Image: James Lissimore.

The home team of France has won the 2023 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN) at Ernee, following a dominant display ahead of Australia and Italy on the overall podium.

There was action aplenty in the first race of the day featuring MXGP alongside MX2, as Frenchman Romain Febvre withstood a late charge from Spain’s Jorge Prado to take a pivotal win on home soil.

It was Febvre who led the opening stages, before Prado took charge through the middle stages, but Febvre wasn’t done – fighting back in the final laps to overcome the current MXGP world champion.

Behind them in third was German Ken Roczen despite stalling mid-moto, while a late pass from Jeremy Seewer on Team USA’s Aaron Plessinger determined the top-five.

Australian Jett Lawrence recovered from a first lap fall to surge forward to sixth, edging Tim Gajser in the final turn, as France’s Tom Vialle – top of the MX2 riders – led Jago Geerts and Hunter Lawrence to complete the top 10.

American RJ Hampshire was credited 16th after going down on the first lap. In terms of the Nations classification, France leads on nine points over Australia on 16 and Germany on 17, with USA fourth on 21 points.

When the gates dropped on moto two, this time with MX2 alongside the Open class riders, it was Spain’s Ruben Fernandez who hit the front early and led for the opening 10 laps, until home hero Maxime Renaux took charge for France.

He went on to win directly ahead of countryman Vialle in a 1-2 for the French team and a result that would firmly position them at the top of the Nations table with only one race remaining.

Behind them in the moto was Liam Everts on the 350 SX-F for Belgium, followed by Italian MX2 world champion Andrea Adamo and AMA 250MX champion Lawrence in P5, who had gone down in the mid-stages.

Positions six through 10 included Valentin Guillod, Fernandez after recovering from a late crash, Andrea Bonacorsi, Kay de Wolf and Hampshire, who charged through from early dramas once again, this time into the top 10.

Australian champion Dean Ferris was 12th, with Christian Craig 16th for the USA. Behind France overall at this point is still the Aussies, with Italy third and the American team sits fifth.

The third and final encounter was an all-450 affair with the Open and MXGP categories, with Roczen scoring the holeshot and leading the early portion, with Lawrence in tow.

Once the latter took charge, the pair continued to control things from the front, as Lawrence won ahead of US-based rival Roczen, while third for Renaux combined with P7 for Febvre was more than enough to seal the 2023 MXoN crown for Team France.

Fourth and fifth in the race were Prado and Gajser, from Seewer, the aforementioned Febvre, Alberto Forte, Calvin Vlaanderen and Everts, who completed the top 10. Ferris, meanwhile, was 16th to conclude his return to the event, as Plessinger finished 18th and Craig 20th after going down in the first turn.

Class winners included the consistent Roczen in MXGP ahead of Prado and Lawrence while Plessinger was ninth, as Vialle won MX2 from Lawrence and de Wolf as Hampshire took sixth, while Renaux topped the Open field over Everts and Bonacorsi. Ferris was fifth, with Craig claiming P8 for the weekend in class.

In the end, France stood atop the podium to lift the Chamberlain Trophy for the first time since 2018, alongside Australia and Italy, with Team USA credited eighth position.

Detailed results