CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana: At Ironman Raceway, Hunter Lawrence won two motos and Jett Lawrence won the opening race to secure Team Australia’s second consecutive Motocross of Nations title.
“I’m at loss for words right now,” Hunter said from the top of the podium. “Come check with me later and I will have a lot to say. I am so proud of the team. Kyle (Webster) rode his heart out, but got put on the ground in both first turns, charged back. Jett had an unreal first moto. Australia: we did it baby, back-to-back.”
Jett had multiple issues in the finale, but recovered to finish third in the race.
“I ended up just losing traction in that first turn and you can’t that happen with a bunch of 450s,” Jett said. “They swallow you up. I executed my start real well and came in and got on the gas and it just spun on me. Then collected a rider on the first lap and made it hard on me.”
Australia won all three motos with Jett taking the first race, and Hunter scoring wins in the second and third race.
Team USA seesawed throughout the event with Eli Tomac finishing fourth in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. Justin Cooper finished 10th in both of his races with RJ Hampshire crashing on the final lap of Race 2, which dropped him from fourth to seventh at the end of that race. Tomac’s second-place finish in the final race provided the tiebreaker over Team France’s Romain Febvre, whose best finish was fifth.
“It was obviously really tough this weekend, but we had a great team,” Justin Cooper said. “We put our best foot forward, came up short, but that’s what makes it special.”
Tomac finished second and fourth in his two races, RJ Hampshire was seventh in his first race, and Cooper finished 10th twice.
A pair of fifth-place finishes for Febvre, supplemented by another fifth for Maxime Renaux and ninths for Mathis Valin and another for Renaux secured the final position on the podium.
Overall Nations Classification
MXGP + MX2
Belgium’s Lucas Coenen earned the holeshot with Ken Roczen closely behind, but a crash in the first couple of turns for the German rider buried him deep in the pack.
Jett Lawrence did what he does so well. A strong start quickly evolved into the lead and Jett held the advantage for all 16 laps of the moto. Seven to eight seconds seems to be the sweet spot for Jett and as soon as he built that lead, he moderated his pace and forced L. Coenen to press hard to finish second. Slovakia’ Tim Gajser rounded out the podium.
Team USA placed both riders in the top 10 with the MXGP (450) pilot Tomac finishing fourth after starting fifth. It was a major improvement from Tomac’s qualification race on Saturday that forced him to overcome a 35th-place start to land ninth in the final rundown.
Cooper started the first race 12th with an eye on outpacing Australia’s MX2 (250) rider, Webster, behind him. On Lap 5, Cooper moved up to 11th, but when Sacha Coenen fell, he was clipped by Cooper. Those two riders came together on the white flag lap, which elevated Cooper into the top 10.
France also had a great opening moto with Febvre finishing fifth and Valin ninth. At the end of the first race, the American and French riders were tied for the lead with Australia only one point behind.
Webster woes were caused by a crash on the first lap.
Open + MX2
Hunter Lawrence made it two-for-two in Moto 2, grabbing the lead early and dominating the race. Midway through the moto, he made a rare mistake in a tight, slick corner leading onto the start straight and put his bike on the ground, but he had such a massive advantage that he never relinquished the lead.
Hampshire was the rider with the most dramatic race in Moto 2. He worked his way from fifth position into second early in the race before he and the SuperMotocross Champion, Jo Shimoda, made contact. Shimoda regained his mount first and remained in second. Hampshire lost a couple of positions before climbing back onto his Husqvarna. He made his way back into a podium position before crashing a second time. Hampshire would go down again before the race was over and ultimately fell to seventh.
Shimoda maintained his second-place position until the checkers.
Slovenia’s Jan Pancar rounded out the podium in third. He was involved in one of Hampshire’s accidents. Pancar bobbled in the same turn that collected Hunter and Hampshire ran into the back of him.
Fourth-place Liam Everts (Belgium) and Renaux rounded out the top five.
Cooper finished 10th in the second moto, giving Team USA a sweep the top 10 in the first two races, but with Hampshire’s late-race crash, the squad fell one position behind Australia in the overall scoring.
MXGP + Open
It took all of one lap for Hunter to take the lead of the final race of the 2025 Motocross of Nations and he was unchallenged for the remainder of the race.
Shimoda earned the holeshot and rode with the leaders for most of the afternoon, but a lack of experience as Shimoda was on the 450 for the first time dropped him behind Tomac and Jett late in the moto.
Tomac finished second behind Hunter. Tomac had a modest start and moved his way from fifth to fourth on Lap 3. He took over second on Lap 10 after successfully battling Shimoda for the first time in their careers. Tomac’s second-place finish in this moto secured second overall via a tiebreaker over France.
L. Coenen led the Lawrence brothers on Lap 1, but as Hunter when moved up a position to second, Jett collided with another rider and dropped outside the top 10. He spent the remainder of the race working his way into third.
Roczen crashed in Turn 2 for the second time.
Hampshire crashed again in the final race and fell from 13th to outside the top 20.
L. Coenen crashed on Lap 8.
Hampshire retired on Lap 11; this was the position Team USA dropped.
More Motocross of Nations News
RJ Hampshire’s Saturday success opens way for spectacular Sunday
Justin Cooper is an ace in the hole for Team USA
Jett Lawrence wins MXoN’s MXGP qualification race
Jett Lawrence, Justin Cooper, and Hunter Lawrence set pace in Practice
Haiden Deegan out, Justin Cooper in for Team USA
RJ Hampshire replaces Chase Sexton on team
Chase Sexton withdraws from 2025 team
Roger De Coster retires as Team USA manager
