2022 Motocross of Nations Photo Gallery

2022 Motocross des Nations Recap

Rain. Why did it have to rain?

But alas it did not matter. The 75th running of the Motocross des Nations held Sunday at RedBud MX in Buchanan, MI brought the Chamberlain Trophy back to the Unites States for the first time in 11 years. The once dominant American team finally found the right formula and no doubt racing on home turf helped the United States stand center podium for the 23rd time.

The rain proved disastrous for many riders, and thus teams, as multiple crashes highlighted the day as well as a first turn pile-up in the second race. Team USA took first with 16 points: Eli Tomac, in his fourth MXoN, won Race 1 and finished sixth in Race 3 in the MXGP class; Chase Sexton competing in the Open Class and first time on Team USA took second in Race 2 and third in Race 3 while Justin Cooper, who joined Team USA in 2019, took on the MX2 class and finished fourth in Race 2. His ninth-place in Race 1 was scrapped as each team gets to drop the worst race finish.

The American victory also helps further cement Tomac's status as an all-time dirt bike racing great and puts him in rarefied company as he won the 450 class Supercross and Motocross Championships and the Motocross des Nations, all in the same year. Tomac wrapped up his fourth Nationals title earlier this month and in May secured his second Supercross title. Tomac currently has a Supercross only contract for 2023 then he plans to call it a career.

France took second with 23 points behind Maxime Renaux (MXGP) first-place in Race 3 and third-place in Race 1, Dylan Ferrandis (Open) finished fourth and sixth in Race 3 and Race 2, respectively and Marvin Musquin (MX2) finished ninth in Race 2 and his 14th-place in Race 1 was scratched.

Australia finished third with 26 points thanks to strong efforts by Jett Lawrence (Open) who finished first in Race 2 and second in Race 3, Hunter Lawrence (MX2) finishing eighth in Race 1 and 10th in Race 2, respectively and Mitchell Evans (MXGP) helped with a fifth in Race 1 as his 28th in Race 3 was dropped.

Unbeknownst to everyone, qualifying on Saturday proved prophetic as Team USA qualified first, Team France qualified second and Team Australia qualified third. Also of note, seven of the nine riders on the Championship podium race the Supercross and Motocross circuits in the United States.

The Motocross of Nations generally races on an established Motocross track used during a round in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series when the United States hosts or one of the many used in the Motocross World Championship series overseas, but implements a different scoring and racing format. Competing nations send a three-rider team who race in the MXGP or MX1 class (450cc), MX2 class (250cc) and Open class (250cc or 450cc). Each class races twice, against the other classes for a total of three races. The worst score of the three gets dropped and the lowest combined total score wins the Chamberlain Trophy. First-place winners receive one point instead of 25 points like in traditional Motocross scoring.

Officially known as the Motocross of Nations (MXoN) since 2004, the original "Motocross des Nations" (MXdN) began in 1947 racing 500cc bikes and in 1985 assimilated the Trophee des Nations - which raced 250cc bikes from 1961-84 - and the Coupe des Nations - which raced 125cc bikes from 1980-84 - thus becoming one international event. Prior to this, all three events were held in different locations on separate days.