Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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MOTOCROSS FIM/MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS / SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2019 TT CIRCUIT ASSEN / ASSEN, HOLL AND P66 of winning snuffed out immediately, on the opening lap of moto one, when MX2 qualifier winner Justin Cooper crashed into teammate Ja- son Anderson in a fast roller section, causing them both to go down hard. USA never recovered, eventually finishing sixth place and extending Team USA's MXoN losing streak to eight. MXGP/MX2 Spain's Jorge Prado, the MX2 World Champion who was making his 450cc debut, got the holeshot to start moto one (the MXGP/MX2 moto) over Slovenia's Tim Gajser, Belgium's Jeremy van Horebeek, and the rest of the field. Team Netherlands' star racer Herlings started outside the top 10, while his MX2 teammate Vlaanderen started outside the top 20. Both of them gained two spots on the open- ing lap when Cooper crashed into Anderson, sending them both down hard and breaking off Cooper's clutch lever. Prado led until past halfway, but Gajser wouldn't be denied and fought his way past the young Span- iard, with Herlings following him by a few laps later. Herlings put on a late- race charge but came up just short MECHANICAL WOES There were several mechanical DNFs at Assen. The deep, Dutch sand combined with heavy rain made the sand heavy and sticky, and that put tremendous loads on the engines. The sand also clogged up radiators and caused motorcycles to overheat and quit. The conditions also led to a lot of big crashes, but most of the DNFs came via mechanical failure, including Team France's Gautier Paulin, whose bike was steaming late in moto one and moto three. It made it through moto one but quit with less than two laps to go in moto three, dropping them off the podium. Similar fates befell Team Belgium's Jago Geerts in moto one, Team France's Maxime Renaux in moto two, and Team Australia's Dean Ferris and Regan Duffy in moto three. TKO TOPS MX2 Denmark's Thomas Kjer-Olsen ("TKO") was the top-placing MX2 rider. He edged out Calvin Vlaan- deren of the winning Dutch team by four points. "I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the season," Olsen said. "Finishing as the best overall MX2 rider is amaz- ing, it's what I hoped to achieve, but in these conditions, anything can happen. We had so much rain here, it's hard to believe. I really tried to stay positive and just focus on riding as well as I could. The sand was so deep in places you really had to keep focused every- where. The conditions were even harder on the 250 bikes, but my bike was perfect in both motos. I made some passes on a few 450 riders, which was cool, but I'm just pleased nothing crazy happened to me. Racing with the 450s is tough, but both motos went well. This is a great way to end the season." YOUNG GUN Austria's René Hofer was the recipient of the Ricky Carmichael MXoN youngest talent award. Hofer had an excellent ride, and despite the severe track condi- tions and the disadvantage of riding a 250cc bike, the Austrian finished 12-26 in the races. Next season, Hofer will be making a move to the Red Bull Factory KTM squad to compete in the MX2 World Championship. COOPER WINS MX2 QUALIFIER There weren't many highlights for Team USA at this year's Motocross of Nations, but one of them was definitely strong. That's when Jus- tin Cooper won the MX2 qualifier on Saturday despite having 31st gate pick. He managed a good start, made a couple of passes for the lead, and then held on for the win. "I did a good job," said Cooper who finished six seconds Briefly...