What the Blu Cru had to say about its riders’ day at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations in Latvia.
The following is a press release from Yamaha Motor Europe:
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek rounded off a fantastic first year in “blue” and with the works YZ450FM by walking the podium with Team Belgium in second place in Kegums, Latvia, Sunday, for the 68th Motocross of Nations. The Latvian venue was awash with fans, color, atmosphere and expectation, as is the norm for the annual cosmopolitan spectacle that draws three-man teams from over 30 countries together for two days of competition.
Kegums provided its usual test of shallow sand with a hard and often rocky base. High speed was mixed with rutty turns and some long jumps. Over 63,000 spectators across Saturday and Sunday welcomed the best riders in the world. Van Horebeek was selected for his flag after his part in the victorious 2013 effort in Germany and after a career-best season in MXGP where he was sub-world champion in the premier class.
In the first moto of a grey, overcast and chilly day JVH was pushing for a top-three finish against Ryan Dungey and Max Nagl until the end of his gear lever bent away and he had trouble shifting. Electing to bag the points for the “Red Devils,” he reached the line in fourth. For the second race-–run against representatives of the MX Open division, still on 450cc machinery-–Van Horebeek assumed control at the front of the pack. He held first spot for several laps until the outstanding performer on the day, Gautier Paulin, nudged him back to second. The 24 year old then did well to complete the race distance as he twisted and re-aggravated his right ankle injury sustained four weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Goias in Brazil.
Van Horebeek’s 4-2 was the cornerstone of the Belgian’s tally to reach the podium for the 23rd time in the last quarter of a century.
The third spot on the podium went to Team USA. In the MX2 class and with his AMA Pro National winning YZ250F, Jeremy Martin was aligned with Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac. It was the youngster’s very first outing overseas and as part of the American selection. On Saturday a crash in the qualification heat led to a broken big toe in his right foot and meant some painkillers were needed to compete on Sunday. He managed to post an 11th and a 13th despite the adversity and was fourth for the day in MX2.
Team Italy’s chances of a second podium result in succession was dashed when Antonio Cairoli suffered a big crash while fighting near the front in MX2. It meant DP19 Yamaha David Philippaerts’ designs on more silverware were put to rest but the veteran still gave all he had on the YZ450F. He ran to 12th place from 40 runners in the first moto and then recovered from almost last after a first-lap crash in the second to take 18th. Italy was sixth overall. Bike it Yamaha Cosworth’s Rui Gonçalves was in action for Portugal and scored 12th and 10th positions; by the far the best results for his country as the Portuguese came home 13th in the final ranking.
As is the norm the Motocross of Nations drew the curtain across the off-road racing campaign. Factory teams will begin tests in earnest for 2015 in the coming weeks before a rest period begins, followed by the start of some intense physical work by riders in the harsh winter months.
Jeremy Van Horebeek
“The first moto should have been better but I had a problem with my shifter and I settled down in fourth position. I had to put everything on the second moto but at one stage I twisted my ankle again. It is not 100% and I have a little bone broken. Now is the time to heal-up. I’m really happy for the team with this result and I think I showed again that I am one of the top riders this year.”
Jeremy Martin
“I broke my big toe and foot in three places but I did the best I could. I want to thank Roger for selecting me and congratulations to France because they brought their A-game. I felt like we all worked well together and I hope for another opportunity like this again in the future. The track was rough, maybe one of the roughest I have ridden in a while, and I had a blast. The foot injury is no excuse; I learned a lot and sometimes you do that more when you are down than when you win.”
David Philippaerts
“There were some good things about today. I was banged about in the first corner of the first moto and had to concentrate and push to come back from nineteenth to near the top ten. I was in the same mess in the second moto. I crashed and was very far back. The track was really difficult and it is very hard when you are far back. I actually passed Guarneri. Not such a good day for the team overall and Antonio crashed and had a lot of pain. I did the best I could and now it is time to stop after a difficult year and see where and how we can improve things for 2015.”
2015 Monster Energty Motocross of Nations Classification
1. France (Paulin, Frossard, Ferrandis) 17
2. Belgium (Strijbos, Van Horebeek, Lieber) 27
3. USA (Dungey, Tomac, Martin) 33
4. Great Britain (Wilson, Searle, Simpson) 33
5. Germany (Nagl, Ullrich, Jacobi) 72
6. Italy (Guarneri, Philippaerts, Cairoli) 73
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