Image: Foremost Media.

A chance to represent Team Australia at the 2023 Motocross of Nations (MXoN) is something that newly-crowned national MX1 champion Dean Ferris would accept if the opportunity arrives.

Ferris has contested the prestigious event on multiple occasions, with his latest MXoN outing coming in 2019 at Assen, where he competed alongside Regan Duffy (Open) and Kyle Webster (MX2).

Team Australia last year consisted of Mitch Evans (MXGP), Hunter Lawrence (MX2) and Jett Lawrence (Open), with a successful RedBud outing for the trio seeing them achieve Australia’s first podium at the event since 2011 in P3.

It is expected that new 450MX champion Jett Lawrence and current 250MX leader Hunter Lawrence are shoe-ins to represent Australia at Ernee this year, however, the third seat could come down to either Kawasaki Racing Team’s Evans or Ferris.

“I’m just waiting for a phone call for if it’s going to be yes or no,” Ferris told MotoOnline. “Honestly, if it’s yes, sweet, I’ll keep training forward for that. If it’s no, I’ll understand.”

Outside of his MXoN appearances – where he was second in MX2 in 2013 – Ferris has tasted international success in the world championship, taking an MX2 overall in Belgium during 2013. Additionally, he has contested select 250SX and 450MX races in the US.

Domestically, Ferris wrapped up a fourth-career MX1 title on the weekend at the eighth round of the Penrite ProMX Championship, which was his first since spinal surgery in 2020 and coming out of retirement. He labels his most recent ‘the sweetest one of all’ after he went 2-2 at the event to secure the crown despite a big crash in qualifying.

“Yesterday I was good in the warm-up, then first lap of qualifying I ate shit,” Ferris added. “Big crash. From there, I was pretty banged up. I got into the top 10, but not able to perform. Bike was a bit twisted up, I was a bit banged up. Thankfully, my osteo drove up last night and sorted me out. By the time free practice came around this morning, I was feeling okay.

“I was P4 in superpole, which was okay, then first moto I was like fifth or sixth off the start and just let it kind of come to me, I didn’t really have a game plan. It was a bit of a weird situation, I just wanted to see how it was unfolding. I had enough speed that I could go past [Jed] Beaton and I rode to second in the moto.

“In moto two, I was kind of just there on Beaton and he ran off the track, so I just inherited second. Webster was up the track, it was weird I didn’t know whether to go for it or not, I feel like Webster had some more in the tank anyway, even if I pushed up to him, he would’ve stepped it up.

“So, I just went 2-2 today, Webster was riding really good. But, came home as the champion. This is probably the sweetest one I’ve ever had – I’ve never just broken down like that across the finish line of any race in my whole life.”

Ferris will not line up in the 2023 Australian Supercross Championship (AUSX), which round one in Adelaide clashes with the Motocross of Nations on 7-8 October in Ernee, France.