The 76th edition of the Motocross of Nations competition will kick off next weekend in Ernée, France. Ernée was originally supposed to host the event in 2020, however, that year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Ernée previously hosted the Motocross of Nations in 2005 and 2015.
There is a lot of history and statistics to breakdown from the first 75 editions of the Motocross of Nations, let’s dive in.
Two things to point out first:
From 1947 to 1984, the Motocross of Nations was a 500cc event only. From 1961 to 1984, the same event but for 250cc bikes was held, known as the Trophée des Nations (Nations Trophy). And then from 1981 to 1984, a 125cc competition was held, known as the Coupe des Nations (Nations Cup). In 1985, the three events were combined under the umbrella of the Motocross of Nations, with a class for 125cc, 250cc, and 500cc bikes. The following data and figures will not include any data from the Trophée des Nations or Coupe des Nations. All data is from the Motocross of Nations from 1947 through present.
And secondly, the format of the event and how the winner is determined has changed a lot over the years. I’ll make note of this when breaking down certain data points. However, the format from 1985 to present it has remained mostly the same except for 2002 and 2003. 2002 and 2003 were outliers with a one moto format as the final.
One notable change since 1985, outside of 2002 and 2003, is that in 1996, the points awarded for each moto changed from class result to just purely the moto result. Prior to 1996, if you placed 9th in a moto but were you the first 125cc finisher, you would get 1 point. In 1996, that changed, and you would get 9 points. Lowest combined team score is victorious.
Alright, on to the data:
I specify for Finals appearances here and not total times competing – think of it as actual main event starts.
In 75 events, Belgium and Great Britain have only not been in the finals two times – I’ll explain why the graphic still says 74 in a moment.
Belgium failed to qualify for the final in 1960. With the format at the time and mixed with bad weather, only one nation, Great Britain, qualified for the final and thus was declared the winner. Belgium and 7 other nations failed to qualify for the final in 1960.
Both Belgium and Great Britain, along with several other countries boycotted the 1968 Motocross of Nations held in the Soviet Union. This was in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Only six nations showed up for the 1968 event: Soviet Union, East Germany, France, Romania, Finland and Switzerland. The Soviet Union was the winner in 1968.
The other time that Great Britain wasn’t in the final was 2002, a year in which they simply didn’t send a team and compete.
As for why the graphic still says 74 for Belgium and Great Britain despite missing two finals? This is due to the format of the first ever Motocross of Nations in 1947. In 1947, only Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands were the countries involved and each country had two teams. For 1947, they are each double counted for final appearances. This was a one time thing and never happened again.
The United States first ever MXoN attended was 1971. The United States has a 100% qualifying rate for the final. Team USA didn’t send a team in the following years: 1979, 1980, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2021.
Belgium comes out on top with 59 podiums. In fact, only 3 times has Belgium even finished outside the Top 10. If you dig even deeper, 2 of those 3 times were when Belgium wasn’t classified as a finisher but still would have been in the top 10 (different format back in the day, think of it as similar to how they handle DNFs in Formula 1). So, you could say that Belgium has really only missed the top 10 one time ever at the MXoN.
Belgium has a higher podium rate than the United States:
Belgium 59/74 = 79.73%
United States 33/45 = 73.33%
Interestingly, West Germany had 5 podiums in just 16 finals appearances. Whereas, reunified Germany, which first competed at the MXoN in 1991 has just 2 podiums in 28 finals appearances.
Lets talk winning, the United States leads with 23 wins. The United States won their first MXoN in 1981 and then went on to win the next 12 to win 13 MXoNs in a row from 1981-1993. Their next best streak is 7 in a row from 2005-2011.
Great Britain won 5 in a row from 1963-1967 and France won 5 in a row from 2014-2018.
Belgium sits in third all-time for wins, however, they have finished in second place 26 times! The Netherlands, Sweden and France have all finished in second place 9 times. The United States has finished in second place 7 times.
Let’s move onto the individual riders…
Tanel Leok leads with 20 finals appearances for Estonia and is competing on Team Estonia again this year! Leok has been on Team Estonia every year since 2001 except for 2021.
For perspective, Tanel Leok started competing for Team Estonia nearly two years before Jett Lawrence was even born! Leok’s best finish as a member of Team Estonia is 4th place, where they finished in 2004, 2015 and 2019.
It is interesting that no US rider is on this list, and they’re not really even close either. Jeff Ward leads with 7 finals appearances. Jeff Emig, Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Dungey have 6. David Bailey has 5 and numerous riders have 4.
Jeff Ward and Jeffrey Smith are tied at 7 wins.
However, Jeff Ward went 7 for 7! In fact, if you count his time competing in the Trophée des Nations in 1983 and 1984, he was victorious then as well. Ward went 9 for 9 when competing as a part of Team USA!
Great Britain had a great run as a team in the 50s and 60s which is where Smith, Rickman, Draper, Curtis and Geoff Ward stacked up their wins.
Both David Bailey and Gautier Paulin won all of their MXoNs in succession, winning 5 in a row each.
There are 8 riders in MXoN history that have a 100% win rate (minimum 3 finals appearances), 7 of which are American:
– Jeff Ward, David Bailey, Ryan Villopoto, Rick Johnson, Johnny O’Mara, Jeff Stanton and…Ivan Tedesco!
Romain Febvre is the 8th rider having gone 3 for 3 for France. He is on Team France for the 2023 MXoN.
The number of motos at the MXoN has varied a lot over the history of the event which is why you see more modern names.
3 of Ryan Villopoto’s 4 moto wins were on a 250 vs the more powerful 450s. Cairoli won 1 moto against stronger bikes as well. Jeff Stanton and Rick Johnson both won a moto on 250cc bikes competing vs 500cc bikes.
In the 1 moto format of the 2003 MXoN, Ricky Carmichael beat Stefan Everts while riding a 250 two stroke, whereas Everts was on a 450 four stroke.
When looking at the Class Winners its important to remember from 1947-1984, there was only one class, the 500cc Class. Since 1985, there has been individual classes in following the structures (outside of 2002 and 2003):
250cc / MX1 / MXGP Class
125cc / MX2 Class
500cc / MX3 / Open Class
Ryan Villopoto is the only rider with a 100% class win rate (minimum 3 finals appearances).
Lap data from the MXoN is only available back to 2004.
Jeffrey Herlings and Glenn Coldenhoff have led a lot of laps but it has only translated into one win for the Netherlands.
48 of Villopoto’s laps led came on a 250, with 13 on a 450.
All 31 of Ken Roczen’s laps led were on a 250.
The United States led a total of 196 laps from 2005-2011 – they won every MXoN in that span.
From 2012-2022…57 total laps led – just one win.
Germany in 2012, Belgium in 2013 and France in 2018 won the MXoN without leading any laps across the 3 motos.
Since 2004, only one country has swept all 3 motos and led every single lap, the United States in 2007 at Budds Creek!
Thanks for reading! Any questions – hit me up on Twitter or Instagram: @MXReference
