Jeremy Van Horebeek of the Kawasaki Racing Team played a decisive role in Belgium’s victory at the FIM Motocross of Nations, watched by a massive 85,000 crowd at Teutschenthal in Germany.

The 23 year old MX1 GP regular answered his country’s call to take a one-off ride on a Kawasaki KX250F for this race, the world championship between national teams from all over the world, and put in two superb rides to finish seventh each time against larger machinery and lay the foundations for his country’s success, their first since 2004.

He was joined on the podium by Alessandro Lupino of Team CLS Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit who also put in two scoring rides for his country on a Kawasaki KX250F as Italy took third place on the podium.

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Each of the next three teams in the overall classification also featured Kawasaki riders with Brett Metcalfe, a sensational winner of the MX1 qualifying race, leading Australia to fourth, Gautier Paulin of the Kawasaki Racing Team top scorer for fifth-placed France and Tommy Searle a magnificent second overall in the MX1 class as he steered Great Britain to sixth. Apico ANSA Kawasaki’s Gert Krestinov had two scoring rides for Estonia as the Baltic state retained its top ten world raking and Filip Neugebauer of Pfeil Kawasaki had two significant rides for the Czech Republic.

Jeremy Van Horebeek: “It was a big challenge to return to the MX2 class, and I’m proud with the result I achieved today. My first race was good with a seventh position, but I went down in the second moto and I thought that it was over ! I came back from twenty-sixth to seventh, and thanks to the results of my teammates that was enough to win the race. As a kid I dreamt about winning the Nations one day; I was looking for a podium all season long and I finally got it here. What a way to end the year!”

Alessandro Lupino: “This weekend I made good improvements with my starts, and that’s important for next season. The lap times were good and I was fighting in the top ten of each race; it was so great to be on the podium with Team Italy. I want to thank all the guys who worked with me this season in the team, our results were not always what we were expecting but we know what we have to do for next year.”

Gautier Paulin: “We were expecting a podium and for sure we are disappointed even if everyone did his best in the French team. In the first race my start was average but I recovered to fifth; I was close to the fourth place when a lapped rider got in my way just before a jump and I was lucky to stay on both wheels. My second start was good, but after half a lap I got a stone in my rear brake and had problems for several laps; I knew that we couldn’t reach the podium whatever was my result, but I kept Dungey behind me to finish sixth.”

Tommy Searle: “To finish third and fifth at the Motocross of Nations is a great way to end the season; we’ll go into the off-season with confidence as we know that we made good improvements on the bike. We had only one day testing with the suspension before this race; WP never really tested on Kawasaki in the past and we scored the second position in the MX1 class at the biggest event in the world. The track was one of the roughest I have ever seen, it was really tough! But it was a great weekend; I enjoyed the atmosphere with the British fans who travelled here to support us.”

Classification: 1.Belgium (Desalle, De Dycker, Van Horebeek), 27 pts; 2.USA (Dungey, Barcia, Tomac), 30; 3.Italy (Cairoli, Philippaerts, Lupino), 33; 4.Australia (Metcalfe, Waters, Ferris), 40; 5.France (Paulin, Charlier, Tixier), 44; 6.Great Britain (Searle, Nicholls, Simpson), 49; 7.Germany (Nagl, Ullrich, Roczen), 57; 8.Russia (Bobryshev, Tonkov, Mikhaylov), 78; 9.Switzerland (Guillod, Seewer, Auberson), 87; 10.Estonia (Leok, Krestinov, Kahro), 92; etc…