The recent Motocross Of Nations held at Donington Park was one of my highlight events since being in Europe. I was there to cover it for Aussie mag Dirt Action www.dirtaction.com.au, and to see riders like Bubba, Villopoto, Pourcel, Searle, Coppins, to name a few, and the Aussie boys Reed, Burner and Metty, battle it out was epic. Of course I would have liked to see our guys finish higher, but against such a competitive field they gave it their best and came away with a solid sixth place, which is still pretty good out of 35 countries entered.

Chad Reed laying it flat over the finish line jump

A few of my highlights were watching how fast Bubba and Villopoto were compared to every other rider. Bubba just looked so smooth and stepped up the pace when he needed to. If it wasn’t for a stupid mistake in his second moto he would have easily blitzed both races.

Villopoto was so impressive riding his Kawasaki Pro Circuit 250 against the 450 machines. In his first moto he crossed the line a good 25 seconds in front of 2007 World MX1 champion Steve Ramon, which is incredible.

UK’s Tommy Searle was just as impressive in that race coming through to third from 10^th on the first lap, and he also rode a 250 machine. Look out Lites class when he hits America in 2009.

American rider Zach Osborne riding for the Puerto Rican team also put in some gutsy rides. In the MX2/Open race he was way back in 30^th position on the first lap and slammed his way through to sixth at race end on a track many riders said was hard to pass on. I heard he threw up before the race started as he was nervous, but you wouldn’t have known he was once the gate dropped. He wanted to impress and he sure did, awesome ride mate!

Cody Cooper also impressed me. I always thought he was fast in Australia, but since he has ridden a season in the States his level has lifted a few notches. His starts are killer, he hole-shotted his qualifier and took the win and nailed the start again in the MX1/Open race and kept good pace to run top three most of the race, only losing third to the charging Searle on the last lap. Racing overseas seems to suit the humble Kiwi.

The Aussies had a great day in qualifying, but they just struggled to get cracking on race day, which was a real blow. They showed speed but just didn’t gel with the track, which was very slippery and chopped-out on race day compared to the drier conditions the previous day. It was cool seeing Reedy on yellow, but I think his lack of outdoor racing and preparation for motocross harmed his chances of running with the top bunch. Maybe next year he will have more time to prepare as I know he was super busy with his new SX series and settling in with his new team leading up to the event.

If you’ve never been to a MXoN event you really should as the vibe is incredible. Being trackside to watch the best riders in the world going at it head to head in front of a huge crowd made up of fans from all over is something you have to experience. This was my second one and I’ll definitely be trying to get to a few more in the years to come.

One thing I must say is a big thanks to Canadian photo journalist Jeff Morgan from Inside Track magazine as we were shooting at one point side by side and he took most of the brunt when Kiwi’s Scott Columb crashed over the table top and his bike cart-wheeled straight towards us. I saw the bike take Jeff out from the corner of my eye and leaped out of the way to only cop the last roll and very little impact. Could have been much worse, but lucky Jeff was a sturdy bugger and came away with only a few bruises.

I won’t ramble on any more. Keep any eye open for my feature on the event in a coming issue of Dirt Action magazine, which will give you a complete rundown of the two days of action. For more info on the magazine log on to www.dirtaction.com.au

Here’s a few photos from the weekend’s action for you to check out, cheers Goba.

Start of MX1 qualifier. Reedy is No 58

Metty in practice

Ryan Villopoto is incredible!

Burner up to third in his qualifier

Proud American fan

Bubba the man

First corner action. That's Josh Coppins outside

The fast Tommy Searle

Villopoto talks to his mechanic

Burner nice and smooth 

Bubba leads Pourcel in MX1/Open race

Josh Coppns rode strong in both motos

Chad looked smooth but looked like he lacked the race fitness

Cody Cooper impressed

UK fans were mad 

Metty launching into the rhythm section 

The track got a good soaking Saturday night, almost too good said Burner