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MXON 2026 MXGP QUALI
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00:25Hello everybody and welcome back to EARN-A for the 79th edition of the
00:29Monster Energy FIM Motocross and Nations. We're live on MXGP TV with me Paul Malin and Jason Thomas
00:35of Flight Racing. We've got a beautiful day here in northwestern France and it's the 11th time this
00:41event has been held on French soil, the fourth time here. Of course the most recent being in 2023.
00:47We had a lot of rain on Monday and Wednesday. Track is a little bit sticky one or two areas
00:51but you
00:51know what it's drying out pretty quickly. They're even putting more water on just a few moments ago
00:55at the end of the YZ Blue Crew Super Finale race that just happened just a few moments ago.
01:00Well here we are in northwestern France. Jason Thomas. We're back again. The Monster Energy FIM
01:07Motocross and Nations. It never disappoints unless of course it's your team, my team that doesn't win.
01:12Other than that, what a fantastic event to be a part of once again.
01:19PN venue for Motocross and Nations. You look at the backdrop there, the enthusiasm of the fans,
01:24the weather we've been blessed with the prior two times here in 15 and 23. It's just really
01:29difficult to beat this place. And it's already quite busy on the hillside there for a Saturday,
01:34even on the first laps of free practice this morning. But this is where we are at.
01:38But we are also mindful of the fact, aren't we, that we are now in the first week of October.
01:42That sunlight as we headed up behind our camera position here or left to right as we head
01:47reverse up the finish hill. Sun was quite low this morning as it was just popping up above the hill.
01:52These guys didn't mind it because as soon as it popped up into their face, their eyes,
01:55they were just starting to get that morning glow. But as the day goes on, it will get a little
02:00bit lower. Visibility in one or two areas will just be starting to be a bit shaded,
02:03a bit silhouette-y on track. But it's already starting to dry out as we can see. This hard
02:08base may prove to be not problematic, but obviously as it dries out and gets slick,
02:14that's where riders have to be mindful. It's going to be problematic for some.
02:17I do think we're going to see mistakes. And yes, that low sun is so prototypically
02:22motocross of nations. It will be a concern as the day grows long and shadows and can riders
02:27adjust to that and find the lines that they're looking for. Well, of course,
02:31racetrack here for joining us for the first time today. 137 meters above sea level. We've got a
02:35hard clay base. It's a little bit loose to the outside, of course, those berms. Just over 1.6
02:40kilometers long, just over a mile. But yeah, no, it's hilly. It's got everything. You've got great
02:45atmosphere. So the bottom of your screen, as you can see, just the outside of the first turn,
02:49that's pretty much where the most of the fans are. And you get all kinds of characters going on here,
02:54as you can see there. Not sure if he's...
02:56Belgian, German. Belgian or German. He's excited. I'll tell you that.
03:01I've seen some sights already this morning.
03:03I saw a gentleman that he is a little worse for wear as I was walking up here. It's been
03:08a party
03:09for the better part of 48 hours already, and it's only Saturday.
03:13We were at the ballot yesterday, weren't we, in terms of... Well, we'll talk about that in a moment
03:17because we're getting ready to go down to talk to Lisa Leland. She has a couple of riders with...
03:22One of the guys is Jorge Prado, of course, a four-time champion. He just won the SMX championship
03:25a week ago. But for Australia, Jed Beaton rocking the number one. Fair income, mate.
03:33I'm just on the start grid here. The atmosphere is really building, and we're just a few moments
03:37away from the first gate drop here with the MXGP qualifying race. I'm joined by Team Australia's
03:42Jed Beaton. Jed, welcome back to Europe. It's great to see you. Baluch, first motocross of
03:48nations for you. You're running that number one plate. With that number comes expectations and
03:54pressure, I guess. And you guys are the defending champions, and you weren't even part of the team.
03:58So it's like, it's a lot on your shoulders before you've even started.
04:02Oh, definitely. But, I mean, it's just a number. We need to go out there and just ride how we
04:06know
04:07how to ride, get off to a good start, and I think we'll be fine. You know, it's... Yeah, it's
04:11a crazy
04:12big event, but just need to keep your head on your shoulders, be smart, and, yeah, you
04:17know, get ready for tomorrow for the main races, and, yeah, just get through today, get a feeling
04:23with the track, and sort of just ride to my potential. I'll be fine. When I'm riding,
04:26I don't see the number on the bike, so it's all good.
04:30You guys are all newbies. You're a rookie to the motocross of nations. You got a taste of
04:34it last night with the parade. How's it been so far for you guys?
04:38Oh, it's been unreal. You know, it's, yeah, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You
04:44dream of, as a young kid, to come and race this race, and obviously this is one of the
04:48best ones. Even as I was racing GPs, this was a nice one to come to, so nations is just
04:53that little bit more special and a lot more people, so, yeah, I'm just going to take it
04:57all in and enjoy it.
04:58All the best to you. All the best to Team Australia. Thank you, Jed.
05:01Okay, one of the main protagonists this weekend will, of course, be Jorge Prado from Team Spain.
05:06Jorge, gate pick, 31. Not the best. Could have been better for you guys. What's the
05:11approach from here?
05:12I mean, the approach is, hopefully, we're lucky with the start, right?
05:17Yeah, we are really on the outside. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. It's
05:22pretty wet on over the street, so I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I
05:28just,
05:29hopefully, we get a good jump out of the gate and we can start moving to the right quick.
05:33Yeah, the start is going to be important. This morning, we see that the track is pretty
05:36much one line, so start is important.
05:38Okay. Last time we were here in Erna, you actually won the MXGP qualifying race of the
05:43nation. So, how important is that qualifying race to set you and your nation up for the
05:48rest of the weekend?
05:49Yeah, it's important. It's important because we want to have, you know, choose our gates
05:54tomorrow wherever we want and that's because of a good qualifying race. So, hopefully, we
05:59can put three good motors together, my 451 and then the Open MX2. So, really looking
06:05forward to the qualifying race and do my best for a good gate pick tomorrow.
06:09Last time you were here, you had a few good battles with Roman Febvre in the MXGP race.
06:14Is it a track that you can have some fun out? Because we definitely enjoyed watching that
06:18battle.
06:18I mean, battles are always fun, right? Especially if you win them. So, hopefully, we can have
06:24another good battles and, again, win.
06:27Have a good one. Thank you. Jorge Prado there from Team Spain. Good luck to all the guys
06:31here on the grid for the qualifying race. It's time for the MXGP.
06:36It's a gate pick situation here, isn't it, JT, Jason Thomas, because, obviously, on Friday
06:41in the media center, the FIM do the ballot. They draw one ball out and in that we'll have
06:47a country and then in the other ball in another box, they'll be the gate pick. So, let's say
06:52Mexico, they were the first guys out and then, all of a sudden, they get gate one as well.
06:57That they will be going to the gate first. So, in terms of the favourites, Australia,
07:01the defending champions, they go to the line third with Jed Beaton. Belgium go to the line
07:06in eighth with Lucas Koonen. The Netherlands go to the line in 17th with Ryan Van Amosteik.
07:11GB with Taylor Hamel. France with Roman Febvre go to the line in 22nd position.
07:17Republic of South Africa with Slade Smith, 25th. USA, Julian Beaumere goes to the line
07:22in 26th. Spain, Jorge Prado, 31 of 32 teams. And that puts him all the way to the outside
07:28as we look down the start straight to the right. On the left, going down that lock straight
07:32into a right-hand turn. But he is the best of the starters.
07:35He is. And really, the French, the Americans, and the Spanish team are the ones that have
07:40to really make it work here. Koonen in eighth, those guys are all going to be in good position.
07:44You remember, the Saturday competition level is a little lower. You know, some of these
07:48riders won't qualify into Sunday. So I think Prado nailed it. Get a jump, start moving right
07:53as quickly as you can. Even if you come out somewhere in the top seven or eight, that's
07:56good enough to be relevant in this race.
07:58I was watching the YZ85 Blue Crew Super Finale a moment ago, and there were a couple
08:03of guys who started over on that right-hand side as we looked down on that left-hand side.
08:06The practice starts were, most of them wanted to use that right on that outside line as well,
08:10just because it was slightly dry there. The moisture hadn't kind of quite got there.
08:14So Jorge Prado, 31st gate pick, he gets onto that. Guess what? He's going to rock it all
08:19the way close to the fence and sweep around. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get
08:23a whole shot because your main favorites are going to go inside to sort of like that middle.
08:27And it's a little bit boggy, a little stodgy there, halfway down the start gate.
08:32Jet Beaton, Team Australia, said the number is just a number, like the number one.
08:35We've all got to go ride the bike. He doesn't even see the number when he's riding the machine.
08:39But yes, they are arriving as the defending champions. It'll be interesting to see how
08:42they do. Be interesting to see how Lucas Koonen goes here. Team Belgium, been off the
08:46bike for a good few weeks or more. He rides for Team Belgium here this weekend with little
08:52or no riding.
08:53Yeah, one, literally one moto put in before the race. Wasn't even a full moto. So you say
08:57it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. I think he's very interested to see how
09:02it goes. There's no way he can be sure of much of anything going in. One thing that
09:06the fans are all sure of is number seven will step up for his country here. Yes, it's under
09:12the qualifying race. Olympic scoring system, one for the win, two for second, three for
09:16third. If you finish in 32nd position, you get 32nd. The two races that we've got, MXGP
09:21now, MX2 class comes up a little later. The open class riders come up after that. Your top
09:27two scores win. So if, uh, let's say Mexico go one, one in their first two races, that's
09:32the lowest possible score of two. They don't need to rely on the result from their third
09:38rider. Yeah. Just watching or zooming in on Prado there. It's not too far outside. So
09:42he, he decided to not go all the way to the outside. So it's a little better than it could
09:46have been. And also very slow getting his blocks together there because he was in the 15 second
09:51fly race and 15 second board was going up and he was still struggling with his blocks.
09:54Anyway, there he is in that gap. 20 minutes plus two, the qualifying race here. Everybody
10:01away here. And Jorge Prado doesn't get the good jump and he will get squeezed, but somebody
10:06else does run it in hot on the number 37. And that's Talviku and Prado down or Koonan
10:11down here at number 10. Yeah. Prado actually got off. Okay. He's third now. That was Koonan.
10:16Yeah. So he salvaged something and Koonan just exactly what he didn't need. Roman Fevre leading
10:21the way. We were looking to the outside gates and it was Fevre who snuck through on the middle
10:25gates. He triples up onto the top of the hill. And Prado already moving into second with that
10:30move on Jan Panza of Slovenia. Yeah, Paul, we were watching the free practice sessions
10:34earlier and the noise just when Fevre would come by, nothing was even at stake. There was
10:39just, it was just lap being put in and the crowd was going absolutely bananas for Roman
10:44Fevre. So you have to know it's so loud already with the start. Mistake there from Prado got
10:49tipped out of the rut. And I'll tell you what, he's just been passed. I think the second position
10:54here, Panza has gone back by him. So he does that work early on and finds himself getting
11:00pushed back into that third place. So a gift there for the number seven of Roman Fevre.
11:04There's Beeton there in the green and gold. He's just finding his way past Talvikou for
11:08fourth position. Yes, he makes it stick as well. Yeah, a little water put down on the
11:13racetrack, which you can see how slippery it is. And I think that's what caught Prado
11:17out a bit. But really, this is shades of 2023. The Moto 1 in 2023 was Prado and Fevre all
11:23the way to the checkered flag, could be there again. Prado looking for that middle rut. On
11:27the number 28 for Spain, you'll see that they're not their normal familiar numbers. Their team
11:32numbers are based on where they finished last year. So defending champions, Australia,
11:36one, two, and three. And then of course, USA are next, four, five, and six. France, seven,
11:43eight, nine. Belgium, 10, 11, 12. Slovenia, who finished fifth, are going to be 13, 14,
11:49and 15. Here's what happened to Prado a moment ago. Just came in too hot, stood himself up and
11:55then went a little wide there. Just carrying so much speed. Didn't gain an advantage. Lost a position
12:01in all of that. And he's still parked behind the 13 of Jan Panza. Yeah, and you can just see
12:06how
12:06careful they're being on this opening lap, which is just so indicative of the water being put down.
12:11That will work in two, three, four laps in. You'll probably see the pace pick up quite a bit. You'll
12:16see him get a little off balance. That's just basically because the traction is not exactly
12:20where you want it to be. A lot of people talking down the defending champions of Australia. But when
12:25you've got a first and second in MX1 in the Australian Championship and your national champion in MX2,
12:30they're not a weak team by any stretch of the imagination. And Jed Beaton sitting there in
12:34fourth position, just there in the background. Prado moves into second for the second time in
12:40two laps as he goes past Jan Panza. Very deep runs there. The Slovenian runs into trouble this time
12:45around. Beaton not quite close enough to capitalize, but he's going to be closer now as he comes in the
12:50shot on the number one for Team Australia. Yeah, the cameras do no justice to how steep the elevation
12:56and the angles are, the off cambers. It's so much more tricky than it looks like on screen here.
13:00We'll talk about the e-bikes in a moment, the riders who went out on the e-bikes for Honda
13:05and for Yamaha when we get a gap in the sort of in the pace here. But these riders as
13:12well
13:13making a very difficult racetrack look very, very easy.
13:16Wow. Well, I'm still struggling. Yeah, you just still see little mistakes, which is just so
13:21atypical for a guy like Prado. He's usually picture perfect. So all that to me just screams
13:26how difficult it is to even navigate this track. Jed Beaton, he's just found his way.
13:30Well, he's still there in that fourth place. He found his way past Talvikou. Talvikou being
13:33caught by Carlos Raceless on the 25. He's on the Yamaha just behind him in the Burgundy. He tries to
13:39run
13:39out of the inside of the Estonian. So as it stands right now, of course, this is the first race.
13:45So
13:45one point for every position you are in. Roman Fever and France are in a one point scoring
13:50position. Spain with two points with Prado. Slovenia are third with Panza. There's three
13:56points for them. There's Raceless just trying to get down the inside. Another bite length
14:01gap between them. He may have just made that pass stick. Yeah, and it's one of those things where
14:05if you can clear him, you're going to pull the gap back out because you have all that momentum
14:09from the outside. But if you don't get to the cross section there, you're going to get past.
14:13Just looking there in ninth place, Julian Beaumare. What a journey he's had to get here, of course,
14:18at very, very short notice. He was at SMX last weekend. Chance Hymas, who was supposed to be here
14:22at the Nations for Honda. He picked up a wrist injury on Saturday or Friday. Was it Friday or
14:28Saturday? Yeah, on Friday. Friday. And then, of course, by Saturday was determined, yeah, he's not
14:32going to be strong enough to ride. Of course, Mike Pelletier, the team manager, then on a frantic mission
14:36to ring around and see who was available. Of course, Julian Beaumare stepping up to the plate.
14:43Who's had a good second half of the season, especially after coming back from injury last
14:46year. Yeah, and I just wondered, you know, the start was a tricky spot when I was considering
14:51how he would do. He's never done a race start on a 450 in race trim, especially at anything
14:56like the Motocross of the Nation. So it's not that he can't get a good start. It's more the
15:00uncertainty. He doesn't have the repetitions put in. What RPM do I use? How's the clutch
15:05disengagement? All those questions that are for a guy like Prado or like breathing. Well,
15:09Beaumare's learning all that in race trim. And of course, Julian Beaumare, KTM USA, Rebel
15:17KTM USA, did put a bike together for him to ride on Monday or Tuesday before he traveled
15:21here. The plan was for him to ride on Thursday with the rest of the team, but obviously wasn't
15:26able to. I think the suspension hadn't arrived or something like that, I believe. So his first
15:30bike time on the bike that he's racing was this morning in that 40-minute free practice
15:35session where there were no times. I mean, there was timekeeping, but the times were irrelevant
15:39because obviously the grid position had already been determined by the ballot. So learning the
15:44track and actually got to see him in the hospitality down in the paddock and asked him about as a
15:50beat makes a mistake. How was it? Everything good? Good job. It was a 40-minute session. He
15:54says, yeah, but I'm good. I'm good to go. You know, I'm feeling comfortable. Track was a little bit
15:57soft in places, all the usual stuff, but no sort of negative comments in terms of, oh, man, I'm a
16:04little bit behind the eight ball. No, that's normally how he is. He's just so positive and
16:09optimistic all the time. But, you know, I think a lot of that is born from he has this huge
16:13injury
16:13in 2025, and I think he looks at all these opportunities as being so fortunate, you know,
16:18that this career almost got taken away from him. So he's not going to be the one that's going to
16:23complain about a tricky racetrack or I haven't raced the 450. All of this is a huge bonus for
16:28him. Well, let's take a look at the start again, then, shall we? Obviously, we were focused on
16:33the number 10 there. You get about seven or eight gates over in the orange. Does he come together
16:40with another rider? He just folds the front, goes down, and gets beat up again. And riders over the
16:47bars there and all sorts, but we'll see Prado sweeping from the outside just there to the outside of the
16:52blue. There was the number 10 of Coonan going down. 85, the Dickinson, the Irish guy going down as
16:58well. And here's Ryan Van Amostijk here, the number 55. He's running for the Netherlands. He's in 14th
17:05place at the moment. He's just ahead of Lucas Coonan there on the number 10 for Team Belgium. So if
17:10you're
17:10Team Belgium, you want to throw away this result and rely on as gifting goes down. So that's going to
17:15gift a position to Beaumair. Beaumair was just behind him in ninth, gifting, falling from eight. Beaumair gains a
17:21position into eighth place. One point game for the USA. Better than nothing. Yeah, and it looked like
17:25Coonan actually got into the side of gifting. So he's probably like, hey, not you again. I don't
17:30want to see you again in this race. But for Coonan, this is the last thing he would have wanted.
17:34He's
17:34not prepared for this race. I spoke with him on Friday. He had no idea how this was going to
17:38go.
17:39He has no idea how long the pain would subside. Is it going to be a problem late in the
17:43race? All those
17:44are questions he's going to have to answer today and tomorrow. Live images here on board with
17:47Valentin Guillaume as he's down the bottom of the hill there behind Taylor Hamel. There is
17:51the 10 of Coonan trying to charge up the inside of him into that 12th place. Can't go inside there.
17:56He goes by him here or gets alongside him at least. Does Coonan. And as he drops into that left
18:04-hand
18:05turn, he does find his way past Guillaume and he may find his way past the 58th as well of
18:08Mads
18:09Fredso of Denmark. But no way through there. Taylor Hamel going by in that 10th position. But Beaumair up to
18:16eight.
18:16Tom Kopp for Germany up tonight. Hamilton, Fredso 11, Lucas Coon in the orange and black.
18:20He is in 12th place. And we've got Guillaume, Van der Moste, gifting down to 15 from eight. An
18:24expensive fall for the Swede.
18:28Yeah, I see the battle starting to pick up a little bit here at the front. You know Prado,
18:32you know, he's been gone for two full seasons now. This is, uh, there's a lot at stake. For
18:36Spain, trying to win this motocross nation is very, very important. It's the best team they've
18:41probably ever had. But for Prado specifically on a personal level, I think he, he wants to
18:46prove he's still the best guy. Yeah. Well, he's won four MX, uh, four motocross world championships
18:51and is alongside Romo Fevre. And he takes over the lead on lap four. Jorge Prado, your new leader.
18:57He's going to go wide. Fevre is going to launch down the inside. Probably wasn't expecting him
19:03to make the move there. But we have a new leader. It's all, I was about to say, it's all
19:09gone quiet
19:10over there. But they are urging on Romo Fevre to try and come back and take the win away from
19:14Prado.
19:15How much of this is Fevre just saying, you know what, let's get through Saturday, get a good gate
19:19pick. Prado can take all the glory today for Team Spain. But you know what, you don't want to give
19:24Spain and Jorge Prado that kind of confidence and let them run with it because they will only gain
19:28momentum from it. I don't know that Prado could be more confident as a human being than he already
19:33is. At the moment. Yeah. It's unbelievable how much confidence he has. Even on bad days,
19:38he's still so confident in himself. But, you know, thinking about this, a couple things,
19:42possibly Fevre wanting to kind of see where Prado's lines are. He closed up such a gap there.
19:46He's like, maybe I want to see where he's going because there are lines, as you can see,
19:49all over this racetrack that if you are not in the right one, it could cost you multiple seconds per
19:53lap.
19:54Also, remember last year, this exact same thing happened and then Fevre came
19:58back really late in race one and was able to overtake Prado again. So that's probably somewhere
20:03in his psyche of like, that's fine. Let him go do his thing. I'll either get him late in this
20:06race
20:06or I'll save him for tomorrow. And it doesn't matter. Okay. It doesn't matter what you do today.
20:10Of course it does. You just need two good start, two good results to get a good gate pick for
20:16the
20:16whole weekend for your team. Spain, of course, coming in as one of the favorites, probably the favorites
20:22behind France, because France, of course, we know what they can do here at this event on home soil.
20:29And you have to kind of go with them, especially when you look at the final race of the day
20:33on Sunday,
20:34two 450 riders. They've got Tom Bialto come and Roman Fevre in that incident. You've got Jorge Prado
20:40and relative unknown, he's a European champion, Francisco Garcia. Wasn't that great on the 450
20:46last year at Ironman, but he's a year older, a year stronger. He still could be the dark horse
20:50for Team Spain. They could have two very good riders going into that final race. And Roman Fevre also
20:55probably knows that at the moment, like get through today, get a good gate pick. Doesn't matter about
20:59today in the classification of the nation. Yes. New day tomorrow, everything starts from fresh.
21:05That's when we start scoring. Yeah. And it's just positioning yourself for success tomorrow.
21:09That he's doing exactly that. Use two scores. The difference between the first gate pick and the
21:13second gate pick and the third gate pick totally irrelevant. It won't matter. You know, we're on
21:18grid start, so it's going to be all brand new starting, you know, gate, everything. I think
21:22today is just like you said, you are guarding against bad things happening. So I would bet his
21:28urgency level is about zero at the moment. So Prado leads and the gap between him and this guy
21:32here, number seven, Roman Fevre, the darling of the French crowd, is now two seconds. Fevre set his
21:37best lap of the race last time around, 1.53.054. Prado on that, that was a 52.983. But
21:44it's
21:44Sergey Prado's fastest lap of a 1.51.509, two laps ago, that is the benchmark time. Here comes
21:50Lucas Kunan. Once again, he goes to the outside and makes his move on Julian Beaumare. So the two
21:57Red Bull KTMs. Beaumare there, the number four from the USA. Trying to get his way back up the
22:02inside here of the Belgian and he does find his way past. Great move that from your guy. Yeah,
22:07these two have never raced against each other. So interesting to kind of see them
22:11just sussing each other out of base. He couldn't just ride right around the outside of him there.
22:15And a lot of this is track familiarity. You know, like Beaumare's trying to learn race lines on the fly
22:19here where Lucas Kunan, it's not that he's a 30-year-old veteran, but he's raced here many
22:23times at this point and he knows how the track's going to shape up, where you can pass and where
22:27you have to be a little bit more careful, too. Give credit to Lucas Kunan, though, because he's
22:32forced his way up into eighth place. He was down at the first turn, don't forget. 32 riders on the
22:36gate. Jorge Prado, during his pre-grid interview, said, you know, a start's going to be key because
22:42it's pretty one-line. I don't think it's a one-line track at all. You know, there are very,
22:47you know, quite a few options in terms of your lines and whatever else, as we can see. And the
22:52ground is still very pliable, so you can crisscross a little bit, you know, across turns. But this has
22:56been a good effort for Lucas Kunan, who's been off the bike since pretty much the British Grand Prix
23:01in July, on and off. You know, he tried to ride a week later in Czech Republic. Didn't work. Tried
23:06to
23:07ride in Belgium. He sat that one out. Tried to ride in Sweden. Tried to ride in Holland, you know,
23:11but just hasn't had the bike time. Hasn't had the race time. And here he is, Lucas Kunan,
23:16now going after Raceless. These two now fighting over seventh place. Carlos Raceless there on the
23:23Yamaha 25 in seventh. Kunan now in eighth place. Julian Beaumet just behind him in ninth. Kunan
23:28launching downhill once again. Yeah, this is a big effort because here he goes. Nice pass there.
23:34You don't want to use this score, but what you wouldn't want to do is assume that. You get a
23:40poor
23:41score in race one, and then you end up needing it. That would really put them behind for Sunday. So
23:45it is important for him to move forward here just in case they end up needing the sixth or seventh,
23:50whatever it ends up being. Andrea Adamo here.
23:54I think just going after Beaton. Sorry, Albi Ferrato, isn't it? The rider here for Italy.
24:00So Alberto Ferrato, the MXGP rider for Team Italy, going after Jed Beaton.
24:05Last minute replacement. Albi stepping in for Andrea Bonacorsi. Yeah, Ferrato getting the triple.
24:11Beaton not able to get the triple. He goes to the outside. Ferrato is going to tip by.
24:15He passed Carlos Raceless just a few laps ago to get himself up into sixth position on lap two.
24:22He's now found his way past Beaton for fourth. Has the big Italian. He was on the podium here for
24:26Italy in 2023 when we were here last.
24:30Yeah, this is a type of track where I would think Ferrato would be pretty good.
24:34Hard pack, a little bit technical. And I just see him flexing his muscle a little bit.
24:39Gets past Jed pretty easily there.
24:41Yeah, and this is the reason why. Look, didn't get the distance for whatever reason. Didn't fancy it.
24:47See Jed kind of just cruising around the outside there. Not that you really have a choice on this
24:51racetrack in some sections, but again, it's not necessarily about you have to put in an incredibly
24:56good result today. It's about avoiding and staying away from a disaster that can really set you back.
25:01And also for teams like, well, for riders like Jorge Prado, for instance, has been in the U.S. now
25:08for the past two years, but he does know this place. But riding a slightly different setup to what
25:14he has in the U.S. in terms of his race bike compared to Europe, let's say. So again, even
25:19he,
25:19Australia with Jed Beaton and their three riders, Alex Larwood and Aaron Tanti, to come in MX Tour and
25:25Open. More further field kind of riders. They've had that 40-minute practice just to learn
25:31the track and gel and make some adjustments. These are now fine-tuning these adjustments.
25:36You're in a good position, you know, fourth, fifth, whatever. As long as you get a good
25:40score for two races, you are also now going into that work mode. Let's get some race set
25:46up now ahead. So probably got that bothered about going after Prado at the moment. More
25:51so than Prado is about picking off another rider for Italy. Yeah. And for Jed, at least he has
25:55some GP experience. Yeah. The other two, this is a whole new world for them. You know,
25:59Tanti spent most of his time in Australia. Warwood has been, we spent to the U.S. a little bit
26:03this year, so a little bit of a different situation. But this track, this environment
26:06is completely different than anything those two have ever seen. Yeah, absolutely.
26:12Abbey Prado looking good, though. Dropping downhill. The next rider in his line of sight is about
26:17four seconds further on the track. Jan Panzer. There he was, just in the light blue.
26:22Mid-turn as we cut away.
26:26Some nice little lines starting to appear there, actually, through that
26:29uphill left. Obviously, the tighter you go, you're carrying so much speed on that
26:33straight at the bottom end of the circuit. And you find a line, all of a sudden, it starts
26:36to come back on you, which is why, you know, you end up seeing riders just tip out to the
26:40right and make a mess up of it. But you can go outside and sort of swing across
26:47the mid-part of the track now as well, just to open things up. Hello.
26:51Roman Favre has decided to greet Jorge Prado once more. He's whittled down a two-second
26:56advantage. He's had a bit of breathing space. He's got the memory bank full of what
27:00happened in race one when we were here last. You know, he came by him and he said,
27:03you know what, I'll sit here for a couple laps and go back after him. That's exactly
27:07what Roman Favre was thinking again here. And if he could do that, if there was a roof
27:10on this place, it would be sky high. Yeah, and it's kind of a counterpunch. You just see
27:14what Prado's doing well. You know, you take his great lines, you incorporate maybe a few
27:19of your own great lines, and you build a better race package for the second half of the race.
27:23It takes a lot of patience and mental fortitude to do that, too. Also, because with this crowd
27:28going crazy, you don't want to give up the lead. It's very easy to kind of panic. But
27:31for a veteran, you know, Favre's mid-30s, he's been in this situation so many times, so
27:35he can absorb the situation and understand, like, Prado's not going to ride off into the sunset.
27:40I just need to figure out what he's doing a little bit better than I am.
27:42There's a nice little dynamic going on here. When we're here in 23, Jorge Prado was MXGP
27:46world champion. He backed that up in 2024. And obviously, Roman Favre was world champion
27:51last year in MXGP. A big mistake there from Jorge Prado in that same corner that we were
27:57talking about a moment ago. Came in too hot, went across all those ruts, made a complete
28:00pig's ear of it.
28:02The pig's ear?
28:03Yeah.
28:03All right. I always learn new sayings. Like, if I use these in America, I will probably
28:09be put in a straitjacket, but I still write them all down mentally.
28:13See, the trick is, when you are in that straitjacket, just have a little secret key.
28:17There you go.
28:17Let yourself out.
28:18I'll be in a straitjacket, but I will have the best sayings about the straitjacket of
28:22anyone.
28:23Top end of the circuit into that right-hand turn. Obviously, if you were here in 2023, you'll
28:28know that this is a new addition. It was in MXGP last year before he used to sort of get
28:32to the top and turn right straight down that hill. But now they go on into that right and
28:37then left down the hill.
28:38Kind of reminds me of Matterly. The long right, and then it bends back down across itself,
28:42similar to that. But this track, you see how many mistakes we're making. We talk about
28:45this a lot. The awkward angles that this track forces riders into, that's why they're
28:50always, they seem like they're going to high side over the ruts, because they're on an
28:52angle, climbing a hill, and it's going away from them. It's just such a different dynamic
28:57technique, but it's such a big role.
28:58Three laps to go then in this MXGP qualifying heat race.
29:03Erne, Fevre, more efficient getting out of that turn. Prado just getting held up behind
29:07a back marker there, ever so slightly out of that final turn, and they are almost
29:10wheel to wheel once again. Prado and Fevre. More traffic on the horizon for the race
29:15leader. Fevre goes to the inside. He fancied that line this morning in the warm-up session,
29:20and he's alongside. He's going to go past. Listen to the crowd. He's not quite there yet,
29:26though. Short.
29:27Oh, he was a little short by half a bike. Rode it out, though.
29:33But just watching this, Roman Fevre clearly has a lot more up his sleeve, and I think Prado's
29:38given all he's got at the moment.
29:39Yeah.
29:39And when you think, as I said before, 23, he was the world champion. 24, he was the
29:44world champion. Roman Fevre, in Prado's absence last year, was MXGP world champion. So these
29:50two, apart from Jeffrey Hurlings this year, the latest world champion, of course. Unfinished
29:55business between these two, maybe. You know, you were the best, I'm the best, whatever.
29:58Yeah, great job from Prado here defending. You know, like, I wasn't sure. I thought maybe
30:01Fevre would get up the inside there. But Prado is so effective from the front. He really understands
30:07the race dynamic when he's leading the race and how to hold riders behind him.
30:10Right. Did Roman Fevre get held up ever so slightly by a rider a moment ago? Because
30:15the gap has gone back out to sort of 1.9 or more. Fevre is being urged on here on
30:21the
30:21number seven, just as a point of interest as well. As we see, because this is the first
30:26race, one point first, two points for second, three for third. As you see, the teams down
30:31here, that is their nation's classification as well, because it's the first race. Guillaume,
30:36in 12th, that's going to be Switzerland in 12th. That will all change during race two.
30:41As far as the first official lap, you'll see teams moving up and down. The magic number,
30:47if you're on the cusp, you need to be 19th. That will get you into the A final on Sunday,
30:54which means you don't have an extra race on Sunday morning, the B final. If you are 20th
30:58or below, down to 32nd, you're going into the B final. Only one team goes through with
31:03all three riders on a Sunday morning, your two lowest points count will get you through
31:08to the A final. So it's a chore you don't need, a hassle you don't need, an extra race
31:13you don't need.
31:16Yeah, just wondering, looking back through the field, if Bommere must have maybe gone
31:19down there, dropped 20 seconds. Actually, Gifting must have gone down that last lap too.
31:24Yeah.
31:24Riders moving all over the place here in the final laps.
31:27And we, ah, this was Roman Favre having a bit of a moment.
31:34Kunin up to fifth. That is a fantastic ride for the Belgian.
31:38And that will give that team a massive shot in the arm, boost of confidence, because
31:42the unknown was, can he get through? Well, he's been down on the first turn on that right
31:46side, and here he is bouncing back. So I think he's going to be okay as it stands right now.
31:52Yeah, I'd be curious to see just where the pain level was throughout that race, because
31:57you just have to assume that it's going to get progressively worse through the course of a
32:01weekend. He hasn't been riding. He hasn't been putting his body through this. So it's only going
32:05to have a certain amount of laps in it. But it is a great start. It is a great sign
32:08for what
32:09they're capable of on Sunday.
32:10Top of your screen, top right corner, that's Prado. We've got a back marker, then Favre coming
32:14into land now. So that gap has gone out massively between those two, 3.3 seconds. So we're just
32:20over a lap to go. Roman Favre now deciding, you know what, let's settle for that second.
32:23One or two little mistakes, too many. And yeah, not ideal, but we gave it a shot.
32:29Yeah, good answer from Prado in the same kind of breath. You know, like the Favre relents,
32:34but Prado also answered the bell there.
32:37Yeah, another little mistake there coming out of that turn for Roman Favre, bottom of the
32:41hill, back end just misbehaving ever so slightly.
32:48Trying to use that bank just to turn off and change position, stay at some of those little
32:52braking bumps.
32:53One three or another.
32:56Yeah, I'm thinking this will probably be the softest the track is all weekend.
33:00You know, it's just going to get progressively harder and harder and harder.
33:03In terms of race conditions.
33:04Correct. Yeah, the base is going to be much more difficult. So I don't know if that's going
33:08to be better or worse than the track, because right now it's kind of a tale of two cities.
33:12You have the softer on top with a really hard base. So it's it's asking you to be aggressive
33:16with the throttle, but then you get down to the base and that spins up.
33:19Bragging rights at the moment that belong to Jorge Prado for the second.
33:22Yeah, Pansa. What a great right there. The number 13 in the blue and green for Slovenia.
33:27He is in third position. Albi Ferrato about 1.3 behind him. There he is on the number 16
33:31for Italy. And then Lucas Kunen about another six seconds further back for Belgium.
33:36He will believe that he can still pick off if these two start tripping each other up.
33:40He can maybe pick off Ferrato for fourth place, but it's just a little bit too much
33:44to ask, I think. Beaton in six for Australia. Talvikou seven for Estonia.
33:49Eighth Carles race list for Latvia. Great ride, actually, for Taylor Hamel in ninth place
33:54for Team GB. And Roman Amosteik, the Netherlands in tenth place.
33:57We've got Guilla of Switzerland. Bredso of Denmark. Beaumere of USA.
34:0113. Gifting of Sweden. Tomcock of Germany. Kohut of Czech Republic.
34:08And they really needed this, the Slovenians I'm talking about, with Geiser out.
34:12Slovakia, sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah.
34:14Pansa really needed this type of ride here to... He's the anchor now, right? And if he
34:18doesn't perform, their chances of getting in are virtually zero.
34:21A couple more corners to go for Jorge Prado. He came here with one thing on his mind.
34:26Obviously, Team Spain have never finished on the podium. Therefore, they've never won
34:29the sink. Prado heads downhill. He will take a victory for Spain in the qualifying race.
34:35Spain lead the way as we head into race two with that one point.
34:42Congratulates Roman Fevre. Fevre of France second. Thinking, right, okay,
34:46we maybe need to change something here going into the races on Sunday.
34:51Ryder there. Just disappointed with himself.
34:53Yeah, I'm not sure what that is.
34:56Who is it, actually? See if we can get a number check on there.
35:02You know what? Could be anything. It could be just outside of the top 20,
35:05and he's so annoyed with himself. Anyway, Pansa, we wait for him. Here he is now.
35:12He goes through in third place for Slovenia. Great start for that tiny nation.
35:17And that has gone a massive way to make sure they go into the eighth final.
35:22Yaku Pekalai is up next, but their big unknown is still to come in MX2,
35:31in MX Open, of course, and that's going to be Lucas Osek.
35:34Don't really know too much about him. He's never in the nations before.
35:37So it's going to be interesting to see if Yaku Pekalai can get a good result
35:41just to get them inside that top 20, maybe sort of 16, 17, maybe even higher.
35:46You never know.
35:49But for Arto, four, Lucas Kunin was a good ride for him in fifth place.
35:52Jed Beaton, he'll be happy with that in sixth.
35:54The Belgish and the Spanish, they're all having a great time over there.
36:00Talvikou, seven for Estonia.
36:01Carlos Raceless, eight. Hamel, nine.
36:03Manamo Steich in ten.
36:04We've got Guillaume de Rosaline, soon.
36:08Should be dropping down the hill at any moment now,
36:11but let's go down to Lisa.
36:12She is going to catch up with Jorge Prado, our winner.
36:17Spain, lead the way as we head into race two.
36:27Jorge Prado, great job there.
36:29You turned the worst gate pick into the best race finish there.
36:31You got that start just when you needed it.
36:33Oh, yeah.
36:34I mean, this, it was a crazy one.
36:35I, the 15-second board went on, and I wasn't even on my bike.
36:40I wasn't even ready to go.
36:41Like, I was just getting my gate, and I had to start.
36:45It was crazy, yeah.
36:47Then I had a pretty good start, made a mistake on the first lap,
36:49went back to third, and then built myself to first.
36:52I was running good.
36:53A little bit tight, I will say.
36:55This track is super tight.
36:57It puts a lot of water in slick places.
36:58I was just being careful not to go over the bars.
37:00And, man, it was hard to manage with lapers.
37:03These guys are maybe 20 seconds slower,
37:04and I was scared to jump on some of them, go left or right.
37:08I think tomorrow will be better once, you know, everybody qualifies.
37:12So, no, happy to go P1 today.
37:15We're in a good flow right now, so we'll do better racing tomorrow.
37:19Good luck for tomorrow.
37:25We called it when we saw Jorge Prado just there.
37:28The 15-second board literally just gone up, and he was still there,
37:30messing around with his nursery blocks there to get them in position.
37:34But this is the problem.
37:34When you go to the line late, 31st gate pick.
37:37I mean, he's probably never been a late gate pick like that in his career.
37:41So, that's a learning experience for him, but he handled it really well.
37:44Really, really well.
37:44Kept himself cool under pressure.
37:46Jorge Prado, your winner from the MXGP qualifying race.
37:54Give us the results first, and then we'll show you the highlights.
37:58Got that evening glow about it already, hasn't it?
38:01Beautiful time of the year.
38:04So, Jorge Prado then, it's going to be a point for a win.
38:07Two for second, three for third.
38:09This is how the nations will stack up heading into race two,
38:13which is the MXGP qualifying race.
38:14Jorge Prado picking up a point for Spain.
38:16They just need one more good result from Guillaume Perez in the next race.
38:20Of course, they will be guaranteed to go through.
38:23Romafevra there doing the job for France in second.
38:25Pansa, a great ride for him.
38:26Slovenia in third.
38:27Prado likewise, actually fourth.
38:28Koonan off the floor at turn one in a 25-minute race.
38:31Back to fifth.
38:32That's a pretty decent effort for him.
38:34Koonan there in fifth place.
38:36And then we had Beaton for Australia.
38:38Talviku, Rachelis, Hamel, and Vandermosteik.
38:40Good ride that for the Brit, Taylor Hamel.
38:42Vandermosteik, 10th.
38:42Valentin Guillo, Madstredso, Isaac Gifting, Julian Beaumare up and down.
38:46Maybe one or two little mistakes there late on.
38:49Maybe just, I don't know, having raced the 450 for the first time now.
38:52Maybe a little bit of arm put, we just never know.
38:54Could be one or two things.
38:55But either way, a good, bright start.
38:58Not the start that he would have envisaged, but...
39:00Better than 26th.
39:01Better than 26th.
39:02Absolutely.
39:02Which was the gate pick.
39:08Packed house here in Erna.
39:16Maybe take a look at the highlights then, shall we?
39:20Nations classification first.
39:21Well, it's going to be exactly the same as it was for the race result there.
39:25Because obviously, where they finished is the points they get only in the first race.
39:29Because that will change as we go forward in race two.
39:32Spain lead the way with France there second.
39:33Slovenia third, Italy, Belgium, Australia, Estonia, Latvia and the rest, of course.
39:41Great Britain there, nine, Netherlands ten.
39:43A good result from their teammate in this second race.
39:46Can push them up or drop them lower down.
39:49Remember, you don't want to be lower than 19th.
39:5119th gets you through to the A final.
39:53Take a look at the highlights of the race.
39:57The 79th edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations here in Erna.
40:01The MXGP qualifying race.
40:03The rider going down at the front there was Lucas Kuhner to Belgium.
40:06Fevre with the whole shot as we swept through the first couple of corners.
40:09Hoya Prado of Spain was there in second as he found his way past Jan Panza.
40:13Panza found his way back immediately.
40:15Jed Beaton was a couple of positions further back for the defending champions, Australia.
40:20Prado got his way into second.
40:21Went up to Fevre.
40:22A couple of corners later, he ran wide, top of the hill.
40:26Panza was back by him again.
40:28Beaten going after the Estonian Talbiku in the green and gold.
40:32And then Prado got close and made this pass at the top end of the circuit to take over the
40:37lead.
40:37Spain leaded the way with one point.
40:39Fevre there, France second with two.
40:41Lucas Kuhner down the inside of Carlos Raceless.
40:44That was a great move here to find his way into seventh.
40:48He eventually came home in fifth place.
40:51Albi Ferrato of Italy got the better of Jed Beaton.
40:54Ferrato went on to finish in fourth.
40:56Beaton eventually came home in sixth.
40:57But it was a comfortable win for Jorge Prado from Fevre, Panza, Ferrato and Kunin.
41:03Prado leading the way after the qualifying race in MXGP as we head into the MX2 qualifying race.
41:13Right, we're going to take a break.
41:14Ben Rumbold is going to do live from the paddock part one.
41:17That's coming up at 3.05 in about four minutes from now.
41:19So check out with him.
41:21And then Jason Thomas and I will be back at 3.20.
41:24So just under 15 minutes from now.
41:26Well, just under 20 minutes from now for the MX2 qualifying race.
41:29So from me, from JT, we'll see you in a few moments.
41:31Bye for now.
41:31Enjoy the paddock walk though with Ben.
41:33We'll see you in a few moments.