Brett Metcalfe led Team Australia to first in qualifying with the MX1 win on Saturday.

Team Australia has qualified fastest for the 67th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations at Teutschenthal in Germany.

Free practice saw Brett Metcalfe sixth in MX1, Dean Ferris first in MX2 and Todd Waters 12th in the Open category, setting up an epic afternoon of qualifying action for the Aussie trio.

Come heat race time Metcalfe scored the holeshot and was never headed, holding off Team USA’s Ryan Dungey and Great Britain’s Tommy Searle. Antonio Cairoli and Ken De Dycker completed the top five.

“About halfway I got a little bit tight because the track was so slipperly early on,” Metcalfe said. “It’s always difficult when you’re up front setting the pace.

“But I settled in, tried to put some good laps together, and at the end I started getting into a rhythm so that was cool.

“Overall I felt good on the bike and it’s working great. It’s going to be tough racing for sure, again start’s are going to be key.”

The MX2 race was holeshotted by Ferris, however former world champion Ken Roczen quickly took charge for the German home team. He won ahead of Ferris and Belgian ace Jeremy Van Horebeek. American Eli Tomac was fourth, one position ahead of Jake Nicholls.

In the Open class it was Belgian Clement Desalle who dominated from the outset, winning from American Justin Barcia and fast-finishing Estonian Tanel Leok. He past Australian Todd Waters in the closing stages for third, while Shaun Simpson finished fifth.

That cemented Australia the number one position in overall qualifying on three points, ahead of the USA, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Russia, Estonia and Spain.

2013 FIM Motocross of Nations
Teutschenthal, Germany

MX1 results:
1. Brett Metcalfe AUS
2. Ryan Dungey USA
3. Tommy Searle GBR
4. Antonio Cairoli ITA
5. Ken dy Dycker BEL
6. Max Nagl GER
7. Gautier Paulin FRA
8. Rui Concalves POR
9. Valentin Guillod SUI
10. Marc de Reuver NED
11. Kasper Lyngaard DEN
12. Rhys Carter NZL
13. Jonathan Barragan ESP
14. Cole Thompson CAN
15. Gert Krestinov EST
16. Even Heibye NOR
17. Santtu Tiainen FIN
18. Frantisek Smola CZE
19. Gunter Schmidinger AUT
20. Hector Assuncao BRA

MX2 results:
1. Ken Roczen GER
2. Dean Ferris AUS
3. Jeremy van Horebeek BEL
4. Eli Tomac USA
5. Jake Nicholls GBR
6. Jordi Tixier FRA
7. Jose Butron ESP
8. Alessandro Lupino ITA
9. Alexandr Tonkov RUS
10. Glenn Coldenhoff NED
11. Pascal Rauchenecker AUT
12. Harri Kullas FIN
13. Jeremy Seewer SUI
14. Stefan Kjer Olsen DEN
15. Paulo Alberto POR
16. Magne Klingsheim NOR
17. Davis Ivanovs LAT
18. Erki Kahro EST
19. Kayne Lamont NZL
20. Filip Neugebauer CZE

Open results:
1. Clement Desalle BEL
2. Justin Barcia USA
3. Tanel Leok EST
4. Todd Waters AUS
5. Shaun Simpson GBR
6. Dennis Ullrich GER
7. Christophe Charlier FRA
8. Evgeny Mikhaylov RUS
9. Matthias Walkner AUT
10. Cody Cooper NZL
11. Phil Nicoletti PUR
12. Graeme Irwin IRL
13. Martin Michek CZE
14. David Philippaerts ITA
15. Bence Svoboda HUN
16. Alvaro Lozano ESP
17. Kenneth Gundersen NOR
18. Matiss Karro LAT
19. Herjan Brakke NED
20. Rafael Faria BRA

Overall results:
1. Australia 3
2. USA 4
3. Belgium 4
4. Germany 7
5. Great Britain 8
6. Italy 12
7. France 13
8. Russia 17
9. Estonia 18
10. Spain 20
11. The Netherlands 20
12. Austria 20
13. New Zealand 22
14. Switzerland 22
15. Portugal 23
16. Denmark 25
17. Finland 29
18. Czech Republic 31
19. Norway 32
20. Ireland 33