VOL. 53 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 P57
Brent van Doninck struggled
on the 450 and crashed hard,
finishing the race in 39th.
No Anderson was obviously a
big blow to team USA's chance
but it certainly wasn't the end of
the road as they actually went
into the last race with a five-point
lead over the French. Switzer-
land, The Netherlands, Italy and
even the Belgians all also stood
a chance at victory if they could
put in two solid motos in the
third race, which made things
very complicated for everyone
trackside, trying to work out the
scores on the fly.
Things certainly didn't get
any easier after the start as
riders rounded the first lap all
over the field. Up front Herlings
was storming away with Cairoli
chasing, which, combined with
Coldenhoff's fourth place, meant
it was actually the Dutch in the
lead during the early part of the
race. Webb, though, had also
made a good start in fifth and
when he made his way past
Coldenhoff, it actually swung
the pendulum in America's favor.
Strijbos was doing his best for
Belgium, but once again, van
Doninck was way down the field.
Valentin Guillod for the Swiss
was also struggling with his bro-
ken finger that he sustained in a
crash on Saturday, so essentially
it was down to a three-horse
race. With Webb in front of both
Febvre and Paulin, things were
looking bad for the 2014 and
2015 winners but Febvre wasn't
going let this end without a fight.
son and Belgium's van Horebeek
close behind. Jeremy Seewer
finished eighth, just ahead of
Alex Martin after their personal
250 duel. Paturel improved on
his 14th in race to get a 10th and
Brian Bogers of The Netherlands
also improved his results from
20th to 14th in the two races.
Unfortunately, as suspected,
cause it was just so unfortunate
and unlikely. Of course there are
some examples of riders being
landed on before now, but never
with a rider having just won a
race, and especially not one of
this magnitude.
Behind him, Herlings held off
Paulin, with Tonus, Australia's
Dean Ferris, GB's Shaun Simp-
