MXer Eli Tomac leads Team USA in ’24 MXoN

The Monster Energy-sponsored 77th running of the Motocross Des Nations (MXoN) at the UK’s Matterley Basic circuit on Sunday saw Team USA place 2nd out of 36 countries, thanks in most to the effort from Monster Energy’s veteran motocross star Eli Tomac (Star Racing/Yamaha).

Following a dry day of qualifying, wet conditions with ruts and bumps would be on the order for Sunday’s MXoN. And placing 2nd in a very close contest to Team Australia (26-29 in Olympic-style low score wins) were the Americans, with Team USA’s Tomac - contesting the MXGP class on the Yamaha YZ450F - racing to two podium finishes, 2nd and 3rd places in his motos. Tomac’s Monster Energy-backed teammate Cooper Webb (Star Racing/Yamaha) struggled a bit in his opening moto, placing 17th, was able to rally back and add a top ten (9th) place finish in his second MX2 race.

In the opening MXGP/MX2 class race, Tomac would race through the pack of the world’s top motocrossers to a podium 2nd place finish behind Slovenia’s Tim Gajser (Honda). And rounding out the opening race moto podium was Monster Energy’s Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) in 3rd place.

Race 2 would fare much better for Webb as he battled back versus the Open class bikes and put his MX2 class Yamaha YZ250F in the top ten (9th), scoring some valuable points for the States. Also running a solid race was Monster Energy’s Maxime Renaux (Yamaha), who placed 4th. Renaux dealt with injury through much of the summer during the MXGP tour, so his run to just a click off the podium was good to see for the Frenchman.

Also noteworthy was the Monster Energy-backed effort of Dutch racer Glen Coldenhoff, who not only helped Team Netherlands to a 3rd place overall finish as a country, but also gave the upstart Italian MX bike company Fantic its first MXoN podium finish.

Said Coldenhoff: “The Motocross of Nations is always something special, I love competing in this event. The podium was amazing, I really enjoyed this one, especially after a season in which we missed out on that feeling. It is also the first podium for Fantic, that is great, and the bike was looking amazing. Representing The Netherlands is always an honor, I am proud of the team. We managed a podium, which was our goal.”

And in MX2 action, Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory’s Karlis Reisulis (Latvia) would place 2nd overall in MX2, with 12th and 8th place finishes.

It was also announced at MXoN that next year’s 78th running of the event will be held at USA’s Ironman MX in Crawfordsville, Ind.