Team France has captured its fourth Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN) crown in as many years today at Matterley Basin in Great Britain, while Australia placed sixth in what was a highly-spirited effort from the green and gold trio.

While France took a convincing victory, it was The Netherlands who felt short for the second year running in the runner-up spot, as Great Britain took honours for the final spot on the podium followed by Belgium and Switzerland.

The opening moto saw local favourite Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) storm to victory, defeating former world champion Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) by a comfortable six-second margin.

Third was credited to France’s Gautier Paulin, while one of the most impressive performances came from Australian talent Hunter Lawrence (Suzuki World MX2), who gave the top 450 riders a run aboard to his MX2 machine to cross the line in fourth ahead of Arnaud Tonus (Monster Energy Kawasaki Factory Racing).

Two-time Australian motocross champion Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) was forced to recover from an early stop in the mechanics area, although he bounced back for 22nd position.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings claimed the top spot in race two for The Netherlands, he too went onto claim a very commanding moto win. France’s Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing) was second, as Team USA’s Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) was third.

Italy’s Alessandro Lupino (Honda) finished fourth, with Team Australia’s Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) charging to a highly-impressive fifth after running inside the top three in the early stages.

Lawrence once again shone despite contesting back to back motos, fighting his way into the top three after a poor start, although a crash in the finals stages saw him drop to eighth, which was still good enough to reward him with the overall win the MX2 category.

In the final race of the day, it was Anstie back on top with another moto victory to his name, beating home Herlings by a narrow margin, who was forced to accept second.

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing duo Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek were third and fourth respectively, followed Gajser in fifth.

Australian contenders Gibbs and Ferris faced multiple difficulties in the final moto, salvaging 19th and 23rd results respectively. Ferris was credited 10th in the MXGP overall standings, while Gibbs secured sixth in the Open division.

Following Australia in the overall nations standings was Italy, Estonia, USA and Sweden.