OKtober fest

They led all day in a titanic fight with the Belgian hosts, but hats off to the Americans. It was like the sacrificial lamb but they still got third as Britain ended a disappointed eighth and the Irish a sensational 13th.

 

The Germans had already topped qualification, while Belgium had the best three-rider score and the USA got a taste of what was in store as they finished sixth.

 

Blake Baggett said: "Even my worst nightmare isn't like this place – your guys are animals!”

 

The Americans were only sixth, one ahead of Britain, after both Tommy Searle and Max Anstie hit the deck and Jake Nicholls battled cramps after he laced up his boots too tightly. 

 

The route to success was already clear as even Belgian team manager Joel Smets admitted: "I was here as a kid in 1981 and was devastated. 

 

"Our riders cannot battle for the individual wins against Toni and Jeffrey, but we hope to fill the placings.”

 

And that's what they did – but Germany did it better!

 

"Even after getting pole yesterday, we were still only dreaming of the podium,” admitted Roczen, as he won MX2 for the third year on the trot. 

 

Nagl led the way and Schiffer rode out of his skin for a second-moto seventh, which clinched the deal.

 

The hosts, seeking to eradicate the worst memory in Belgian motocross history, got unlucky with a mechanical DNF for Jeremy Van Horebeek at a vital stage of the competition.

 

But in the end it was the Germans who dug deepest and reaped their just 

rewards.

 

After just a couple of laps in the MX1/MX2 opener the pattern was set for the day. 

 

Nagl slotted into second behind runaway winner Cairoli, while Roczen hit fourth, with next-best MX2 man Van Horebeek ten places back.

 

Italy had no chance after Alessandro Lupino, already riding on painkillers after ligament damage to his right thumb from the Friday evening Monster karting, tipped over and put his shoulder out. 

 

Britain were buried with Searle outside the top ten and Nicholls 15th, and the Yanks were equally out of it with Dungey sixth and Baggett outside the top 20 after a crash.

 

Nicholls "rode tight” for 15th, and Searle never gave up to gain three points in the final laps, as Baggett also brought the US back into the ball park, despite being lapped.

 

Gautier Paulin made a move on Nagl and even closed down Cairoli before the champion turned the screw, but crashes for Musquin put the French out of it too and at the end of race one it was Germany eight and Belgium 14, with the rest nowhere.

 

Schiffer was the German "weak link” but a solid start, a gritty ride and a portion of luck reaped rewards, as Justin Barcia had to pit and Todd Waters hit the wall, to gift Germany two points on the final lap of the MX2/Open race.

 

Roczen had gated top six, with Van Horebeek on his rear wheel, but the Belgian dream was already dealt a bitter blow.

 

 

Best Individual Performances (by class)

MX1 Class: 1 Antonio Cairoli 2 points, 2 Max Nagl 9, 3 Gautier Paulin 10, 4 Clement Desalle 11, 5 Ryan Dungey 16, 6 Tommy Searle 20, 7 Rui Goncalves 22, 8 Marc De Reuver 26, 9 Martin Barr 34, 10 Gert Krestinov 35,...

MX2 Class: 1 Ken Roczen 9 points, 2 Blake Baggett 20, 3 Marvin Musquin 30, 4 Alexander Tonkov 30, 5 Priit Ratsep 35, 6 Stefan Kjer Olsen 44, 7 Graeme Irwin 45, 8 Luke Styke 46, 9 Roberts Justs 46, 10 Jeremy Van Horebeek 48,...

Open Class: 1 Jeffrey Herlings 3 points, 2 Tanel Leok 6, 3 Ken DeDycker,  4 Justin Barcia 17, 5 Davide Guarneri 18, 6 Max Anstie 20, 7 Marcus Schiffer 21, 8 Todd Waters 23, 9 Xavier Boog 26, 10 Luis Correia 37,...

 

Lommel, BELGIUM

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS: 1 Germany 25 points, 2 Belgium 29, 3 USA 39, 4 Holland 44, 5 Italy 45, 6 France 47, 7 Estonia 56, 8 Great BRITAIN 56, 9 Portugal 80, 10 Australia 83, 11 Russia 93, 12 Sweden 103, 13 Ireland 106, 14 Latvia 120, 15 New Zealand 127, 16 Slovenia 134, 17 Norway 151, 18 Denmark 119 (4 scores), 19 Switzerland 129 (4 scores), 20 Finland 97 (3 scores).

RACE ONE (MX1 & MX2): 1 Toni Cairoli (I - MX1 KTM), 2 Gautier Paulin (F - MX1 Kawasaki), 3 Max Nagl (D - MX1 KTM), 4 Clement Desalle (B - MX1 Suzuki), 5 Ken Roczen (D - MX2 KTM), 6 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - MX1 Honda), 7 Ryan Dungey (US - MX1 KTM), 8 Tommy SEARLE (GB - MX1 Kawasaki), 9 Marc DeReuver (NL - MX1 Kawasaki), 10 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - MX2 KTM), 11 Josh Coppins (NZ - MX1 Yamaha), 12 Rui Goncalves (P - MX1 Honda), 13 Martin BARR (IRE - MX1 Suzuki), 14 Blake Baggett (US - MX2 Kawasaki), 15 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - MX2 KTM), 16 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - MX2 KTM), 17 Gert Krestinov (EST - MX1 Honda), 18 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - MX2 Honda), 19 Marvin Musquin (F - MX2 KTM), 20 Pritt Ratsep (EST - MX2 KTM), 21 Lawson Bopping (AUS - MX1 Yamaha), 22 Roberts Justs (LAT - MX2 Honda), 23 Graeme IRWIN (IRE - MX2 Yamaha), 24 Kim Lindstrom (S - MX1 Kawasaki), 25 Stefan Kjer Olsen (DK - MX2 Yamaha), 26 Luke Styke (AUS - MX2 Yamaha), 27 Tim Gajser (SLO - MX2 KTM), 28 Davis Ivanovs (LAT - MX1 Kawasaki), 29 Kim Oiva Jarva (N - MX1 Honda), 30 Matevz Irt (SLO - MX1 Suzuki), 31 Teemu Lehtinen (SF - MX2 Kawasaki), 32 Karl Olssen (S - MX2 Honda), 33 Paulo Alberto (P - MX2 Suzuki), 34 Kayne Lamont (NZ - MX2 KTM), 35 Jeremy Sewer (CH - MX2 Suzuki), 36 Even Heibye (N - MX2 KTM), 37 Alessandro Lupino (I - MX2 Husqvarna), 38 Nikolaj Hansen (DK - MX1 Suzuki).

NATIONS TEAM POSITIONS after 1 race: 1 Germany 8 points, 2 Belgium 14, 3 France 21, 4 USA 21, 5 Russia 24, 6 Great Britain 24, 7 Holland 24, 8 Ireland 36, 9 Estonia 37, 10 Italy 38,...

RACE TWO (MX2 & Open): 1 Jeff Herlings (NL - Open KTM), 2 Tanel Leok (EST - Open Suzuki), 3 Ken De Dycker (B - Open KTM), 4 Roczen (D), 5 Davide Guarneri (I - Open KTM), 6 Baggett (US), 7 Marcus Schiffer (D - Open Suzuki), 8 Todd Walters (AUS - Open Suzuki), 9 Max ANSTIE (GB - Open Honda), 10 Xavier Boog (F - Open Kawasaki), 11 Musquin (F), 12 Tonkov (RUS), 13 Luis Correia (P - Open Yamaha), 14 Justin Barcia (US - Open Honda), 15 Ratsep (EST), 16 Filip Bengtsson (S - Open KTM), 17 Cody Cooper (NZ - Open Suzuki), 18 Olssen (S), 19 Olsen (DK), 20 Styke (AUS), 21 Alberto (P), 22 IRWIN (IRE), 23 Gajser (SLO), 24 Justs (LAT), 25 Lupino (I), 26 Lauris Freibergs (LAT - Open Honda), 27 Stuart EDMONDS (IRE - Open Suzuki), 28 Sewer (CH), 29 Klemen Gercar (SLO - Open Honda), 30 Magne Klingsheim (N - Open KTM), 31 Evgeny Mikhaylov (RUS - Open KTM), 32 Lehtinen (SF), 33 Lamont (NZ), 34 Niko Koskela (SF - Open Kawasaki), 35 Valentin Guillod (CH - Open KTM), 36 NICHOLLS (GB), 37 Kasper Lynggaard (DK - Open Kawasaki), 38 Van Horebeek (B).

NATIONS TEAM POSITIONS after Race Two: 1 Germany 19 points, 2 USA 41, 3 France 42, 4 Estonia 54, 5 Belgium 55, 6 The Netherlands 64, 7 Russia 67, 8 Italy 68, 9 Great Britain 69, 10 Australia 75,...

RACE THREE (MX1 & Open): 1 Cairoli (I), 2 Herlings (NL), 3 Barcia (US), 4 Leok (EST), 5 De Dycker (B), 6 Nagl (D), 7 Desalle (B), 8 Paulin (F), 9 Dungey (US), 10 Goncalves (P), 11 ANSTIE (GB), 12 SEARLE (GB), 13 Guarneri (I), 14 Schiffer (D), 15 Walters (AUS), 16 Boog (F), 17 DeReuver (NL), 18 Krestinov (EST), 19 Bopping (AUS), 20 Freibergs (LAT), 21 BARR (IRE), 22 Bengtsson (S), 23 Lindstrom (S), 24 Correia (P), 25 Gercar (SLO), 26 Mikhaylov (RUS), 27 Jarva (N), 28 Ivanovs (LAT), 29 Klingsheim (N), 30 EDMONDS (IRE), 31 Guillod (CH), 32 Cooper (NZ).

B-FINAL (Team Classification): 1 New Zealand 3 points, 2 Czech Republic 12, 3 Lithuania 23, 4 Puerto Rico 23, 5 Austria 24, 6 Spain 25, 7 Japan 26, 8 South Africa 26, 9 Hungary 30, 10 Venezuela 31,...

B FINAL RACE RESULT: 1 Josh Coppins (NZ - MX1 Yamaha), 2 Cody Cooper (NZ - Open Suzuki), 3 Filip Neugebauer (CZ - MX1 Kawasaki), 11 Matthias Walkner (A - Open KTM), 12 Shannon Terreblanche (ZA - MX2 KTM), 13 Marco Schogler (A - MX1 KTM), 14 Richard Van der Westhuizen (ZA - MX1 Yamaha), 15 Matas Inda (LIT - MX2 Kawasaki), 16 Junya Takenaka (J - MX2 Kawasaki), 17 Viktor Gudbergsson (ICL - MX1 Kawasaki), 18 Kyle Chisholm (PR - Open Kawasaki), 19 Joan Cros (E - MX1 Suzuki), 20 Panagiotis Kouzis (GRE - MX1 Honda),...