Kawasaki Racing Team’s Mathis Valin and Romain Febvre assured France of first gate-pick in each of the races in tomorrow’s main programme of the 79th FIM Motocross of Nations on home soil at Ernée with stunning rides in Qualifying. Febvre laid the base with a no-risk second in MXGP before Valin, racing for the first time in three months, swept to victory in MX2 to seal pole for La Grande Nation.
To the delight of the massive French crowd Febvre gave the host nation a superb start to Qualifying with a clear holeshot from gate 22 in the opening MXGP moto and was soon racing clear of the pack. With two scores from three to count for team gate-pick during the main programme on Sunday the onus is high on the MXGP rider to avoid risks and give his teammates a solid base so Febvre was not concerned as a sole rival could stay his pace with third almost twenty seconds back after fifteen minutes. He took the opportunity to check out his rival’s lines before closing back onto the rear wheel at will with four laps remaining. He even drew alongside but a pass was hindered by a backmarker and the Frenchman was then content to finish a safe second.
Valin, making his second appearance in national colours, was immaculate in his first race back from an enforced three-month injury break. Second though the first turn of the MX2 Qualifier he was content to shadow the leader before moving to the front on lap five and surged clear to the delight of the massive crowd for a secure six-second victory which ensured France of first gate-pick on Sunday even before the final MX Open Qualifying race.
Mathis Valin (France, MX2): « It’s such a crazy comeback after three months without a race. I took it easy through the first few laps after a good start; I knew I had the speed to come back to Sacha, then I put the pressure on him and he made a mistake. I had so much arm pump after such a long time out of racing but the crowd helped me put it out of my mind; I couldn’t even hear my own bike through the waves in front of the main gallery. »
Romain Febvre (France, MXGP): « It was a good day for the team. We got the job done and are now first to the gate tomorrow but we must stay concentrated to finish the job. It was a little tricky through the first laps of my Qualifying as the track was completely flat for our only practice in the morning but the ruts had formed for our race so I needed to learn the track again. After Prado passed me I could check his lines; I came close to him again but couldn’t quite make the pass. »
Pro-Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen was quickly moving forward after a midfield start from gate 26 to move into fifth by the end of the first lap of the MX2 Qualifying race and continued to push to finish am impressive third, leading the USA to seventh in the team classification. KRT’s Pauls Jonass led Latvia to fifth in the team stakes with fifth in MX Open Qualifying while Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s European EMX250 champion Francisco Garcia proved his ability on a KX450 by chasing Jonass home for sixth as Spain clinched second in the team classification. DRT Kawasaki’s Taylor Hammal gave Great Britain a superb base with an impressive ride in MXGP Qualifying, racing through the pack from twenty-third at the first timing split into the top-ten by lap four and, mixing it with GP regulars, finished ninth to secure his nation’s qualification for the main programme with tenth gate-pick. Guilherme Bresolin raced to eighteenth in MX1 Qualifying to assist Brazil into tomorrow’s main programme as eighteenth in the team classification, but Haruki Yokoyama’s twentieth-placed MX2 finish from a top-five start was not quite enough to take Japan directly into the main event.
Pauls Jonass (Latvia, MX Open): « It was a good day for Latvia, and also for me, with P5. We set up the bike for the soft dirt this morning but it was too much for Quali as the track got hardpack and I was riding a little too aggressive at times. I should have a better feeling for the track after we make the bike lighter again. »
Francisco Garcia (Spain, MX Open): « The track changed completely during the day; I had a better feeling in the afternoon but I got a lot of arm pump. I finished sixth but I prefer to win; we have P2 as a team today but we will fight for the win tomorrow. »
The nineteen teams which have qualified direct for tomorrow’s main programme will, together with a twentieth team which will transfer through Sunday morning’s B final, contest three motos to decide the destiny of the Peter Chamberlain Trophy and the title « world team champions ». Two riders from each team will contest each of the three motos; in the first thirty-minutes-plus-two-lap race the MXGP and MX2 riders will go to the start, and one-and-a-half hours later the MX Open riders join the MX2 brigade for moto two. In the third moto, following another short break, MXGP and MX Open race together and the final team classification is calculated on the best five from six results. In every race one member of each team, in order of the Saturday qualification result, is nominated to choose his start-gate first and, after each team has sent one rider to the gate, the second rider from each team chooses his start position, again in the order of qualifying. Tactics can play a role in deciding which rider goes to the gate first; some teams will give first-choice to their team leader, whilst others will gamble on allowing their MX2 rider to choose the best gate in the hope that he can thus nullify the power advantage of the 450s against his 250cc bike in the race to turn one. The Motocross of Nations is a unique and fascinating event in many ways, and is essentially a team contest in which personal ambitions play a supporting role to that of the national team. May the best team win.
(Text & photos : Kawasaki Racing 2026)