Stat Sheet | Motocross of Nations Previews 1

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Congratulations, motocross fans, it's the eve of the 2023 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations! So much has been said about this weekend's fixture and what will transpire on the Ernee hillside. Will either France or Australia live up to the hype? Can the United States of America defy the naysayers? This feature is set to adopt a different tone. Enjoy miscellaneous statistics and facts that revolve around the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, past and present. Perhaps there is something interesting in here?

• Team USA has won the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations more than any other nation, with twenty-three total wins. Their most recent victory, 2022, ended a drought of ten years. Team USA were third when they last competed as the defending champions (that being in Belgium in 2012). The last time that a nation successfully defended the Chamberlain Trophy was 2018 – France won for the fifth year in succession. They have not stood atop the podium since then.

• In the same breath, there has been four different winners across the last four editions of the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. The last time that happened was from 2011 to 2014 (the United States, Germany, Belgium and France won in that period). France's 2014 victory was the springboard for the five-year win streak. Perhaps history will repeat itself and 2022 will be the start of an unbeaten streak for Team USA?

• The 2022 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations was the eighteenth time that the host nation reigned supreme. That occurred in 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1968, 1974, 1987, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2022. Team France enters this weekend's event as clear favorites and so one would be wise to bet on that figure growing to nineteen. It is most peculiar that it has happened so much recently.

• There are just four stars on the 2023 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations entry list who know what it takes to win the race. Those are Romain Febvre (2015, 2016 and 2017), Calvin Vlaanderen (2019), Glenn Coldenhoff (2019) and Ken Roczen (2012). Mattia Guadagnini, a part of 2021's winning squad, was entered for Team Italy, but withdrew due to a torn calf muscle that requires a rest period. Andrea Bonacorsi has filled his spot.

• The last time that Team USA had a line-up as inexperienced as this was in 2017 – three rookies (Cole Seely, Zach Osborne and Thomas Covington) raced in Great Britain. RJ Hampshire and Christian Craig are unfamiliar with the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, but Aaron Plessinger competed for the United States of America at 2018's event. That was at RedBud and so this is the first time that he will experience an international edition of the event.

• When was the last time that a team consisting of two rookies won the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations? It was Team USA back in 2010, when the race was held at Thunder Valley in Colorado. Trey Canard and Andrew Short debuted on that weekend. Ryan Dungey, who had lined up once previously, captained the team, so the dynamic was identical to the one that will be in play this weekend. Perhaps this is another good sign?

• The fact that Febvre is the only active rider to have won the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations on more than one occasion speaks to his quality, as does his moto record. '3' has never dropped outside of the top four in a moto (1-1-1-4-2-3 are his rankings in his three starts) nor has he been lower than second in the individual overall classification. The only negative is that he has not raced for his nation since 2017, which was two thousand one hundred and ninety-eight days ago.

• Febvre has not led the most laps at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations of the active riders, as that honor belongs to Glenn Coldenhoff. Febvre has led forty-two MXoN laps total – twenty-nine laps at Ernee, thirteen at Maggiora and ten at Matterley Basin – whereas Coldenhoff is at sixty. Will Febvre bridge that gap this weekend? It would be truly shocking if he does not win a single moto, but there will be fierce competition.

• France has the longest active streak of top five finishes – they have not fallen below fifth since 2012's edition of the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. The next longest streak is Italy with two in a row and that, dear readers, is very surprising. Bizarrely, there is no country with a podium streak as 2022's podium finishers were completely different to the year prior. Parity has never been so rife at the event that was so predictable in the 2000s.

• Ernee has hosted the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations twice thus far, 2005 and 2015, and the podium looked familiar both times. The United States, France and Belgium filled the three spots both times. Will history repeat itself this weekend? Australia is most likely nation to ruin the pattern despite their spotty record at the venue – they finished sixteenth in 2005 and seventh in 2015. Would anyone bet against them bettering that result?

• Dean Ferris represented Team Australia when the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations was last run at Ernee – he went 19-20 as a Husqvarna rider. Is it optimistic to expect him to fare better than that eight years on as a semi-retired athlete? This will be his sixth time representing his nation; he debuted in 2013. The moto scores that he has acquired at the race leave a little to be desired and are a cause of concern (4-5-19-20-5-15-22-23-15-30).

• Who else was racing when Ernee last hosted this prestigious event, besides Febvre and Ferris? Tanel Leok, Harri Kullas, Valentin Guillod, Jeremy Seewer, Glenn Coldenhoff, Cody Cooper, Martin Barr, Tim Gajser, Filip Bengtsson, Miro Sihvonen and Jere Haavisto. There is so much more crossover than one would initially think. Leok and Cooper are the only athletes who were present in 2005 though – that is just incredible.

• It is worth noting that Team Australia is the only country with three current champions on their roster. Jett Lawrence is the champion in 250SX West in Monster Energy Supercross, 450MX in Pro Motocross and 450SMX in the SuperMotocross World Championship. Hunter Lawrence is the champion in 250MX in Pro Motocross, and Ferris took the ProMX title in Australia's domestic series. Five gold medals won by Team Australia since January!

• 2023 marks the first time that the MXGP and MX2 world champions have raced at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations since 2019's fixture. Chase Sexton, who won 2023 Monster Energy Supercross, is the only significant champion missing from the entry list. There has not been a year where we have had the FIM Motocross World Championship winners, Pro Motocross champions and all three Monster Energy Supercross champions at the MXoN. 2005 was close! Just Grant Langston was missing.

• There was not a single splash of yellow at the last edition of the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, but that will change later this week. Gabriel Chetnicki (fifth in 2021's B-Final for Poland) was the last star to steer a Suzuki. Poland did not make it to the A-Final, however, so there has not been a Suzuki rider in the main event since 2018 (Enzo Lopes and Travis Pastrana). Ken Roczen will do well by the manufacturer at Ernee.

• Jeremy Seewer has missed one Monster Energy Motocross of Nations since he debuted in 2011. That was the mid-season event in 2021, so it is only fair to overlook that blip on his attendance record! It was at Ernee in 2015 that Seewer led Switzerland to their best score, a fifth, and it is quite likely that the nation will fare better than that later this week. Seewer has never finished higher than third in the individual overall classification, so that could also be improved on come Sunday.

• Is this a sign of some health? Thirty-eight nations are provisionally entered for this weekend's Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. There has not been a total as great as that since Matterley Basin, Great Britain, in 2017. There were thirty-nine entries that season. There were thirty-nine nations at Maggiora in 2016 too, but just thirty-five when the race was last held at Ernee in 2015. Let's work towards the magic number of forty in twelve months, yeah?