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MXON 2026 Open QUALI

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00:25Hello everybody, welcome back to EARN A for the 79th edition
00:28of the Monster Energy FIM Motocrosser Nations with me Paul Malin and Jason Thomas, we're
00:32live on MXGP TV once again, final race of the day in terms of the Motocrosser Nations
00:38activities, the qualifying race for the Open Class Riders and JT so far we've seen a couple
00:44of interesting races haven't we, no surprises in MXGP qualifying with Jorge Prado, Roman
00:50Fever at the top but it was the Spaniard who got the better of the former world champion
00:54but what a performance from Mattis Valland just a moment ago in race two where he just
00:58topped the billing and there were some up and down moments quite literally for one or two
01:02of the other riders but yeah all in all some good racing and lots to look forward to here
01:07in this final race. Yeah usual suspects at the front I think it's what you would have expected
01:11we'll probably get more of the same it's really hard for me to imagine a scenario where Jeffrey
01:14Hurwings in race three here while in the Open is not near the front two. Well as it stands
01:20right now let's give you the result then from the first race sorry second race Mattis Valland,
01:24Camden McClellan, Levi Kitchen, Perez, Yanis Raceless, Siwa, Kunin, Zanki, Koldenov and Larwood
01:30and as it stands right now heading into this final race remember we've got two we've had two races
01:36the first two races count but after this one you can drop your worst score so France have three
01:42points they have a two and a one so at the moment they could drop a two if Tom Biel
01:46goes out and gets
01:47a win here because that would be a one one they can drop their two and they go through with
01:52the
01:52maximum points Spain though also on one point if you drop their worst of a fourth but as it stands
01:58right now France on three Spain on five Italy and Belgium they are on 12 Latvia on 13 Australia 16
02:05Switzerland 17 with the USA but you look at those two teams Switzerland 11 and 6 USA 14 and 3
02:13they can
02:13both drop their high scores so at the moment you know not alone in it between those two teams so
02:17as we've said constantly in race one race two a good result here in this final race can massively
02:23sort of promote you or demote you down the leaderboard whichever way yeah being able to drop a worse score
02:29here in race three not having to use this one is such a huge coup for starting position for tomorrow
02:33the 19 teams the first 19 go through and that takes us down to Brazil so let's go from the
02:40top
02:4010 Estonia 10 Denmark 11 GB 12 Sweden South Africa Slovenia sorry Slovakia Canada Germany Austria and
02:48Brazil they are one point clear of Japan at the moment so Japan Finland Norway Slovakia Ireland Czech
02:54Republic Lithuania FIM Latin America Croatia Morocco Iceland Mexico and Ukraine all in the B final as it
03:01stands right now unless they can pull something special out of the hat Lisa Leyland was down on the grid
03:05a few
03:06moments ago she got up with the South African trade cops who turned 18 a couple of days ago before
03:10that a French legend the former world champion Geordi Tixier we're almost ready for the open qualifying
03:19race here in Ernais but let's grab a few words with a familiar face French former rider Geordi Tixier
03:26Geordi you know what it feels like to win the motocross of nations you did it with Team France 2018
03:31at Redbud
03:33for any ride it doesn't matter where they are in their career this is a big deal for them isn't
03:37it yeah this is something very special you know I didn't come to any GP since three years but in
03:42a
03:43nation I can't really miss it especially in France the atmospheres there they're just awesome you know
03:48and to be a former champion we won it in Redbud 2018 was really something special so I really feel
03:55what the riders feel now and yeah I really enjoy it Team France so far looking good yeah Team France
04:00always looking good you know that the good things is like we have so many good riders and I think
04:06the being in France given extra motivation so yeah for the moment really looking really good the crown
04:12looking also really good so really looking forward to it we haven't seen you here at MXGP for quite some
04:17time what have you been up to yeah you know I stopped MXGP in 2023 or something like this you
04:24know I just didn't find myself in this anymore so I'm really looking for what for Supercross right
04:30now I'm doing the World Supercross Championship French Championship Supercross I really enjoy it
04:34I'm in a French team Yamaha GSM Daffy Michelin so everything looking really good I really enjoy my
04:40life at the moment so yeah that sounds pretty good enjoy your weekend as well and best of luck for
04:45Team
04:45France thank you very much let's grab a few words with South Africa rider Trey Cox mainly well
04:51firstly a happy birthday belated happy birthday for Thursday there's a lot going on for you it was
04:55your birthday on Thursday this is your first Motocross of Nations Trey and you've moved up to a 450 so
05:02nervous excited or a little bit of both yeah thank you very much yeah I turned 18 on on Thursday
05:09so
05:09it's also I'm an adult now still feel like a kid but yeah I had to step up onto a
05:16450 because
05:17I was actually a reserve rider I was never really supposed to race but yeah one guy broke his
05:22collarbone our other rider so then they called me about one and a half weeks ago only and they're
05:28like hey we need you to ride I was like whoa okay I've only been riding MX MX 250 and
05:33the German ADAC
05:34championship so I was like okay it's a big ass but I'm gonna have to do it I'll do anything
05:39for my
05:39country so yeah I jumped onto a 450 I was at home for two weeks I rode it I think
05:46four times and then
05:47I rode once here on Tuesday and now we're here so it's definitely a big step especially this track
05:54is not the easiest so I'm just here to literally ride and see how I go along the weekend I
06:00mean it
06:01could have been worse you could have had the 28th gate pick as well yeah exactly that's such a bad
06:08joke I'm really really sorry but I know jokes aside not the best gate pick for you guys no I
06:13mean
06:14whoever picks it out the hat I'm not too happy with but I don't know we just have to take
06:19it lap by
06:19lap see how it goes I think it's a bit dry on the outside I'm quite light so should just
06:24drop the
06:24clutch and hope for a good start honestly Trey it's great to have you here and enjoy the experience
06:29thank you very much best of luck to all the guys here it's time for the very final race of
06:33the day
06:33the open qualifying race if you're gonna come up with a punchline get the gate pick right and if
06:39you've got a problem with a gate pick take it up with Antonio Aliyah Portela the FIM CMS director
06:44uh it's all right best way plans right yeah but uh yeah for Trey Cox they're racing legacy you know
06:50brother father uh this is a big moment for him I hope he doesn't feel pressure he shouldn't coming
06:55in last last minute here well just as we head into this open race then uh riders that we're going
07:02to
07:02be looking at let's say uh tell you what anyone seen Spider-Man he hasn't got the best goggles on
07:10has
07:10he can't see a lot through them surely Peter Parker yeah Peter I thought he was going to reveal himself
07:14then actually you know he'd like pull the mask over the top you know what I mean Hayden Deegan
07:23wrong time too early um fans out there on the bank having a great time but uh we are getting
07:30ready to go racing and actually the riders that we're looking forward to in this race and this
07:34is just in their gate pick order uh of course Australia with Aaron Tanti we've got Dylan Wright
07:38for Canada so there's a lot more riders that can mix it up here um Liam Everts for Belgium
07:43Enzo Lopes can have a good run here for Brazil Pauls Jonas of Latvia Jeffrey Hurlings
07:48Netherlands Ben Watson of course Mikkel Harrop not lining up after uh a crash last week Tom Biel of
07:54France the big kind of name in this race if you're French and obviously wanting that team to do well
08:00but if you're fans of uh teams across the Atlantic like the US Cooper Webb lines up for the USA
08:06Adamo for
08:07Italy and Francisco Garcia of Spain but when you think of their their gate picks Australia go to the
08:14gate in third place Canada go to the line fifth Belgium eighth pick Brazil nine Latvia go to the
08:20gate 16th ahead of the Netherlands 17 Britain 18 Denmark they won't have anybody in this race France go to
08:27the line 22nd the USA 26th Italy 28th and uh Spain 31st out of the 32 teams that means they're
08:38going to go all
08:38the way to the outside Aeron Aaron Tanti team Australia good gate pick for the Australians and of course as
08:44we
08:44head into this final race today let's just give you a quick recap of the scores as they stand and
08:51uh there is
08:52Geoffrey Hurling's on the number 57 the Netherlands are lining up at the moment ninth overall with a 10 and
08:58a 9
08:5819 points on their scoreboard he's hoping to try and reduce that significantly if he can France leading the
09:05way there's the Belgium there number 12 Liam Evitz Belgium sit fourth at the moment with 12 points with a
09:10five and a
09:11seven he'll be hoping that they can at least ditch the seven and uh five plus whatever he can come
09:16up with in this
09:16race Spain of course have five with a one four Francisco Garcia will be looking to do the same
09:22there but uh the USA looking to ditch 14 and Cooper Webb can do a good job uh just to
09:26uh you know fill you
09:28in on the picture there yeah I like uh I like Hurling's his gate pick here not necessarily the best
09:32gate
09:33choice on paper but where he ended up uh I would be very surprised if he doesn't grab a full
09:38shot here
09:38well we will give you live results as they happen of course in terms of the nation's classification
09:44who's going through who's in the drop zone the fly race in 15 second board up for the final time
09:48today the open class qualifying race 20 minutes plus two that's the view to the side of the first
09:54turn underneath the trees there but it's going to be a big wall of noise if Tom Vial grabs the
09:59whole
09:59shot what about if Cooper Webb can do it for the USA Hurling's through the middle and it's Hurling's
10:07and Vial the two Hondas side by side we've seen so many occasions this year but it's Hurling's who
10:13leads the way Vial there takes over the lead immediately Hurling's not one to back down wants
10:20to go by his teammate that's exactly what he does and the two Hondas as we've seen on many occasions
10:25in 2026 lead the way once again top of the hill we are in third with Liam Evertz in third
10:30position
10:31and Paul Jonas the Latvian then Aaron Tanti Webb around the outside good start for Cooper Webb
10:37yeah all the all the players at the front great starts even though you know 26 28 31st type gate
10:43picks all of them near the front
10:46so over the liquid Molly double we've got the two Hondas the rider from the Netherlands
10:51Sheffy Hurling's and the Frenchman Tom Vial as it stands right now of course the French would be
10:56leading even while before we wait for the scores to update at the end of the lap because obviously
11:01a two one and a two here would still give the uh the French just three points they will drop
11:07uh
11:07what about who's that that's tipped over
11:12is that one of the Swiss riders not sure we'll have a look as the riders drop down the leaderboard
11:19if it was Brumman that was 17th that he's fallen out of but we don't know yet anyway Hurling's leads
11:24away for the Netherlands Vial France Evertz Belgium Webb the USA he's in fourth place Tanti Australia
11:32fifth Jonas is uh behind him sorry Adamo fifth Tanti six Jonas seven Watson eight Garcia nine of Spain
11:37and then Lopes in tenth place Ludwig Wright Canada there in twelfth
11:46this is not the end of the first lap remember you need to go finish line to finish line there
11:50is the
11:51number six of Cooper Webb Adamo down the inside on the number 18 for Italy there in blue on the
11:58KTM
12:00Cooper Webb making the trip across the U.S. from the U.S. this week of course and a bike
12:05change in
12:06between from Yamaha to Husvana not an easy thing not completely alien to him although there'll be one or
12:11two different characteristics he was a former KTM rider as well not that long ago yeah and he basically
12:15came straight from the SMX final went home then straight over here to get a few days of riding in
12:20and just speaking to him about the bike he's like I don't even know what I like or don't like
12:24about it
12:25yet and he's hoping that will work to his advantage because he doesn't necessarily know the strengths
12:29or weaknesses liked his wheel tap over the dragon back there just sort of like double single tip you
12:35know wheel tap over three and then gave him that double option on the way out yeah there's kind of
12:41always a honeymoon period when you switch motorcycles you you love all the things that it does really
12:45well compared to your normal bike and then as you spend more time and you start to find nuances that
12:51you don't like so much but so I don't think he's into that second step yet which may serve him
12:55well
12:56and of course he's riding for national pride oh yeah he's got the stars and stripes all over him
13:01and obviously doesn't want to let the nation down the last time he came here he was on the podium
13:04for
13:05team USA of course he'd love to do the same again here this weekend if he can any step will
13:09do of
13:10course the top step would be preferred and the guy's just a gamer he is a gamer when pressure's on
13:17mentally he's one of the strongest riders that America has to offer put yourself in Adamo's shoes
13:21here he's following Cooper Webb multi-time U.S. champion indoors outdoors and he's looking at him
13:26going I'm following Cooper Webb here I'm following Cooper Webb yeah and I think he's going to try to
13:30make a move on him pretty quickly you think about just familiarity you know I think it's advantage
13:36Adamo here but for Webb he's doing what he needs to do get a good start and give them a
13:41second good
13:42score which will then give them at least a chance to succeed on Sunday as they work their way down
13:47at the end of that first lap hurlings 1.8 clear of Tom Vial ever served for Belgium Webb here
13:52fourth
13:53Adamo in the blue top for Italy is in fifth then Jonas of Latvia Garcia who was 15th in the
13:59qualifying race
13:59in the open class last year in Ironman and 25th and 26th in the two races on Sunday he's already
14:04putting in a better showing he's up to seventh he's found his way past Aaron Tanti the Australian
14:08as he moves into 7th Tanti 8th Dylan Wright of Canada 9 Ludwig 10 Brumman 11 and then we've got
14:13Nakura Repchat Kovart Lopes of Brazil who is down to 15th Watson is in 17th place now so it may
14:19have been
14:19Watson that fell at the infield there because I'm sure he was a little bit higher up the order on
14:24the opening lap
14:25maybe wrong
14:28but there is the Kawasaki rider 30 of Garcia he's had a good season in European 250 championship
14:36one almost every race one almost every round I think missed the podium on two occasions missed
14:41a round completely with an injury but team Spain coming into this weekend one of the favourites on
14:47paper with Jorge Prado with his world titles and his SMX title last week Guillaume Perez the MX2 world
14:52champion the European 250 champion there on the number 30 on paper very very strong team yeah
14:56absolutely and to have your second choice there as Fernandez got injured that's a really strong
15:02showing for them and for Garcia as you mentioned such a great year he wins the MX250 he comes over
15:07to
15:07the American side gets a top 10 finish the MX2 wild card stuff he did a lot of top 10s
15:12there so
15:13pretty bright future for this kid and moving over to the the factory Kawasaki program you have to think
15:19that's going to serve him well as well especially when you see what matters the land just did as
15:22well with a good start and factory material underneath him in the MX2 qualifying race yeah
15:26with you know currently the rider that's right directly in front of him will be the 450 factory
15:33Kawasaki rider in Paul's Jonas that's going to allow them with one 450 Kawasaki rider to spend a lot of
15:38time on the 250 program I would guess which is only going to give riders like Boan and Garcia a
15:43better
15:43chance in 2027. Garcia rode the the nation's last year for the first time in Ironman course rode in
15:51the open class as he is now given how the layout of this place is you know with the fans
15:56all down
15:57at one side it's it's quite intimidating isn't it when you sort of as a rider you kind of experience
16:02that for the first time whilst America was noisy and and you know busy a lot of a lot of
16:07fans there
16:08they were in little pockets all around the racetrack it's a different atmosphere different vibe isn't
16:13it when you come to ride your second nations in front of that yeah it's much more like a stadium
16:18or
16:18coliseum here uh and and the sound reverberates off the hillside as well so to your point it is a
16:24even though it might be the same amount of people the experience and the sound side of it is much
16:28different Damo still continues to chase Webb in that fourth place the owl just set the fastest lap last
16:35time around is only 1.6 behind jeffrey hurlings now so uh hurlings can't afford to switch off because
16:40the out looking menacing and if this there's the leaders just over the top end of the circuit
16:46swinging to the right hand side corner then you got evitz with the back marker just ahead of him
16:51he's only two and a half seconds of drift as well so as it stands right now we see these
16:56scores
16:56there on the bottom of the screen that uh will give me a far of our leaderboard france on three
17:01so
17:01they're still on a two and a one they can drop the two from vial as it stands right now
17:04that will change if he goes after hurlings and picks up the win that will be two wins and they'll
17:09drop there too so they'll just be on two points so anyway three for france spain on five usa on
17:14seven
17:14so all of a sudden they come up from eighth to third in terms of gate picks that's how quickly
17:19things can
17:20change uh belgium are now in fourth on eight points italy on nine and the netherlands on ten so they
17:25dropped that race result from van der moste earlier on in the day so far Adamo has found his way
17:32past
17:32Cooper Webb at that bottom of the hill seen uh so many people get passed down there in and around
17:37that part of the racetrack so uh Adamo now up in the fourth web now down to fifth and that
17:43drops
17:43america down from third to fifth in the blink of an eye as well
17:50and i think uh you know for coop here it's just try to find the pace right like he's he's
17:56gonna have
17:56pressure from jonas you see this inside nice inside move there yeah and Adamo does a great job of kind
18:00of pulling back in front of web so he can't shoot back up the hill on the outside of him
18:04but web did
18:07the hard part which is get the start now you know like whether jonas goes by here or not you
18:11just kind
18:11of have to learn from them yeah and coop having to go defensive at the top of the hill there
18:16just to
18:17keep paul's jonas behind him at bay adamo already starting to disappear and not spoken to coop web other
18:24than in the press conference yesterday and obviously uh pleased to be here and all the rest of it have
18:29you
18:29been down in team usa's camp and spoke to the riders i spoke to julian this morning after his uh
18:35practice
18:35session that's it but what about you yeah they're all good um i i think you know they understand that
18:40it's it's a real challenge right like all of them were kind of last minute not a lot of like
18:46structure
18:47in place cooper webb's never raced this motorcycle romero the same so they all understand that you know
18:52it's it's less pressure than and more opportunity because if if you're expecting some sort of heroic
18:58performance from them i don't think that's really fair and i don't think a lot of people have that
19:02mindset going in so i think that's a benefit for them is everybody's just happy that they're here
19:07and they can kind of ride a little bit more carefree just looking down at uh the riders who had
19:1212th
19:13gate pick pavel rep check for slovakia going into this race slovakia were in 23rd place they're now up to
19:1918th they're avoiding the b final by a couple of points here brazil uh going into the b final they
19:25were sat in
19:2619th a moment ago they're now down in 20th position so uh jonas muscles his way past cooper webb
19:33just at the end of the lap so jonas now moving up into fifth place webb down to sixth
19:38captain america captain coop he had such a good ride here the last time he was here what uh 10
19:45years ago
19:45yeah battling with febra who was coming off the world championship it was his first ride on the 450
19:50and i think that was what was important for webb to be here too he you know he's announced he's
19:54already finished his final pro motocross season this is likely his last motocross nation's appearance
19:58due to the fact he won't be racing pro motocross so yeah i think it was as soon as he
20:03had the
20:04opportunity to be here he said yes no matter what the complications were going to be
20:09were there any other riders in the running potentially when uh the news broke that chance
20:13hymas wouldn't be lining up or is it just pretty much uh anybody with a pulse last saturday morning or
20:19a
20:19was fair game exactly yes and those without were also in the running until they found out they didn't
20:24have passports but yeah it was um it was the most chaotic situation for motocross nations i've ever
20:29seen on last saturday morning mike pelletier was running around to literally every team trying to find
20:34someone and uh yeah julian mermere didn't have his best day today but i'm very thankful to him for
20:40stepping up and uh we're not joking about the passport situation there was one rider that was asked and
20:44said i would go and then realized you will go yeah and everything was kind of lurking in the background
20:49it was like right passport sorry what i need a pet oh no i don't have one of those no
20:54what embarrassing
20:58yeah well i think the original thought was if he got chosen early and the team decided to go there
21:02was time to get a passport but then at the last minute there was not so it's still mind boggling
21:08to
21:08me mind-boggling that uh a factory level rider would not have a passport um hard for me with the
21:16traveling i've done to imagine that but here we are well he's clearly never been to uh carbo
21:21but you know all the off-season racing that goes on in paris and australia and all these great places
21:25you can do and all the money you can make i i just can't imagine not having one jeffrey hurlings
21:34hurlings leads the way three seconds clear of tom vial tom vial here number nine for france
21:38hurlings just set the fastest lap 151 355 he's getting good at doing that late in the day isn't
21:44he was fastest in the free practice even though it was only free practice and that was the third
21:48session of the day and it's the third race of the day so even more beat up and he manages
21:52to put in
21:53a fast lap here as well um but uh yeah no jeffrey hurlings looking really really good as you would
21:58expect vial there second everts comfortable knows he doesn't have to do anything rash until tomorrow
22:04when things really matter and that's the message for the bigger teams isn't it you know first is
22:09two good solid rides let's see where we are if we can push for the you know the one ones
22:14and the
22:14really really low score let's do it but as it stands right now france on three spain on five this
22:19is with their worst score dropped whether it's race one race two or race three uh france on three
22:24spain on five belgium on eight italy on eight latvia on ten netherlands ten usa ten they now get seventh
22:31gate pick after the first lap they were gate pick three and uh here's evarts for belgium so yeah just
22:39just goes to show how quickly you can lose a gate pick just in the blink of an eye with
22:44a pass yeah and
22:45it's you know honestly sure it would be great for team usa to be to be third at the end
22:49of today and
22:50and everyone would be smiling and confidence but the difference between third gate pick and seventh
22:55gate pick or you know what does that end up in 23 and 27 for this it's it's nominal it's
23:01not much it
23:02doesn't really matter um it's more about how did things go today is it smooth is everybody feeling
23:06confident going into sunday just looking at the lap time from race one for a prado was the fastest 151
23:16509 that was on lap three jeffrey hurlings in race three has just gone 151 535 quicker than race one
23:26on lap five so later in the race and the last race of the day they did do a lot
23:31of track work before
23:32this uh this open race i noticed a lot of the jump faces were a lot easier to manage so
23:37i don't want it
23:38to seem you know i think in the earlier practice sessions when jeffrey was quickest and that was really
23:43impressive but they did do uh quite a bit of work before your race three and matt is the land
23:48then
23:48with all the chewed up track a 152.9 on lap two so uh you know not hanging around on
23:54the 250s either
23:55yeah yeah there were uh i think honestly all of the riding today you see just the body english that
24:02average is having to put onto this track forces the best technique possible take a look at the start
24:07then and jeffy hurlings and tom vial the two honda teammates in mxgp but the two honda rides his cooper
24:13web he went to that outside line and i said that dry line would work Levi kitchen wasn't brave enough
24:18in the mx2 race but he still managed to recover very very well but look at hurlings look at vial
24:24vial a little bit further over because of the gate pick for france that gives you a nice wide sweep
24:29the
24:30bar to bar banging going on between the two hondas though through the first couple of corners
24:33hurlings nicked it here tom vial gets it straight back and then hurlings gets it back again yeah
24:40those two were going out of there in the first few corners teammates but really the last few gps
24:45of the season were very similar to that so uh seven laps in the book center as hurlings drops downhill
24:51of course he's going for class wins as well this weekend whilst the team netherlands have a
24:57chance of a podium even though jeffy hurlings is playing that down as maybe not a possibility
25:02given the fact that maybe kyda wolf is not on the team that would have been a massive
25:06blow when he got injured he is here actually kyda wolf and you know he's in good spirits supporting
25:11this team still but hurlings only one win away from equaling stefan evitz in terms of how many
25:19individual class wins he has so obviously the lowest number of points so this is the mxgp open class let's
25:25say the lowest points from an open class rider mxgp rider mx2 rider over the course of the weekend
25:33that determines your uh you know whether you win the class or not and obviously second third fourth
25:38that was a nice little pickup of the front wheel through that turn i'd like to see that again actually
25:42the city jump downhill a moment ago from jeffrey hurlings because the way that he does stuff like
25:47that on a bike is what makes him just that little bit different why do you think jeffrey
25:51opts for the open class typically when he races this the reason here this time around he wanted
25:57to give ron van de most like a little bit more uh breathing time between races because uh mxgp
26:03normally is uh one sec this is vial off the side of the track out of the final turn yeah
26:11i was wondering
26:11because he was four seconds down but then he was out of the picture completely evitz moves up to second
26:15so vial down to third so uh not what uh they requested they were going to throw away his result
26:19anyway so it
26:20doesn't really matter any but it's just a confidence blow for uh vial just going off at the side of
26:25the track there yeah i've been really impressed this mistake aside i've been really impressed with
26:30the improvement that vial has made throughout the season he started really hot early on i was i
26:34couldn't believe what i was seeing and then there was kind of a mid-season lull you missed some time
26:39wasn't you know executing even he wasn't even racing but then man late he really really was back on
26:45form and i i think it showed a lot of potential from 27 for him yeah so going back to
26:49roman and most i can
26:51and jeffrey hurlings your mxgp rider is race one and three your open class is race two and three so
26:56less recovery between the races even though roman and most like is the 450 champ in germany this year
27:04he's basically giving him a bit more time breathing space in between races to recover jeffrey's an
27:09animal anyway we know that oh jeremy's fit or jeffrey's fit jeffrey has never said he's an animal i don't
27:14know about his fitness anyway vial can't lift an expensive mistake this was evarts up the inside
27:23after that mistake from vial so that's how he launched himself into that second place
27:28we asked stef uh we asked liam evarts didn't we in the writers parade yesterday about the choice of yellow
27:33because the kunans they're running more of like an orange and yellow kind of black uh theme whereas
27:39evarts has gone for that yellow that bright yellow and i said normally belgium are like a baby blue
27:44color and he said yeah i just wanted to you know be like my dad my dad wore it that
27:49was the color from
27:49the old days you know with monique and all those guys the colors of the flag he just felt like
27:54he
27:54needed to be that and this is one thing that's kind of missing for me is that as the nations
27:57these
27:57days you know one is we discussed it briefly how the teams operate now it's very rare you get one
28:03rig with all three teams with their own bike so uh you know france germany holland may have uh sorry
28:11france might have uh riders in different camps which they do they have honda and a couple of
28:15kawasaki's there but they used to all pitch under the same rig or park in a and a u or
28:20something like
28:21that all the audience used to be and they were like this one one little team now it's like if
28:26you're a
28:26honda rider your bike is going to go back to the honda rig and you your teammates on a carry
28:31his
28:31bike's going to the carrier rig and if you've got somebody on a husband their team their bike's going
28:35back to the husky rig and then you've got to have a base separate where you all come together and
28:39chat and talk about tactics and things like that the other thing that's kind of uh starting to get
28:44away from us as well is and we're not seeing it with france friends have complete control over the
28:50look of their race gear and everything for everybody some of the other teams that was him just uh
28:55stalling the bike a little bit too much rear brake coming up that hill yeah and the other thing is
29:01like some of the teams they're not conforming anymore you know i don't want to sort of mention
29:04it but you know one of them is belgium you've got the two brothers doing one thing and then obviously
29:08the other's doing it obviously you're a little bit closer to that is it difficult to do that or is
29:12that more of a rider's choice with team belgium for instance because i was talking to joel rulance
29:16this morning and he was saying that oh yeah you know uh we wanted to do this but then either
29:21that rider
29:22or that team wouldn't you know because obviously they're two ktm riders liam's the husk on a rider
29:27i don't know i'm getting lost in all the narrative there yeah and i think it's um you know some
29:31of
29:31it's just been the technology you know there's the the motorcycles now electronics and they're
29:36constantly adjusting the fuel maps and all that stuff i think the the teams wanted to have their own
29:40equipment separated from their teammates this weekend but normally they're typical competitors
29:45but i think there can be a happy balance where you can have the motorcycles separated fine but have a
29:51common area for the riders to all you know congregate and spend time with each other and talk about
29:55lines and talk about strategy and feed off their own energy so i think you can have both setups and
30:01both work um but i do think it's about the equipment the technology that the team started to separate
30:06their motorcycles but then like riding gear jeffrey's look he's different to glenn colden off's look and
30:11then different to rowan van der most lights look there is there's a lack of sort of conformity in that
30:16respect friends they come out they look a team you are wearing this this is how it's going to look
30:20i
30:20care what bike what team you're on you are wearing this grant's pulled all the punches in that respect
30:24no one is bigger or better than team and has to look a different way because they're the star performer
30:29you know and i think france do that very well everybody knows where they stand with team friends
30:33yeah and i don't think you know speaking like for the kunins with fly racing i don't think there
30:37was a directive given from belgium about this is the color this is what you're doing uh i think that
30:42the brand had a lot of influence on that so i don't know how that goes i would guess that
30:46if
30:46we would have a french you know fly racing would have a french rider there would be a lot of
30:51direction given or these are the parameters this is what you can and can't do but i with cooper webb
30:55certainly wasn't the case and i don't believe it was with the kunins either yeah yeah so uh so
30:59that's basically how that works and it's uh unless the the federation says this is a must yeah and i
31:05know for like alex larwood from australia it was make it as bright as you can humanly possibly make it
31:10and think about the lawrences last year with kyle webster they had completely different looks they were
31:15completely different colors well we are into the final two laps here is cooper webb and uh garcia
31:22has found his way by into sixth place webb into seventh looking no ludwig of germany is in eight
31:26kevin brum in switzerland nine dylan wright in tenth ahead of the australian aaron tanti and uh back
31:30marker there just uh i think that was trey cox wasn't it right who is going through into the uh
31:37well
31:37trey cox there garcia made a move on webb there they were it was ahead of him wasn't he going
31:43down the
31:43hill into the final corner so these two a little bit back and forth over this last lap we'll see
31:47cooper webb desperate to find his way back past the spaniard if he can if that gives them another
31:52point does that promote them yeah it puts them on nine gives them fifth gate pick as opposed to uh
31:57seventh gate pick which is where they currently stand at the moment so again one pass can give
32:01you two or three different uh positions on gate pick right back markers here i think that's team ireland
32:09there the number 87 who is uh just there jason mirror mirror and island they're going through to the b
32:16final as it stands right now but uh we're trying to capitalize here on the back markers but it was
32:23garcia who got through a little bit quicker more effectively yeah what looked promising for webb
32:31there for a second but he wasn't able to jump that first tabletop still not giving up the fight here
32:36as he thinks uh he's probably got a little bit more up his sleeve than than garcia just needs a
32:41good
32:41clean third of a lap now to go because hurlings is already into the oh we've got a lap to
32:46go garcia off the
32:47side there bring webb back close again we've seen uh sasha kunan go off the side of the track there
32:53didn't we earlier and that brought valen into play and then obviously shortly after that the mistake
32:56from kunan out of this next left into the downhill watch this here there's webb then you look uh
33:03over on the right hand side there garcia seen riders go off in this part of the track in the
33:09past as
33:09well yeah and it's you know you're on a hillside too you know it's uh it's so difficult to really
33:14see how steep that is here on camera but the angles there are so much more difficult to manage than
33:20it appears one thing the riders got on their uh side at the moment is the sun is hiding behind
33:25the
33:26clouds so they've got even visibility around this racetrack not like it was this morning
33:29when you went up the hills or if you came this way the sun was really really low it would
33:33be really
33:34difficult this this race and it will likely be in race three tomorrow at this time for all the
33:39shadows coming across the hillside as you mentioned no problems though for jeffrey hurlings as he
33:43heads up onto the plateau for the final time he'll get onto the highest point of the racetrack here
33:49over that monster energy step up he currently has a 17 second advantage over liam evans of belgium
33:55vial france third adamo italy fourth jonas latvia fifth garcia and webb still separated by about a
34:01second but downhill here for the final time jumped short bounced over a couple of holes that's another
34:07little thing that jeffrey hurlings does why landing braking bumps when he can just jump over them yeah yeah if
34:11you know you're not going to make it you might as well use the the kind of case to your
34:15advantage
34:16downhill then checkered flag flies for jeffrey hurlings he lights the candles here as he wins the
34:21open qualifying race in erne and that gives the netherlands sixth gate pick into the races on sunday
34:30we wait for spain who will be second but liam evans will cross the line in second for team belgium
34:37that's
34:37good enough for third gate pick for the the yellow red and black good job done for evans on the
34:57number
34:57he's happy to sit there he knew that his result probably wasn't going to make a difference unless
35:00he could win the race vial crosses the line in third and that is france who are
35:08going to the line in pole position on sunday second in race one with roman fevre a win with
35:15matis valand in race two tom vial across the line in third they will scrap that result so a 2
35:21-1 giving
35:21them the lowest score of three points is all it took for france to qualify here this weekend spain
35:27go to the line in second with five points belgium third with seven italy with eight and we've got
35:33latvia netherlands usa all on ten points fifth six seven switzerland eight australia nine great britain ten
35:47and with france sitting on top as we head into uh well i don't know a busy what time is
35:53it now
35:5514 15 hours or so the night is about to kick in over up there in the campsites
36:01beers are going to be flowing parties are going to be wild going to be some sore heads tonight
36:05tomorrow morning that's for sure but let's go down to lisa she is with jeffrey hurlings who was
36:17victorious for the netherlands by a comfortable margin in the end over the belgium liam evitz
36:21let's hear what he has to say jeffrey hurling she wasted no time passing your hrc teammate for the
36:28lead silencing those french fans tell us about that start tell us about that race win yeah my jump wasn't
36:34really great but uh man on the hcc patrol i was just best the other guys so i'm very thankful
36:39with this bike was really good man i need the same thing tomorrow i feel like if i can get
36:42the same
36:43stars i can fight for the win uh with jorge and obviously also with tom and my moto and um
36:48also
36:48away from so uh as a team it's going to be difficult to put it on the podium but my
36:52teammates i think
36:53both got 10th and i took a first place but riding was good it felt good felt strong and i'm
36:57looking
36:58forward to tomorrow's race okay thank you jeffrey hurling zen wins the open race and of course
37:09gate pick 17 for the races today they will go to the line in sixth position so an improvement into
37:17the races there in terms of where they go to the line the team in the netherlands
37:21but another flawless performance from the 57
37:29not a bad ride that jt not so bad really i mean it's really what we've seen all of 2026
37:35from
37:35jeffrey hurlings so jeffrey hurlings picks up the one point for the netherlands evitz the two
37:39points for belgium vial three for france adamo four for italy jonas latvia five francesco garcia
37:44six that's a good ride for him in spain still a dark horse still iron up a podium potentially over
37:49the course of the weekend webb seven for the usa noah ludwig of germany in eighth place
37:55ninth for bremen and switzerland ten on the final lap ben watson picking up a point there
37:59promoting them to 10th overall we'll see those results in a moment dylan wright just getting
38:03passed on that final lap for canada then aaron tanti 12 for australia austin sweden 13 lopes brazil 14
38:09avisto finland 15 kovar of czech republic in uh 16th and then carol till custonia rip check
38:16of slovakia norwegians sande guard mickelson and michael sandler of austria
38:26just keeping an eye on the overall results then in slovakia well they were they were out and then
38:33they were in and they're back out they're going back in the b final again so there's a lot of
38:37moving and
38:37shaking going on down the bottom end france on three spain on five belgium on seven italy eight
38:42latvia the netherlands usa all on ten but it's your lowest score in that respect that counts
38:49we've got australia there going to the line nine ahead of great britain estonia germany but it's
38:52after this the page three where we really see the fun and games uh 17th will be slovenia brazil 18
38:59austria 19 but finland have to go to the final uh the b final ahead of slovakia norway czech republic
39:05and japan ireland lithuania fiam latin america morocco mexico croatia iceland and ukraine
39:15and that is a scary race to be involved in three riders all lining up for the nation their lowest
39:20two
39:21scores from that will enable them to advance let's take a look at the highlights of that open class
39:26race the open class qualifying look at cooper webb all the way over on our right hand side hooking up
39:33in that dry dirt he just couldn't get close enough across instead it was two hondas the frenchman and
39:38the dutchman vial and hurlings who led the way hurlings took over the lead by lap by corner two a
39:44bit of a
39:44deep connection in the rut vial briefly by hurlings back by again as they turn right and then in front
39:50of the
39:51fans it was the two guys there hurlings and vial who led the way adamo snuck up the insider webb
39:57here
39:58that put him up into fourth that was on lap three adamo eventually came home in fourth
40:03then he got caught and passed by jonas jonas moving up into fifth vial in second stalled at the top
40:12of
40:12the hill took a while to get going and then when he did he was very close there with evarts
40:17evarts made
40:18the move a couple of corners later to move up into second and that was it for belgium vial eventually
40:23crossed the line in third place but they didn't need that third it's nice to know when you're going
40:27into the final race of the day that you don't even need a third place finish in terms of low
40:30scores but
40:31it was hurlings victorious by nearly nine nearly 20 seconds over evarts vial adamo and in the overall
40:36classification france spain belgium italy latvia are your top five overall finishes
40:43jt real quick um bit of a change in fortunes but the cream always comes to the top and of
40:49course uh
40:50you know it's uh looking like it's going to be another day is it open like everybody said it's
40:55going to be or is it too close to call or is there one or two standout performance so far
40:59i think the
40:59french are the favorites we knew that going in but the spanish are are here i think garcia proved that
41:05he can be in the mix it's really going to come down to can ferez win individual motos can prada
41:09win
41:09individual motos and how strong are the french that's it for me all right well jason and i will
41:14be back for the b final in the morning i will be back in just a few moments time at
41:185 15 so 13 14
41:20minutes from now for the blue crew 65 finale i'll see you then thank you jason for now and jt
41:28and i
41:28we're back tomorrow enjoy your evening if you're not following the blue crew race see you in a few
41:32moments bye for now