MOTOCROSS
FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS
SEPTEMBER 24-25, 2016
MAGGIORA PARK / MAGGIORA, ITALY
P58
couldn't pass any more riders.
Febvre had other ideas though,
as Tommy Searle was a few
seconds in front and he knew he
needed to pass him.
When Herlings crossed the
line for the win, The Netherlands
was still winning the Chamber-
lain Trophy. But 26 seconds
later, when Febvre came across
the finish line ahead of Searle,
it was the French who would
go into the history books as
the 2016 Motocross of Nations
winners, their third in a row. At
that stage pandemonium had
broken out on the track, as the
crowd had broken down fences
and were swarming towards
the podium, despite the fact
the race was still going on. The
As the two-lap board came
out, the USA led, The Neth-
erlands was second and the
French were third but then the
"miracle" happened. For USA
fans, it was a disaster but if
you supported the French, all
your prayers were answered,
as Webb's back wheel jumped
out of a rut on of the steep hills
and he fell. As Febvre, Bobry-
shev and Coldenhoff went past
the fallen Webb, USA dreams
of the Chamberlain Trophy
disappeared—a horrible end to
an extremely trying weekend.
It was now down to just two
countries with the Dutch sitting
in pole position and unable to
really lower their score. All they
could do was hope that Febvre
He gradually closed in from ninth
place to the back wheel of his
trans-Atlantic rival and with Cold-
enhoff also right there, it's where
all eyes were focused—unless
you were Italian, because at
the front of the field, Cairoli was
chasing down his soon-to-be
MXGP rival. This, of course, also
had Chamberlain Trophy implica-
tions because if Cairoli passed
Herlings, that'd be another
point dropped for the Dutch
and with Webb looking strong,
they couldn't afford that. France
at this stage looked like they
needed a miracle because as
the laps ticked down, they were
still a few points off the lead,
with Paulin making no impact on
his 11th place start.
Romain Febvre made what was
probably the biggest pass of
his career when he got around
Tommy Searle just before
taking the checkered flag,
which ultimately gave Team
France the win.
