONS AND AWARDED THEM WELL-DESERVED GOLD MEDALS, SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE EAGERLY AWAITED MXGP AWARDS CEREMONY.

Held at the VIP Gold Skybox Hospitality, this year’s MXGP Awards created a relaxed and incredible atmosphere for all the winners of this thrilling season. The event was expertly hosted by MXGP Commentator Paul Malin and MXGP Presenter Lisa Leyland, with global streaming available on www.MXGP-TV. com, MXGP’s YouTube Channel and Facebook, enabling fans worldwide to partake in the celebration. The venue was put together to enjoy and celebrate the 2023 Champions in the most joyful atmosphere. A photo booth was open to every guest to immortalise this unique event. On arrival everyone was treated to aperitives and many canapes which was welcomed with excitement. After everyone gathered to the venue and enjoyed some relaxed chat, it was time to take their seats in anticipation of the MXGP Awards. The festivities began with a special message from Infront Moto Racing’s CEO David Luongo, acknowledging and congratulating the 2023 Champions for their incredible efforts and dedication throughout the whole season. In this celebratory atmosphere, Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo expressed that “it’s a big honor for me to be standing here with all of our champions. It has been a fantastic season I have to say. We went to 17 different countries for 19 Grand Prix on 3 continents, we had great racing with two amazing champions. As a promotor we are satisfied with this season and I would like to use this opportunity to thank all of you, from the 65cc to the MXGP class. Tonight is a night of celebration, we are celebrating our champions, we are celebrating all of our manufacturers, we are celebrating all the stakeholders that make these championships possible and we are celebrating it Live with all the fans around the world. I think the stage is for the champions tonight, so I wish you a very nice evening and thank you again for the season you gave to all motocross fans. It’s an honor for us to work and make it always bigger and better every year. Have a great evening and thank you very much.” The MXGP Awards ceremony started by recognizing the winning teams and manufacturers across MXGP, MX2, and

WMX categories. Notable mentions included Yamaha as the MXGP Manufacturer World Champion, with four Grand Prix Victories, fifteen Podiums and five race wins; Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing as the MXGP Winning Team, who celebrated the 30th year of De Carli Racing and amassed their 13th Motocross World Title for the team and the first for Davide De Carli as the Team Manager. Yamaha also won the MX2 Manufacturer World Champion for the 4th consecutive year with an impressive record of 15 Race Wins, 10 GP Wins, and 18 Podiums, this marked Michele Rinaldi’s 6th title in MX2. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s impressive domination continued with the MX2 Winning Team which was their 15th World Title in MX2 since 2004. In the WMX, Kawasaki secured the Manufacturer World Championship, achieving an incredible feat of winning the WMX Manufacturer World Championship for the 5th time, while Big Van World MTX Kawasaki earned the WMX Winning Team title, which was Team Manager Steve Dixon’s 4th World Title in 5 years. The prestigious “Jan De Groot” Award was presented to Lucas Coenen from Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing for his outstanding season in MX2. The young Belgian had an outstanding season for his Rookie year with one Grand Prix victory in Sumbawa-Indonesia, five race wins, three podiums and the 5th overall ranking finish in MX2. That sounds like a good omen for next season. The spotlight then turned to the EMX Champions, recognising their remarkable achievements in various categories, including the youngest of all, the Junior e-Motocross Champion, Timoteï Cez, who secured back-to-back titles by winning all ten races of the season. Additional EMX champions were celebrated in the EMX65 with the

Italian Francesco Assini who not only won the championship but also finished 3rd at the FIM Junior World Cup in Romania. In EMX85, another young Italian, Niccolò Alvisi secured the title with a strong 2-1 performance in Loket. In the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing, the Latvian Janis Reisulis riding with MJC Yamaha Official EMX125, dominated the championship with an impressive record of six overall wins, twelve race wins and nine podiums to seal the title before coming up in EMX250. The EMX250 saw Andrea Bonacorsi winning the title as he never finished off the podium throughout the season, achieving four overall wins, six race wins and nine Podiums. Bonacorsi also stepped in for Team Italy at the Motocross of Nations, contributing to the team’s bronze medal. Still in the European classes, the oneoff event of EMX2T and EMX Open saw Cas Valk and Pierre Goupillon, respectively coming out victorious in Loket and the treacherous sands of Lommel. For Valk, it was his second EMX title in two years, following his 125cc title win the previous season. As for Goupillon, despite being unable to attend the ceremony, the Frenchman received congratulations for his achievement. He secured the title with an impressive 3-1 performance in Lommel, winning his first European Championship. The evening also acknowledged excellence in media opportunities, promotion, and fan engagement, with awards presented to deserving organisers. MXGP of Sumbawa and MXGP of Lombok in Indonesia were the amazing recipient of the best Media Opportunities and the MXGP Best Promotion. The unquestionable Indonesian passion for motocross showed in every aspect of the Asian double header last season with an outstanding attendance, organisation, dedication and enthusiasm encountered throughout the two Indonesian events. Another organisation was celebrated that evening with the prestigious MXGP Best Fan Engagement which went to the MXGP of Patagonia64

Argentina. The Argentinian fervour for motocross was simply incredible for the first Grand Prix of the 2023 campaign with the crowd engaging without reserve with riders, teams and the whole MXGP Paddock during the whole event. The ceremony continued with the recognition of FIM World Champions, starting with the Junior World Champions who competed in Romania. The young Latvian, Patricks Cirulis dominated the event in the 65cc Junior World Cup with a perfect two race wins, while in 85cc it was the Dutch Dai Heitink who secured his first Junior World Champion Title. The bigger category of the Junior World Championship in Romania was the 125cc and it was Mathis Valin who became the FIM 125cc Junior World Champion. All eyes then turned to the WMX World Champion who was crowned earlier in Turkiye, Courtney Duncan. The Kiwi’s form has been nothing short of amazing with four overall wins, six race wins and five podiums. Duncan finally claimed her fourth WMX World Title in the last five years and install herself as a powerhouse in the WMX Championship. The individual accolades didn’t stop there with Acerbis Best Lap Competition awards in MXGP and MX2. The Motocross World Championship has witnessed an astounding surge in intensity and competition. The sheer speed needed to shine in the Championship, especially on the world’s most challenging tracks, is nothing short of extraordinary. As a result, Jorge Prado and Jago Geerts achieved the distinction of setting the most Acerbis Best Lap during the season. It was then the time to recognise the best starters of the season in MXGP and MX2 with the Fox Holeshot Award. With the standards in motocross increasing, the sophistication of equipment, and the skill levels of athletes, making a strong start became vital for every rider wanting to excel. In every

Grand Prix, the importance of strong starts is pivotal in securing an early lead to maximise the chances of success.This is exactly what Jorge Prado and Simon Laengenfelder did throughout the season and they were the winners and recipient of the coveted plates and cheques. Prado amassed fourteen FOX Holeshots plates to win this third consecutive award in MXGP and Laengenfelder clinched 11 FOX Holeshots to win his first FOX Holeshot award of his career. That also marked the dominance of Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing with a sweep. Accolade for Jorge Prado were not finished as he also received the Best Rider of the Year, sponsored by Athena, based on fan votes and received a plate and a cheque from Athena. This was a perfect year for the Spaniard,

who won every competition he entered in 2023.

first MXGP World Title and the Champion ring.

Before the long-awaited prizes for the MXGP and MX2 World Champions, the next esteemed and coveted prize was the MXGP Best Organiser which was given to Lommel for the MXGP of Flanders. One of the notoriously toughest tracks in the world served as a tremendous display for motocross with an excellent event beautifully organised.

The evening concluded with the family photo of all the 2023 Champions on stage. The 2023 MXGP Awards ceremony celebrated the incredible achievements of the world’s top motocross athletes, teams and organisations highlighting their dedication and passion for the sport.

The last prizes of the evening went first to the MX2 World Champion, Andrea Adamo. Receiving the most important MX2 Champion’s plaque for the first time of his career and Champion ring, the Italian showed incredible consistency to place him at the top of the MX2 World. Then the ultimate prize was handed to the MXGP World Champion Jorge Prado, who received the replica of the incredible MXGP Trophy along with his MXGP Champion’s plaque that commemorates his

As the season came to a close, it left fans eagerly anticipating the excitement and thrills of the next year’s championship. Motocross continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and the MXGP Awards proved once again that excellence deserves recognition on the grandest stage. See you in 2024 for more epic battles to come…

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L L A H

E M A F F O

RON « THE DOGGER » TITLE LECHIEN THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, RON LECHIEN DID HIS BEST RACE WHEN HE WON WITH TEAM USA THE MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS AT VILLARS SOUS ECOT (FRANCE). THAT DAY, ON SEPTEMBER 11TH, HE WAS UNBEATABLE AND LED TEAM USA AND HIS TEAMMATES RICKY JOHNSON AND JEFF WARD TO THEIR EIGHTH CONSECUTIVE WIN AT THE NATIONS. Born on 13th December 1966 at El Cajon (California), in the suburbs of San Diego, Ron was already living in a famous place, as some of the best American riders like Marty Smith, Marty Tripes, Marty Moates, Broc Glover, Ricky Johnson and many more also came from this area! So when his father offered him his first bike a XR75, it was in the hills near their house that Ron spent most of his time, riding every day under the guidance of his father Dick. After Ron showed early promise on minicycles, his father started taking his son to major youth and amateur events. It was at the 1981 Mammoth Mountain Classic that the youngster impressed by winning the highly competitive 125cc Pro class at just 14 years of age. One year later he won the 125cc Expert and 125cc Schoolboy titles at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch and signed a Yamaha factory contract to turn pro in 1983, as soon as he turned 16. Three months after entering his first AMA Supercross, he won at Orlando in the premier 250cc class and eight days later he won

the AMA 125cc National at Lake Whitney, Texas. After this promising first season as a Pro rider, he signed with American Honda for 1984, and lined up in the 250cc class despite his young age; he won a few races including the 250cc US Grand Prix at Unadilla, but had to wait until 1985 to get his first Pro title in the 125cc Motocross championship. Ron was only eighteen years old when he got this title, and later was selected to race the Motocross of Nations at Gaildorf, Germany, alongside David Bailey and Jeff Ward. It was the first time in the history of the MXoN that all three classes (125cc, 250cc and 500cc) raced together, and for his first ever experience in Europe Ron was the best 125cc rider and helped team USA to win its fifth consecutive MXoN. Fast on any track over the world, Ron didn’t have only good people around him, and later that season he had some troubles with the customs when he arrived in Japan and a brush with the law resulted in the termination of his contract with Honda. 71

Picked up by Kawasaki he struggled during his first season in green, as he didn’t train seriously and had to wait until 1987 to get some race wins in Motocross and Supercross. Third of the 250cc Motocross and Supercross series but also the 500cc Motocross, Ron was back at his best and improved his results in 1988 with a second position in the SX series and 500cc MX championship. For the second time in his career he was picked up to be part of the US Team and flew to France with Jeff Ward and Ricky Johnson, who were the 250cc and 500cc US champions. For that race Ron lined up in the 500cc class and was unbeatable, as he won easily both motos to lead team USA to the win. But it was not an easy weekend for Roger De Coster, the manager of the US team: “During the whole weekend we had a problem and his name was Lechien! On Saturday evening we had dinner with the team members, but Ron was missing. I went to pick him up from his room and when I came back there were empty beer bottles everywhere. When I came by again a little later, he was leaving the parking lot with two girls in his car. I told him that this race was important for a lot of people and that he shouldn’t screw it up. He told me that I had nothing to worry about and that he promised me that everything would go well. The next morning, he was on time and drove so fast that the others never saw him again. That day, he was truly above the rest.” The following season would be his last one as a professional rider. Vice champion in the Supercross series, he also took part in the 500cc US Grand Prix and won both motos at Hollister. He stopped racing at the age of 24, with already a nice palmares with two wins at the MXoN, 26 AMA Supercross/Motocross race wins and 125cc National Motocross Championship in 1985. Text and Photos: Pascal Haudiquert

1982:

125 Expert champion 125 Schoolboy champion

1983:

4th in the 125 US Motocross Championship (Yamaha) 12th in the 250 US Supercross Championship

1984:

2nd in the 250 US Motocross Championship (Honda) 5th in the 250 US Supercross Championship

1985:

125 US Motocross Champion (Honda) 3rd in the 250 US Supercross Championship Winner of the Motocross of Nations with team USA

1986:

7th in the 250 US Supercross Championship (Kawasaki) 6th in the 250 US Motocross Championship 5th in the 500 US Motocross Championship

1987:

3rd in the 250 US Supercross Championship (Kawasaki) 3rd in the 250 US Motocross Championship 3rd in the 500 US Motocross Championship

1988:

2nd in the 250 US Supercross Championship (Kawasaki) 3rd in the 250 US Motocross Championship 2nd in the 500 US Motocross Championship Winner of the Motocross of Nations with team USA

1989:

2nd in the 250 US Supercross Championship (Kawasaki) 3rd in the 250 US Motocross Championship 9th in the 500 US Motocross Championship

Photo: R. Schedl

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IT’S TIME TO GET

GNARLY!

Some ride for fun, to simply take part and for the joy of the wind in their face. Well, the all-new 2023 KTM 450 SX-F was engineered for something else entirely. So, if you’re serious about kicking ass,

VISIT KTM.COM

S K L A T K C O D PAD

The 2024 Edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations was revealed in Ernée. Matterley Basin will host the prestigious event next year.

MXGP of Flanders in Lommel extends contract for three more years (From left to right: MXGP of Flanders Organisers Ann PLass, Jo de Munck and Johan Boonen, Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo, FIM/CMS Director Antonio Alia Portela)

The 2023 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nation winners (Team France) pose with Champions rings. Tom Vialle, Romain Febvre, Maxime Renaux

The MXGP of Latvia in Kegums renew for the next three years (From left to right: President of Latvian Motorcycle Federation Martins Lazdovskis and MXGP of Latvia Organiser Kristers Sergis, Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo, FIM/CMS Director Antonio Alia Portela)

TM Moto Steels Dr Jack signs Yago Martinez for mx2 in 2024

Calvin Vlaanderen has oﬃcially joined Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP for 2024 and will ride alongside Maxime Renaux and Jago Geerts.

Triumph Racing announced that it has joined forces with global energy drink and lifestyle brand Monster Energy ahead of the 2024 FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship. The team will be named – Monster Energy Triumph Racing

All the 2023 Champions have been celebrated at the MXGP Awards that took place at MAtterley Basin after the last Grand Prix of the season.

For the first time, Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy honoured of his presence at the MXGP of Italy in Maggiora

E L R A U I T C A E E SP F

ROMAIN FEBVRE 2015 YAMAHA YZ450FM 76

AFTER PLACING THIRD OVERALL IN THE 2014 FIM MX2 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, ROMAIN FEBVRE WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TO STAY IN THE CLASS FOR ONE MORE YEAR IN THE HOPE OF LIFTING (POTENTIALLY) THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP THE FOLLOWING SEASON.

However, due to the 23-year-old age rule for MX2 and the fact that his birthday fell on New Year’s Eve, the Frenchman was forced to move into MXGP and start the building process all over again. But, when he clinched the MXGP title at the first attempt, the ‘461’ showed he was a real force to be reckoned with, and so, this month, it’s Febvre’s 2015 YZ450FM that we will feature in this issue of MXGP Magazine. In his final season in MX2, Romain Febvre was Husqvarna mounted, so switching to the premier class meant not only changing capacity of motorcycle from 250cc to 450cc, it also meant he was changing from Austrian to Japanese machinery. He was also joining a team where his teammate, Jeremy Van Horebeek,

had just clinched 2nd overall in the series in a season where he secured twelve podiums, eleven of those coming consecutively! So, even though Febvre was entering the class as a rookie and with no real expectations from the Michele Rinaldi Yamaha team, it was clear that the bar within the team had been raised to a pretty high level. Having a teammate can be a great advantage for a rider, because he gets the chance to cross-reference all the available data by testing and comparisontesting until they are satisfied that what they have is the best option for them. From Jeremy Van Horebeek’s side of the tent, all he had to do was adjust to a new chassis for the 2015 season, whereas Febvre needed to adapt to a whole new bike. He’d also never previously ridden a Yamaha or a 450cc before his move

either, although he had raced a 350cc Husqvarna in a Belgian Championship race in 2014. Add to that the fact that the young Frenchman was injured during the winter tests, it was already looking to be a challenging season for the former MX2 bronze medal winner. However, he was undeterred, got his head down and got on with the task at hand: ‘When I took the bike the first time it was the standard bike, completely standard, and immediately I knew that the engine should be really good, and after the engine, I knew that the team could make everything for myself, like a different engine and not give me the engine of Jeremy and make me ride that, so that was a good point’, a comment that team owner Michele Rinaldi himself pointed out: ‘We started with the same engine (for both riders) and for Romain we kept this engine, but for Jeremy, he changed the direction. For Romain we made a very smooth engine, more linear engine with 77

not so much bottom power to allow him to open the throttle easier with less push/aggression. But then we went further with the rpm, so the band was higher and longer compared to a typical 450cc. With Jeremy we kept a conventional band with a stronger torque and strong mid, and maybe shorter on the over rev.’ From the team’s perspective it would have been easy to adopt a one-sizefits-all policy where both riders were given the exact same equipment but instead, they listened to the riders and were able to give them exactly what they wanted in order to get the job done. The Rookie’s Ride For the second year running the YZ450FM came equipped with an electric start, which was still a nonstandard item on a production YZ450F. The ergonomics were made to suit Febvre’s riding style, which included very ‘Desalle-like’ handlebars, that sat pretty low in the clamps. The suspension was on the soft side for an MXGP bike, but that was more to do with Febvre being something of a lightweight back then, weighing in at around 73kg! The YZ450FM also came with an array of trickery, and by that we mean it was littered with carbon fibre parts; this included the fuel tank which was reduced in size from 8.2 litres to 7.0 litres, and a very trick carbon fibre sub-frame. The factory 48mm KYB Air forks suspended the front end whilst a factory KYB shock propped up the rear. Very trick-looking Kite hubs and black Excel rims completed the factory look! As for other lightweight components, the bike was decked out with titanium, including foot rests and foot rest brackets and bolts. The Akrapovic exhaust system was also a full titanium unit as well! The handlebars were WRP. With a smooth power delivery right off the bat, the motor gained momentum from mid-top which was particularly impressive all the way through, but when Febvre shut off the throttle at the end of a

straight, there was not so much inertia which meant the motor was ‘more free’ through the turns, and this is where Febvre really excelled; this combination really suited his riding style. As a rookie to the MXGP class, Febvre rode his bike like a 250cc and his engine set-up reflected that. Just watching him on track, his corner speed was, and always has been particularly impressive, because he’s not scared to open the throttle, hang it out and drift through the turns, and this was one of his strengths. The Season The first six rounds were steady away with a couple of top three race finishes in Thailand and Trentino, but in Spain a stalled engine possibly cost Febvre a race win; he did collect his first podium though, with 3rd. From round 7, there was a very obvious shift in performance, and in England at Matterley Basin, Febvre clinched his first premier class race win and another 3rd overall.

The following round we headed to France, and a 2-1 secured him his first overall victory in MXGP. From there, there was no stopping him and the Frenchie never missed the podium at the last thirteen rounds, including clinching the title with two rounds remaining. Some will say that Febvre’s and therefore Yamaha’s success came as a bit of a fluke, as rider injuries took their toll, but the newlycrowned champ was quick to point out that even before riders started dropping like flies, he already had the measure of them: ‘In Spain (round 6) I was already close to winning my first moto, I was on the podium for the first time, so I was so happy but also disappointed about that mistake where I stalled the bike in a small corner, but in England I took my chance again, I passed everyone again; everyone was there and I won the second moto. Again, I was on the podium and then the week after

in France and yeah, after that it started.’ During the 2015 season, Febvre was in a class of his own, taking eight overall victories, fifteen race wins and thirteen consecutive podiums to claim the title with two GPs remaining; all of this as the youngest rider on the grid in his rookie season. He was also a winning member of the victorious French team at the 2015 Motocross of Nations, winning the ‘Nations outright with two race wins. If you want impressive, it doesn’t get any better than that, especially when Yamaha’s previous title, delivered by Antonio Cairoli in 2009 was won with just nine race wins and four overall GP victories, also in his rookie season. And to cap it all off, Yamaha were crowned manufacturers world champions once more, securing an impressive double to round out the season in perfect style. As of now, Febvre’s title in 2015 was, and remains the last title for Yamaha in the premier MXGP Class.

S N R O O I T T I S E ED E U QO TH T ❝

Hi MXGP, I’m a huge fan of MXGP and I’d like to know when the next MXGP event is taking place. Can you provide the event schedule for the upcoming season? Sophie:

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Hi Sophie: , we appreciate your enthusiasm! You can access the provisional Calendar for the 2024 Season on our website at www.mxgp.com Thanks MXGP

Hi MXGP, I want to surprise my friend with a MXGP-TV Season Pass for next year do you have any discount? Isabel

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Dear Isabel, Hi Isabel, excellent gift and good timing, we actually have a 2024 Offer, visit www.mxgptv.com and get the best price. Best Regards MXGP

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Hello MXGP, the MXoN looked incredible, is there a way to get some photos of the atmosphere in Ernee? Tomas Hi Tomas, You’re lucky Tomas, we have just put a gallery on the atmosphere at the Monster Energy FIM MXoN here https://www. mxgp.com/photos/motocrossnations-france-sundayatmosphereHopefully you’ll find what you’re looking for! Regards MXGP

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Hi MXGP, I want to write about some MXGP riders but I miss some career stats, is there a place where I can find them? Dorian Hello Dorian : Of course, you can go on our website at Riders section and see the riders’ historic. Click here https://www.mxgp. com/riders?race_category=1 Thanks MXGP

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Hello, when is the MXGP of Great Britain this year? Hughes

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Hi Hughes, The MXGP of Great Britain will be on the 23-24 September at Matterley Basin. You can also check every other MXGP event on the calendar of the MXGP website at https://www.mxgp. com/calendar. Thanks MXGP