Image: Simon Cudby.

Motorcycling Australia (MA) CEO Peter Doyle has praised the efforts of Team Australia at Sunday’s Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN), which saw the youthful team land an impressive fourth place result at RedBud in the USA.

Finishing just shy of the podium, stellar performances from Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team), Hunter Lawrence (Geico Honda) and Mitch Evans (Raceline Pirelli KTM) rewarded the trio with the country’s best result since the 2011 MXoN.

“This is an excellent result by the Australian MXoN team to register a fourth place overall, their best finish since 2011,” Doyle commented. “Considering how young and inexperienced the team is, we couldn’t be more proud of their performances. They carried themselves with pride on the world stage and we couldn’t be more excited about the future potential of this team.”

MA and the selection committee’s decision to field a youthful squad was questioned, although the three riders put any queries to rest as they proved to be a formidable and competitive outfit.

Queensland native Lawrence wound up second in the MX2 overall standings, while Evans and Gibbs were eighth and 13th in their respective Open and MXGP categories.