HOME HEROES FRANCE LEAD THE WAY IN QUALIFYING FOR THE MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS!
Ernée (France), 3rd October 2026 – With beautiful late summer sunshine treating the iconic valley of the Circuit Raymond Deny with perfect conditions, the tens of thousands of fans already packed into Ernée for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations enjoyed a stunning day of racing! The local supporters were happiest of all as each of their riders scored top three finishes to come away on top from the three Qualifying Races!
With victory for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin, a fighting second forKawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre, and a consistent third place for Honda HRC Petronas pilot Tom Vialle, Team France look incredibly strong as they head into tomorrow’s main races for the Peter Chamberlain Trophy with the first choice of position on the gate, and for sure the fans will make a massive amount of noise for them around the entire circuit, just as they did today!
As expected, Team Spain were the home team’s strongest challengers, as Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado returned to European action with a solid win in the MXGP Qualifying Race, while new MX2 World Champion Guillem Farres started his last weekend on a 250 for Triumph Racing Factory Team with a come-from-behind ride to fourth position to back up his team leader. BUD Racing Kawasaki man Francisco Garcia took sixth in the Open class race to show that he will be able to score well tomorrow as well!
The third gate pick in all of the main races tomorrow will be Team Belgium, for whom Liam Everts put in the best score of second in the Open class for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, while the returning Lucas Coenen silenced any doubts around his fitness by fighting from a first corner crash to claim fifth in MXGP! His twin brother and fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing athlete Sacha Coenen crashed out of the lead in MX2, but was still able to finish in seventh. The Belgian squad could be a real threat to home supremacy tomorrow!
There were great individual performances from newly re-crowned MXGP World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, who won the Open Qualifying Race for Honda HRC Petronas, as well as for Triumph Racing Factory Team’s South African firebrand Camden Mc Lellan, who took second in MX2. Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen took the best result for Team USA with third in MX2, while Jan Pancar pushed Team Slovenia into a qualifying spot with third in MXGP for TEM JP253 KTM Racing.
With the trademark incredible atmosphere of Ernée on Nations weekend, tomorrow is sure to be an explosive day of action as the different classes get mixed up altogether! It’s a massive event that has truly only just begun!
After narrowly edging out Romain Febvre for the top time in the morning’s Free Practice session, Jorge Prado was confident of a good start despite Spain’s last-but-one gate position from the ballot. Jan Pancar also showed great pace in third, ahead of Lucas Coenen and the Kosak KTM Team rider Roan van de Moosdijk from Team Netherlands.
The crowd roar, no doubt heard all around the planet, told the world that Febvre got the Holeshot into the first corner, with Pancar fending off the initial attack from Prado to hold second up the first section of waves and jumps! Fantic Factory Racing MXGP rider Jorgen-Mathias Talviku, complete with dyed Team Estonia coloured hairstyle, started well in fourth ahead of the JK Racing Yamaha of Team Sweden’s Isak Gifting! However, a pile-up in the first corner involved the Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki of Team Great Britain’s Taylor Hammal, with Lucas Coenen picking his bike up from the bottom in last place!
Prado did get past Pancar quickly, but made a mistake by running wide in an uphill corner, allowing the Slovenian back past and leaving Febvre free to build a gap! Prado did get back up to second by the end of the first full lap, and set after the home crowd’s talisman! By that time, Australian Jed Beaton had got his #1 CDR Yamaha past Talviku into fourth, with Latvian Karlis Reisulis putting his Monster Energy Yamaha into sixth. Behind him were the Fantic Factory Racing MXGP machine of Team Italy’s Alberto Forato, Gifting back in eighth, Julien Beaumer of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in ninth for Team USA, and Sarholz Racing KTM’s Tom Koch rounding out the top ten for Team Germany.
Gifting crashed out of the top ten on lap three, recovering to an eventual 13th and promoting a charging Hammal up to tenth! By this time, the blazing Coenen was just behind the Brit, and able to pass both him and Koch on lap four! Meanwhile, Prado closed in on Febvre, who made a mistake over a jump at the top of the circuit, allowing the Spaniard to draw level and into the lead with an inside line into the next corner!
Forato was showing good speed, and he got past fellow Fantic man Talviku for fifth on lap four, then advanced on Beaton, launching thrillingly past the Aussie on the big uphill triple jump in front of the main bank of fans, bringing a big response from the many Italians present! The charging Coenen also continued to advance, with an inside move on Reisulis putting him into seventh on lap six, then Talviku fell prey to the Belgian soon after! A final move on Beaton with three laps to go gave Lucas a fine fifth to show for his efforts, behind Forato but in front of the Aussie and the Estonian.
American Beaumer slipped back to 14th in his first race on a 450, leaving Karlis Reisulis in eighth, and Hammal a brilliant ninth after scrapping it out with Dutchman Van de Moosdijk, who came home in tenth.
Despite a few errors allowing Febvre to draw near with three laps to go, Prado held on for a solid win ahead of the Frenchman, while Pancar more than made up for the absence of famous countryman Tim Gajser with a great third place. The scene had been set, and Team Spain had thrown down the gauntlet!
Jorge Prado – Team Spain: « It was a crazy one. The 15-second board went up and I wasn’t even on my bike, I was still getting to my gate, so I had to start straight away. I still got a pretty good start, made a mistake on the first lap and dropped back to third, then worked my way up to first. The track is super tight and there’s a lot of water in places, so it’s slippery and I was being careful not to go over the bars. The lappers were hard to manage too, because when someone is 20 seconds slower you don’t know if they’ll go left or right. I think tomorrow will be better once everybody has qualified. I’m happy with P1 today, we’re in a good flow right now and we’ll do even better tomorrow. »
Qualifying Race MXGP – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 24:32.499; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:01.923; 3. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:37.588; 4. Alberto Forato (ITA, Fantic), +0:40.359; 5. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:45.248; 6. Jed Beaton (AUS, Yamaha), +0:50.039; 7. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, Fantic), +1:05.687; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:20.043; 9. Taylor Hammal (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:22.858; 10. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), +1:27.086
The doubts surrounding Mathis Valin, in his first race back after injuries from a massive crash in Portugal back in June, were soon dispatched as he put in the fastest lap time in Free Practice for the MX2 class, although he was only seven thousandths of a second ahead of Sacha Coenen! Guillem Farres was also under half a second back in third, while Levi Kitchen and Janis Reisulis got into the top five, ahead of Camden Mc Lellan.
There was no surprise as to the Holeshot artist, however, as Coenen took advantage of the Belgians’ eighth gate pick to streak into the lead, although Valin and Quadlock Honda’s Australian rider Alex Larwood were right with him. Janis Reisulis was also inside the top five, as was Team Japan’s Haruki Yokoyama up the first hill!
Yokoyama was quickly shuffled back down the order, while Larwood also dropped back due to a mistake, ending the first lap in eighth place ahead of Team Sweden’s Alve Callemo and Brazilian flyer Guilherme Bresolin.
Coenen tried to pull away, but Valin and Reisulis would not let him, while Mc Lellan and Kitchen also gave chase, the American fighting into fifth from well outside the top ten on the first corner! Farres slid sideways at the bottom of one of the biggest uphill sections to drop to seventh behind the Venrooy KTM of Jeremy Seewer!
It took three laps for Farres to get past the veteran Swiss pilot, which he did on the same corner as his previous mistake. On lap five, though, with Valin on his rear wheel and the baying crowd letting him know it, Coenen crashed off the top of the biggest downhill, very nearly bringing the Frenchman down as well and being extremely lucky to slide to a halt fairly quickly! He remounted in fourth behind Valin, Reisulis, and Mc Lellan, although Kitchen was able to get past a lap later along the top straight of the circuit.
Behind them, Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 rider Ferruccio Zanchi had pushed past Larwood into eighth, with Dutch veteran Glenn Coldenhoff finding his way into tenth in his first MX2 race for many years! Kitchen used a similar line to that he used on Coenen to get into third past Reisulis on lap nine, with Farres also getting past the Latvian a lap later to claim fourth at the flag. Coenen made an ambitious attack on Janis on the final lap, crashing in the passing attempt and losing sixth to Seewer!
Zanchi took eighth behind the Belgian, with Coldenhoff nipping past Larwood to take ninth on the final lap! The crowd were in raptures, however, as Valin goon rode across the finish line to collect a fantastic comeback victory at the sweetest possible time! Mc Lellan’s second spot was a real help for South Africa, while Kitchen was the USA’s best in third.
France was now leading from Spain, with Italy a surprise third in a tiebreak over Belgium, and Latvia a point further back in fifth. With the worst result to be dropped, many teams were safely through, it was just all about gate picks and pure pride in the final race of the day!
Mathis Valin – Team France: « The last few months have been tough for me, so I’m really happy to be back on the track. It’s been a while since I last raced, so I’m really happy to put France on top for the moment. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. »
Qualifying Race MX2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 24:53.376; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:06.159; 3. Levi Kitchen (USA, Kawasaki), +0:18.989; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:20.331; 5. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:33.764; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +0:40.550; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:45.439; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:49.378; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:58.744; 10. Alex Larwood (AUS, Honda), +0:59.325;
The Open class had, perhaps predictably, been dominated in Free Practice by MXGP World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, although his Honda HRC Petronas teammate was second fastest, with a two-second gap between them! Liam Everts was also adapting well to the 450 in third, with Italian Andrea Adamo fourth for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Latvian Pauls Jonass.
As they have done many times towards the end of the MXGP season, Vialle and Herlings disputed the lead into the first corner, with the home hero bringing another roar from the crowd, who were lucky enough to see each of their riders at the head of the field at one point or another!
It didn’t last long for Vialle, however, as Herlings forced his way into the lead on the exit of the second corner, and instantly began to pull away. Everts was close to them in third, with Australian Aaron Tanti briefly fourth before Cooper Webb forced past for Team USA. The new Rocky Mountain Husqvarna man looked in fine form as both Adamo and Jonass followed him past the CDR Yamaha of Tanti, who also had to give way to Spaniard Francisco Garcia! Team Canada’s Dylan Wright and German Noah Ludwig rounded out the initial top ten.
Former MX2 Ernée podium man Adamo pulled a classic Ernée pass on Webb at the bottom of a downhill for fourth on lap three, just as Wright moved past Tanti for eighth. Fighting rides from Swiss MX-Handel Husqvarna man Kevin Brumann and Dirt Store Triumph’s Brit Ben Watson put them into ninth and tenth at the flag, ahead of the Canadian and the Aussie. Ludwig put in Germany’s best result with eighth to ease them into a qualifying position. Brumann’s ride put the Swiss into eighth for the day ahead of Australia and Great Britain.
Webb was pounced upon by Jonass at the top of the finish line downhill on lap four, and Garcia also got past the American to claim sixth, although Webb fought back to be just a second back from the young Spaniard at the finish!
Adamo and Jonass brought it home safely in fourth and fifth, which is also where their countries finished the day overall. Vialle made a mistake at the top of the finish line hill at half-distance, allowing Everts to get close enough to dive inside the Frenchman at the end of Pit Lane at the start of lap seven. Second place was Belgium’s best of the day and will give them third gate pick behind the Spanish, but nobody was getting near Herlings, who took the fastest lap of the day en route to a near 20-second victory! The result was enough to put the Dutch squad into sixth place, in the middle of a tiebreak with Latvia in fifth, and the USA classified seventh.
Further down, a late charge from Enzo Lopes put Team Brazil into a qualifying spot, just ahead of 19th and final qualifiers Team Austria, but relegating Team Finland and Team Slovakia to the B-Final tomorrow!
The battle for the World Team Champion’s trophy could be close tomorrow, especially if the Coenen brothers both get good starts and limit the mistakes, while the pace of the MX2 top men will be intriguing to compare with the MXGP and Open class riders!
As always at the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, the racing tomorrow is sure to be wild and unpredictable, and absolutely not to be missed! Let’s see the season out in style!
Jeffrey Herlings: « My jump out of the gate wasn’t great, but on the Honda HRC Petronas bike I was the fastest out there, so I’m very thankful for this bike. I need the same thing tomorrow. If I can get the same starts, I can fight for the win with Jorge, and also with Tom and Romain. As a team it’s going to be difficult to get on the podium, but my riding was good, I felt strong and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s races. »
Qualifying Race Open – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 24:16.770; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:19.625; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:43.237; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:49.072; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:52.382; 6. Francisco Garcia (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:57.044; 7. Cooper Webb (USA, Husqvarna), +0:58.140; 8. Noah Ludwig (GER, KTM), +1:21.780; 9. Kevin Brumann (SUI, Husqvarna), +1:29.576; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, Triumph), +1:32.659
Nations Qualification – Top 10 Classification
- France – 3 pts
- Spain – 5 pts
- Belgium – 7 pts
- Italy – 8 pts
- Latvia – 10 pts
- The Netherlands – 10 pts
- USA – 10 pts
- Switzerland – 15 pts
- Australia – 16 pts
- Great Britain – 19 pts
MONSTER ENERGY FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS QUICK FACTS:
CIRCUIT RAYMOND DENY
Circuit length: 1670m
Type of ground: Hard PAck
Temperature: 19°
Weather conditions: Sunday
WEEKEND TIMETABLE (Local Time GMT+2)
WEEKEND TIMETABLE (Local Time GMT+2)
SUNDAY: 08:35 B-Final Warm-Up, 09:20 BLU CRU 125 Race, 10:05 MXoN Group 1 Warm-Up, 10:25 MXoN Group 2 Warm-Up, 11:00 B-Final, 12:45 Electro Demonstration Laps, 13:10 MXGP & MX2 (MXoN Race 1), 14:40 MX2 & Open (MXoN Race 2), 16:08 Open & MXGP (MXoN Race 3).