OCTOBER 8, 2023
MOTO CLUB D'ERNEE / ERNEE, FRANCE
MOTOCROSS I FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS
P78
craziness, the excitement, and
the pressure of being the defend-
ing champions," Craig said. "RJ
and
AP [Plessinger] did the best
they could, they rode great and,
unfortunately, I just came up a
little short. I put myself in a good
position in the second moto, just
fell on the start, and the rest was
kind of history. It stings, but we
have to learn from it."
out the first lap with a decent
start, and second moto, I got in
a first-turn pile-up. You're going
to get everything I have, and that
was it the second moto, but like I
said, I felt really good, I'll earn my
way back on this team again, am
looking forward to it and a better
result."
"It was everything I guess I
expected, from the chaos to the
felder and Tom Koch both
struggled during their races and
finished just four points shy of
an overall podium. Roczen held
off Jett Lawrence for the major
-
ity of race three before coming
home an eventual
second. This
is Roczen's fifth time winning an
individual class at Nations.
Plessinger's fifth in race one was
Team USA's highlight of the day.
The next-best result was Hamp
-
shire's 10th overall in race two.
"I
felt pretty good coming here
and really good for today," said
Plessinger. "I had fifth in the first
moto and got a little tight, but
I'm not sure what happened in
the second moto. I had a mid-
pack start and just faded back
about halfway. It was not a good
ending but after 32 races in a
season, I think we did alright. I
cannot compare the track to any
-
thing. It was gnarly, and these
guys
are gnarly for riding it that
fast. It's awesome to represent
your country and a shame we
could not get on the podium.
It was my first time overseas;
pretty wild. It means the world
to me to represent America over
here in France."
"It was just an unreal experi
-
ence and something I'm going
to
look back on and just appre-
ciate it," Hampshire said. "I felt
really good
on the bike for how
gnarly the track was. I needed
some luck, and I just didn't have
it today. First moto, I got cleaned
(Right) Aaron Plessinger's fifth in
race one was the only highlight
for Team USA. (Below) Christian
Craig returned from injury and
showed good speed but couldn't
maintain the pace.
