Second in moto three for Ken de Dycker clinched Belgium the 2013 Motocross of Nations crown alongside Clement Desalle and Jeremy Van Horebeek.

Belgium has clinched a stunning victory in the 2013 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations with Ken de Dycker (MX1), Jeremy Van Horebeek (MX2) and Clement Desalle (Open) on an action-packed Sunday at Teutschenthal in Germany.

The Belgian team edged out pre-event favourites Team USA riders Ryan Dungey (MX1), Eli Tomac (MX2) and Justin Barcia (Open), while the Italian team of Antonio Cairoli (MX1), Alessandro Lupino (MX2) and David Philippaerts (Open) rounded out the rostrum.

Team Australia claimed our second best finish in the event’s history with fourth thanks to the inspiring efforts of top qualifiers Brett Metcalfe (MX1), Dean Ferris (MX2) and Todd Waters (Open).

The opening moto, featuring MX1 and MX2, was a brilliant race. First up it was Australian Dean Ferris who led, with Ken Roczen right on his back wheel.

Also in the mix were Valentin Guillod who actually held second place, third was Roczen, then came Tommy Searle (one of the few MX1 riders to start from the inside gate pick), Jeremy Van Horebeek, Rui Goncalves, Kasper Lynggaard, Antonio Cairoli, Jose Butron and Alexandr Tonkov.

The American riders were in trouble as Ryan Dungey was 16th and Eli Tomac in 17th place. Roczen and Guillod passed Ferris as the Aussie rode of the circuit, and further back Cairoli was burning through the pack, from eighth to fourth in five laps.

Roczen took the lead on lap five as Dungey worked his way up to 10th, Tomac was 11th. Roczen was taking a good lead, but on lap seven Cairoli moved into second and started breaking the lead down.

Searle was now in third place, but Tomac was started to find his AMA speed and passed Dungey for eighth position on lap seven. Cairoli was making big ground on Roczen and passed him on lap 14, just as Tomac moved into fourth place on the track and second MX2 rider.

All came undone though as he passed Searle and moved up onto the back wheel of Roczen. Tomac who was clearly faster tried to look for a way past, but Roczen in front of his home crowd didn’t look like he was about to give up his MX2 lead quickly and blocked a couple of passing move from Tomac.

Going up a steep jump face Tomac seemed to cross-rut and was off the bike, flying through the air. Once Tomac was out of the running everything settled down somewhat.

Cairoli won easily, from Roczen, Searle, Ferris, Paulin, Dungey, Van Horebeek, De Dycker, Guillod and Metcalfe in 10th place. The team situation was Team Germany on 13 points, Italy and Australia 14 points, Belgium 15 points, and France 17 points.

The second moto of the day was MX1 and Open, this was one of the classic MXoN races. At the start it was again Ferris, although Roczen was quickly into the lead and on lap two Tomac also went past Ferris.

Further back were Justin Barcia, Shaun Simpson, Alexandr Tonkov, Tanel Leok, Jordi Tixier, Alessandro Lupino and Clement Desalle in 10th place.

Dean Ferris was Australia’s strongest link with 4-5 results. He was second in MX2.

Roczen looked strong up front as Desalle started working his way through the pack. Tomac though wasn’t about to let his AMA 250cc rival get away and the two leaders pulled well away from the rest of the pack.

Barcia passed Ferris for third on lap three and Desalle was quickly into fifth place, closing in quickly on Ferris and Barcia who were fighting over third place.

Tomac didn’t seem the have the same speed as in the opening moto when he burst through the field with alarming speed, although he had enough to keep with Roczen. Roczen though looked a little quicker this time around and with the huge crowd showing their support he maintained a good lead.

Desalle passed both Ferris and Barcia, but the two leaders were too far ahead to make any sort of attack. The end result being Roczen, Tomac, Desalle, Barcia, Ferris, Leok, Van Horebeek, Lupino. Charlier and Tonkov in 10th place.

Team positions were for now Belgium on 25 points, USA 28, Italy 36, France 38 and Australia on 39.

Moto three with the Open and MX1 entries was another thriller, as a first turn pile-up again claimed a number of big names including Desalle, Barcia and, unfortunately for Australia, Waters. The incident ruled Desalle out with a separated shoulder.

Out front it was Nagl leading early on, before Cairoli took charge on lap 10. From there he was never headed, but the action behind him was nail-biting for the contending teams including Italy.

While Desalle was sidelined, de Dycker held on for the Belgians, elevating himself from seventh on the opening lap all the way to a hard-fought second as he sealed the victory for Belgium.

Barcia rallied through from 31st on lap one to finish 11th, while Dungey struggled to make inroads on the leaders as he raced to seventh. In the end, despite the promise as Barcia climbed the order, the Americans fell three points short of the overall.

The final moto top 10 was Cairoli from de Dycker, Evgeny Bobryshev, Nagl, Searle, Paulin, Dungey, Metcalfe, de Reuver and Philippaerts.

Belgium won the overall on 27 points from Team USA’s 30 and Italy’s 33, largely thanks to Cairoli’s sweep, while Australia matched its second best ever result with a brilliant fourth with 40 after a mixed bag of luck on Sunday. France, 44, completed the top five overall.

Individual winners for the weekend were Cairoli (MX1), Roczen for the fourth consecutive year (MX2) and Barcia (Open). Of the Aussies, Metcalfe was seventh overall in MX1, Ferris second in MX2 and Waters a credible fifth in Open.

2013 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations
Teutschenthal, Germany

Moto one (MX1 and MX2) results:
1. Antonio Cairoli ITA
2. Ken Roczen GER
3. Tommy Searle GBR
4. Dean Ferris AUS
5. Gautier Paulin FRA
6. Ryan Dungey USA
7. Jeremy van Horebeek BEL
8. Ken de Dycker BEL
9. Valentin Guillod SUI
10. Brett Metcalfe AUS
11. Max Nagl GER
12. Jordi Tixier FRA
13. Alessandro Lupino ITA
14. Alexsandr Tonkov RUS
15. Kasper Lynggard DEN
16. Eli Tomac USA
17. Jeremy Seewer SUI
18. Jake Nicolls GBR
19. Glenn Coldenhoff NED
20. Jose Butron ESP
21. Gert Krestinov EST
22. Marc de Reuver NED
23. Pascal Rauchenecker AUT
24. Davis Ivanovs LAT
25. Gunter Schmidinger AUT
26. Frantisek Smola CZE
27. Filip Neugebauer CZE
28. Harri Kullas FIN
29. Santtu Tiainen FIN
30. Rui Goncalves POR
31. Paulo Alberto POR
32. Erki Kahro EST
33. Ryhs Carter NZL
34. Kayne Lamont NZL
35. Even Heibye NOR
36. Stefan Kier Olsen DEN
37. Augusts Justs LAT
38. Jonathan Barragan ESP
39. Magne Klingsheim NOR
40. Evgeny Bobryshev RUS

Moto two (MX2 and Open) results:
1. Ken Roczen GER
2. Eli Tomac USA
3. Clement Desalle BEL
4. Justin Barcia USA
5. Dean Ferris AUS
6. Tanel Leok EST
7. Jeremy van Horebeek BEL
8. Alessandro Lupino ITA
9. Christophe Charlier FRA
10. Aleksandr Tonkov RUS
11. Jake Nicholls GBR
12. Jordi Tixier FRA
13. Matiss Karro LAT
14. David Philippaerts ITA
15. Evgeny Mikhaylov RUS
16. Glenn Coldenhoff NED
17. Jose Butron ESP
18. Shaun Simpson GBR
19. Mathias Walkner AUT
20. Todd Waters AUS
21. Nikoiaj Laresn DEN
22. Paulo Alberto POR
23. Harri Kullas FIN
24. Jeremy Seewer SUI
25. Filip Neugebauer CZE
26. Pascal Rauchenecker AUT
27. Stefan Kjer Olsen DEN
28. Davis Ivanovs LAT
29. Martin Michek CZE
30. Erki Kahro EST
31. Killian Auberson SUI
32, Alvaro Lozano ESP
33. Kenneth Gundersen NOR
34. Kayne Lamont NZL
35. Magne Klingsheim NOR
36. Ludvig Soderberg FIN
37. Herjan Brakke NED
38. Hugo Santos POR
39. Cody Cooper NZL
40. Dennis Ullrich GER

Moto three (Open and MX1) results:
1. Antonio Cairoli ITA
2. Ken de Dycker BEL
3. Evgeny Bobryshev RUS
4. Max Nagl GER
5. Tommy Searle GBR
6. Gautier Paulin FRA
7. Ryan Dungey USA
8. Brett Metcalfe AUS
9. Marc de Reuver NED
10. David Philippaerts ITA
11. Justin Barcia USA
12. Shaun Simpson GBR
13. Todd Waters AUS
14. Valentin Guillod SUI
15. Matthias Walkner AUT
16. Rui Goncalves POR
17. Tanel Leok EST
18. Gert Krestinov EST
19. Nikolaj Larsen DEN
20. Jonathan Barragan ESP
21. Frantisek Smola CZE
22. Martin Michek CZE
23. Killian Auberson SUI
24. Santtu Tiainen FIN
25. Gunter Schmidinger AUT
26. Even Heibye NOR
27. Ludvig Soderberg FIN
28. Alvaro Lozano ESP
29. Augusts Justs LAT
30. Christophe Charlier FRA
31. Hugo Santos POR
32. Cody Cooper NZL
33. Herjan Brakke NED
34. Rhys Carter NZL
35. Matiss Karro LAT
36. Evgeny Mikhaylov RUS
37. Kenneth Gundersen NOR
38. Kasper Lynggaard DEN
39. Dennis Ullrich GER
40. Clement Desalle BEL

Overall Nations results:
1. Belgium 27
2. United States 30
3. Italy 33
4. Australia 40
5. France 44
6. Great Britain 49
7. Germany 57
8. Russia 78
9. Switzerland 87
10. Estonia 92
11. The Netherlands 99
12. Austria 107
13. Spain 117
14. Denmark 118
15. Czech Republic 121
16. Latvia 129
17. Portugal 130
18. Finland 131
19. Norway 166
20. New Zealand 167