2018 MXoN Photo Gallery 2

Yep, despite the weather, Red Bud rocked in every way imaginable...well, maybe short of a win by the home team...

The 2018 MXoN at Red Bud was pretty much everything we'd hoped it would be. There was an amazing crowd, and the usual great track...though it was minus one of the better off-camber sections, which made it much faster than usual. The large quantities of added sand also gave it a very different personality from the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship race held there. Yeah, the weather made it a challenge (especially in the parking lots), but there's nothing quite like one of these events. This one definitely set the high water mark for MX in the U.S.

Youthstream seems to be on a five-year cycle for some of their more successful venues, like Ernee, France, where it was announced that we'll be in 2020. Should we start making plans for a return to RedBud in say, 2023? We sure hope so.

First order of business on Sunday morning was the B Final, with one transfer spot available to the final motos, and Team Puerto Rico wanted in. Ryan Sipes (50) got a screaming start on his 250. Kevin Windham did, too (that's his front wheel and front fender at the bottom left).

It was cool to see K-Dub back on the track, flowing beard and all.

Travis Pastrana was doing his part, too, finishing 18th. We love two-strokes, but man did that thing look underpowered on the very heavy track.

With the complete field finally set, it was time for moto one, with the MXGP and MX2 guys. Antonio Cairoli, Valentin Guillod, and Jeffrey Herlings were pretty much side-by-side heading into the first turn...

...and Antonio Cairoli's day got a lot tougher when he went down in front of the pack.

Jorge Prado surprised a lot of people by moving to the front and staying there for nearly 20 minutes. Of course, he is the new MX2 World Champ, but it was impressive to see him stay ahead of the MXGP bikes for that long.

Aaron Plessinger started tenth in moto one, and slipped back to 15th or so before a crash dropped him even further back. He ended up 18th.

Antonio Cairoli made an amazing blitz through the pack, using lines that others wouldn't (like railing around the outside here). He passed better than half the field on the first lap after remounting and continued to pick off riders throughout the moto, eventually finishing in the sixth spot.

Hunter Lawrence was another impressive MX2 competitor, finishing in the eighth spot.

Goggled were tossed at a furious rate as the moto went on. Calvin Vlaanderen, he caught a rock in one eye, resulting in an injury that caused him to DNF moto one, and kept him out of the final MX2 moto. The Netherlands went on to finish on the podium, and likely would have won with a pair of decent moto finishes from him.

Jeffrey Herlings took over the top spot about halfway through the moto, and cruised to a first moto win.

This pretty much sums up Ken Roczen's weekend. We watched him go for a roll-off pull, start swapping the front end in the rut, and go down. He was seventh overall in the MXGP class, with a 25-9 day.

Tommy Searle was flying in the sloppy conditions, but his bike wasn't enjoying it. He was way faster than a 34-10 score might suggest.

Eli Tomac for sure didn't have the weekend that he and Team USA were expecting. He was fourth among the MXGP guys in moto one, and seventh in moto two. About the only good thing that came out of the weekend? The Monster Energy Kawasaki guys learned a ton about the new bike, which might help them avoid issues...either at the Monster Energy Cup, or when the Supercross season gets started in January.

Colton Facciotti grabbed a top ten finish among the MXGP competitors in moto one.

Moto two was for the MX2 and Open competitors. When the gate dropped...oops, Travis Pastrana was busy trying to relight his Suzuki.

Glenn Coldenhoff (6, Netherlands) grabbed the holeshot and began to sprint away. Jorge Prado (53) also got another great start and gave the Spanish fans something to cheer about.

Travis Pastrana's is looking a little steam-powered here.

MX2 bikes were 2-3-4 in moto two, with Great Britain's Ben Watson at the tail end of that trio.

Dylan Ferrandis was the top French finisher in the second frame, with an eighth-place finish.

Hunter Lawrence finished second in this moto. Not bad, considering he'd only had a couple days on the GEICO Honda.

Justin Barcia was ninth in his first moto. We didn't talk to him afterwards but judging by the amount of arm shaking he was doing over the jumps, we'd guess that he was suffering from some arm pump.

Yikes. There were lots of bike suffering from the pressure of the wet and heavy track, and we haven't seen one go quite as spectacularly as Tyler Medaglia's radiator cap explosion.

Glenn Coldenhoff had this moto fully under control, and cruised to a win. That was two in a row for The Netherlands.

As the riders launched out of the gate for the final moto of MXGP/Open action, it was Glenn Coldenhoff grabbing another great start and moving to the front of the pack.

Alessandro Lupino was fifth among all the riders in the final moto, finishing behind his Italian teammate, Antonio Cairoli, and helping propel them to a podium finish.

Gautier Paulin always steps it up at he MXoN, and his 2-3 day was good for second overall in the MXGP class. More importantly, it helped give team France their fifth MXoN title in a row.

Eli Tomac gave the first Team USA gate pick to Justin Barcia (and did the same for moto one with Aaron Plessinger), while some of the other teams went a more non-traditional route. For example, Jeffrey Herlings took the first gate pick in both of his motos.

Ken Roczen on his way to a ninth in the race, and seventh overall for the day. Team Germany finished in tenth spot for the day.

Justin Barcia didn't get a great start in moto two, and was 13th in race three. Team USA finished sixth overall this time around. That didn't stop the partisan fans from cheering loudly each lap that the U.S. riders came around.

Glenn Coldenhoff was one of a small handful of riders (including Paulin, Tomac, and Cairoli) that cleared LaRocco's Leap.

Max Anstie carded Great Britain's second-best score in the final moto of the day with a sixth-place finish.

The British fans were cheering on Tommy Searle in the final moto. They finished fifth on the weekend.

Glenn Coldenhoff and Jeffrey Herlings finished 1-2 in the final moto, with both of them taking the overall win in their classes. Minus the eye injury to Calvin Vlanderen, they might have been the champs this time around.

Here are your top three countries for the 2018 MXoN at RedBud. France grabbed the top spot for the fifth year, Italy was only two points behind them, and The Netherlands finished third.

Yep, that's some joy right there. Jordi Tixier's DNF in the second moto of the day was France's throwaway score.

Jordi Tixier helps out Dylan Ferrandis with some champagne...

...and then he gets another blast from Gautier Paulin.

Oh so close for the Dutch riders. Next time around the race will be held in Assen, Holland, which is usually a deep (though man-made) sand track. We can't wait...we love this event.


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