--press release--

For the seventh time in the history of the event, France will entertain another edition of the Motocross of Nations, on this occasion at Ernée (Mayenne, between Laval and Fougères) home of several World Championship rounds in the past. With thirty four teams involved, the return of the Americans, the participation of all the 2005 individual Motocross World Champions, nice weather forecast and a predicted huge crowd this incarnation of the prestigious meeting could be one of the most memorable.

The state of the Motocross of Nations 'institution' was pretty sick in 2002, when only seventeen teams came to Spain. The event was not anymore lambasted as the 'Olympic Games' of the sport but all the parties concerned (Federations, Promoters, Teams, Riders and Media) have been working really hard to bring back the competition back to its highest level. Zolder (2003) and Lierop (2004) confirmed the resurrection of the oldest FIM International race. Born in 1947 in the Netherlands (a meeting had been organised in 1946, but it was a tentative outing and the event was called 'Des Nations' for the first time in 1947) the 'Nations' has a long history and for everyone involved in the sport it's a great success to witness an incredible sense of excitement and build-up a few hours prior to the first free practice session in Ernée.

After the longest ever season of racing on both side of the Atlantic Ocean (seventeen events for the GP riders and twenty-eight Supercross-Motocross outings for the American based riders) the FOX Motocross of Nations will officially close an exciting year. Two of the most dominant champions in the history of the sport obtained new titles in 2005 (a ninth for Stefan Everts in the MX1 series, twelfth and thirteenth titles for Ricky Carmichael in the US Supercross and Motocross series) while numerous teenagers including Italian Antonio Cairoli (MX2 World Champion) and American Ivan Tedesco (US 125 Supercross and Motocross Champion) made their mark in the MX2 (called 125 in the US) class. These protagonists will all be involved with their national team in the 59th edition of the Nations, and will be revered by the fans who had already pre-booked fifteen thousand tickets one month in advance.

Fifteen times winners of the Nations, the American team again field an impressive line-up with a charismatic leader and strong team-mates. Ricky Carmichael, Kevin Windham and Ivan Tedesco were the strongest US riders this season and for their third attempt in the XX1th century they are the favourites. Their last victory in France (2000) was their fifteenth, and only two years prior to the return of the event on US territory (date set for 2007) they have the opportunity to equal the record held by Britain. The only 'team race' in this individual sport, the Nations always brings a different feeling to the riders who must race for themselves but then mainly for the team. Everyone is expecting a duel between US leader Ricky Carmichael and GP star Stefan Everts. Reigning champions (they have won for the last two years) the Belgians are of course among the favourites with Kevin Strijbos and Steve Ramon alongside 'captain' Everts. It's the same Flemish team as last year but Ernée is not Lierop and the Belgians will have more difficulty to match the US team and aim for a fifteenth win. Two other countries are among the favourites: New Zealand (Joshua Coppins, Ben Townley and Cody Cooper) and France (Mickael Pichon, David Vuillemin and Sébastien Tortelli). Both have the capability to claim the 'Chamberlain trophy' on Sunday and in each team there will be a healthy dose of pressure.

The Nations has always been a different event to any GP or National and everything can happen including a surprise win of an 'outsider' such as France in Namur (2001). Numerous teams have strong potential and should be looking to the podium. Italy (Antonio Cairoli, David Philippaerts and Davide Guarneri), Estonia (Aigar and Tanel Leok, Juss Lansoo), South Africa (Tyla Rattray, Gareth Swanepoel and Neville Bradshaw) and Great Britain (Billy Mackenzie, Carl Nunn, James Noble) are 'challengers' while individual talents such as Dutchman Marc De Reuver (450 KTM), Australian Andrew MacFarlane (250 Yamaha), Denmark's Brian Jorgensen (450 Yamaha), Switzerland's Julien Bill (450 KTM) or Spain's Jonathan Barragan (450 KTM) will try to collect a strong individual performance and lead their team-mates to the best overall result.

Action will start on Saturday with the first practice session at 10.00 (MX1), and the qualifying races are scheduled at 2.20 (MX1), 3.20 (MX2) and 4.20 (Open class). The best two results of each country will be retained to qualify the twenty strongest teams who will be admitted to the MXoN on Sunday, with three races scheduled at 1.10 (MX1 and MX2), 2.40 (MX2 and Open) and 4.10 (MX1 and Open). The best five of the six possible results will give us the final hierarchy of the 2005 Nations, and then will start a long night to end perfectly the season.

Weather forecast is pretty good for the week-end with sunny sky (possibly cloudy on Sunday morning) and temperatures around 20°C.

For more info please check www.motocrossMX1.com the official web site of the FIM Motocross World Championships and www.motoclubernee.com the official web site of the event.

The MXoN winner's teams
Great Britain, 16 win
USA, 15 win
Belgium, 14 win
Sweden, 7 win
Italy, 2 win
Russia, 2 win
Czech Republic, 1 win
France, 1 win