A massive turnout of over 60.000 patriotic fans has seen Team New Zealand step onto the podium at the 60th edition of the historic Motocross of Nations in Matterly Basin.

Kiwi motocross stars, Josh Coppins, Ben Townley and Cody Cooper flanked the USA and Belgium to establish New Zealand as one of the Top 3 motocross nations in the world.

With 3 races combining two team riders per race, it was Josh Coppins and Ben Townley who lined up for the MX1 + MX2 race. Townley launched to a brilliant start on his Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki and was placed as the first MX2 rider and third in the standings on lap one. Coppins who had taken a wider gate pick did not get the ideal start and had plenty of dirt to eat on his way through the pack. Townley, Ryan Villopoto and Christophe Pourcel were locked in a thrilling three way battle. American James Stewart quickly made his way past the MX2 trio after a small crash that handed Stefan Everts a comfortable lead. Townley kept a hot pace to the checkered flag to come home in 5th, followed by Coppins in 6th.

The second race of the day (M2 + MX Open) had Townley teaming up with Cody Cooper. BT rocketed to another superb start and was once again locked in a battle with Pourcel, Villopoto and Italian Antonio Cairoli joining the scrap. Pourcel made a major mistake leaving the trio to make their way past American Ivan Tedesco, on the bigger MX1 machine. By the end of the 30min + 2 lap moto, Townley managed to hold of Belgian Steve Ramon, to secure an awesome third spot. Cody Cooper had made great progress during the moto however due to a small mistake the young Kiwi lost a few spots as he finished 17th.

The final and deciding race (MX1 + MX Open) would be left up to Coppins and Cooper. Coppins stole the hole-shot but an aggressive David Philippaerts managed to get around the Kiwi. Coppins pressured the Italian and looked set to move into the lead on lap three when he lost the front end and went down. Coppins hit the dirt for a second time two laps later in a high speed get off and was lucky to remount unscathed. His never-say-die spirit saw him claw back to 8th spot. Cody Cooper had the ride of his life and his 13th place finish ensured team NZ of a well deserved podium spot.

Josh Coppins(MX1): “Ben was just awesome to do and he led us a team. It was a great result today. Great for New Zealand and great for our federation and the young guys back at home. I struggled in the first half of the first moto and then settled down and started to ride much better with some better lines. There were many good riders here today, we all wanted to do well and we all wanted to do well for our countries. We came together as a team and we have this result to show for it.”

Ben Townley (MX2): “It was a really good day for us. I had two really good starts in both moto’s and had a great race with some pretty fast guys. I think we were pretty lucky to get the starts today on our MX2 bikes and we were up front in both moto’s right from the beginning and that made life easier for sure. It was awesome to come back here. I knew this event was going to be big and I couldn’t wait to come here. Even though I was injured on the couch for most of the year I knew I would make it back for this event. It has been cool to see all the fans. Last years Nations was great but this year has been even better and obviously with our team being up on the podium. This is something I’ve always dreamed of: standing on the podium, holding the New Zealand flag. It’s been great to have achieved that.”

Cody Cooper (MX Open): “I don’t race GP’s or anything this big but I race the national championships in New Zealand and Australia. The guys are really fast over here and I’m very happy to be on the podium! I’m hoping that I can get over to America or Europe one day and get on the pace over there. I’ve learnt a lot this weekend by watching guys like Stefan Everts, Ben and Josh.

Russell Burling: “It’s a great experience for us as a country to bring our riders from three different areas in the World to this MX of Nations. Cody is down in the Southern hemisphere, Ben is in America and Josh is here in Europe and that’s not easy to do. We are very gratefull to Mitch and the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Team, the Molson Kawasaki team and the CAS Honda team for enabling us to do this. We are a very small country with only 4 million people and we couldn’t do it without their help. It would be impossible for us to do this type of race and we are extremely gratefull as a motocross nation.”

Click here to see MXON images:

Motocross of Nations results:

MX1 + MX2
1 Everts, Stefan BEL FMB Yamaha
2 Stewart, James USA AMA Kawasaki
3 Villopoto, Ryan USA AMA Kawasaki
4 Pourcel, Christophe FRA FFM Kawasaki
5 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ Kawasaki
6 Coppins, Joshua NZL MNZ Honda
7 Philippaerts, David ITA FMI KTM
8 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB KTM
9 Rattray, Tyla RSA MSA KTM
10 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI Yamaha
11 Strijbos, Kevin BEL KNMV Suzuki
12 Leok, Tanel EST MUL Kawasaki
13 Mackenzie, Billy GBR ACU Yamaha
14 Barragan, Jonathan SPA RFME KTM
15 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA FFM Kawasaki
16 Leok, Aigar EST EMF Yamaha
17 Seistola, Matti FIN SML Honda
18 Bradshaw, Neville RSA MSA Suzuki
19 Pyrhonen, Antti FIN SML TM
20 Metcalfe, Brett AUS MA Yamaha
21 Reardon, Daniel AUS MA Kawasaki
22 Kohut, Martin SVK SMF Honda
23 Campano, Carlos SPA RFME KTM
24 Goncalves, Rui POR FNM KTM
25 Bill, Julien SUI FMS Yamaha

MX Open + MX2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI Yamaha
2 Villopoto, Ryan USA AMA Kawasaki
3 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ Kawasaki
4 Ramon, Steve BEL FMB Suzuki
5 Rattray, Tyla RSA MSA KTM
6 Tedesco, Ivan USA AMA Suzuki
7 Pourcel, Christophe FRA FFM Kawasaki
8 Vehvilainen, Jussi FIN SML Suzuki
9 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kawasaki
10 Campano, Carlos SPA RFME KTM
11 Avis, Wyatt RSA MSA KTM
12 Nunn, Carl GBR ACU KTM
13 Leok, Aigar EST EMF Yamaha
14 Seistola, Matti FIN SML Honda
15 Ristori, Marc SUI FMS Honda
16 Beggi, Cristian ITA FMI Honda
17 Cooper, Cody NZL MNZ Honda
18 Zerava, Martin CZE ACCR Honda
19 Demaria, Yves FRA FFM KTM
20 Lozano, Alvaro SPA RFME KTM
21 Kulhavy, Josef SVK SMF Honda
22 Goncalves, Rui POR FNM KTM
23 Schröter, Dennis GER DMSB Suzuki
24 Boyd, Cheyne AUS MA Yamaha
25 Metcalfe, Brett AUS MA Yamaha

MX1 + MX Open
1 Everts, Stefan BEL FMB Yamaha
2 Stewart, James USA AMA Kawasaki
3 Philippaerts, David ITA FMI KTM
4 Leok, Tanel EST MUL Kawasaki
5 Ramon, Steve BEL FMB Suzuki
6 Barragan, Jonathan SPA RFME KTM
7 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA FFM Kawasaki
8 Coppins, Joshua NZL MNZ Honda
9 Tedesco, Ivan USA AMA Suzuki
10 Mackenzie, Billy GBR ACU Yamaha
11 Nunn, Carl GBR ACU KTM
12 Atsuta, Yoshitaka JPN MFJ Honda
13 Cooper, Cody NZL MNZ Honda
14 Morgan, Blair CAN CMA Honda
15 Demaria, Yves FRA FFM KTM
16 Bradshaw, Neville RSA MSA Suzuki
17 Lozano, Alvaro SPA RFME KTM
18 Boyd, Cheyne AUS MA Yamaha
19 Reardon, Daniel AUS MA Kawasaki
20 Vehvilainen, Jussi FIN SML Suzuki
21 Aulisether, Frederik NOR NMF Suzuki
22 Kulhavy, Josef SVK SMF Honda
23 Narita, Akira JPN MFJ Yamaha
24 Laansoo, Juss EST EMF Honda
25 Facciotto, Colton CAN CMA Kawasaki

1 USA 15
2 Race 3 1 STEWART, James AMA Kawasaki MX1
2 Race 1 1 STEWART, James AMA Kawasaki MX1
2 Race 2 2 VILLOPOTO, Ryan AMA Kawasaki MX2
3 Race 1 2 VILLOPOTO, Ryan AMA Kawasaki MX2
6 Race 2 3 TEDESCO, Ivan AMA Suzuki Open
9 Race 3 3 TEDESCO, Ivan AMA Suzuki Open

2 Belgium 22
1 Race 3 7 EVERTS, Stefan FMB Yamaha MX1
1 Race 1 7 EVERTS, Stefan FMB Yamaha MX1
4 Race 2 9 RAMON, Steve FMB Suzuki Open
5 Race 3 9 RAMON, Steve FMB Suzuki Open
11 Race 1 8 STRIJBOS, Kevin KNMV Suzuki MX2
33 Race 2 8 STRIJBOS, Kevin KNMV Suzuki MX2

3 New Zealand 35
3 Race 2 11 TOWNLEY, Ben MNZ Kawasaki MX2
5 Race 1 11 TOWNLEY, Ben MNZ Kawasaki MX2
6 Race 1 10 COPPINS, Joshua MNZ Honda MX1
8 Race 3 10 COPPINS, Joshua MNZ Honda MX1
13 Race 3 12 COOPER, Cody MNZ Honda Open
17 Race 2 12 COOPER, Cody MNZ Honda Open

4 Italy 37
1 Race 2 38 CAIROLI, Antonio FMI Yamaha MX2
3 Race 3 37 PHILIPPAERTS, David FMI KTM MX1
7 Race 1 37 PHILIPPAERTS, David FMI KTM MX1
10 Race 1 38 CAIROLI, Antonio FMI Yamaha MX2
16 Race 2 39 BEGGI, Cristian FMI Honda Open
35 Race 3 39 BEGGI, Cristian FMI Honda Open

5 France 48
4 Race 1 5 POURCEL, Christophe FFM Kawasaki MX2
7 Race 3 4 POURCEL, Sebastien FFM Kawasaki MX1
7 Race 2 5 POURCEL, Christophe FFM Kawasaki MX2
15 Race 1 4 POURCEL, Sebastien FFM Kawasaki MX1
15 Race 3 6 DEMARIA, Yves FFM KTM Open
19 Race 2 6 DEMARIA, Yves FFM KTM Open

6 Great Britain 55
9 Race 2 14 SEARLE, Tommy ACU Kawasaki MX2
10 Race 3 13 MACKENZIE, Billy ACU Yamaha MX1
11 Race 3 15 NUNN, Carl ACU KTM Open
12 Race 2 15 NUNN, Carl ACU KTM Open
13 Race 1 13 MACKENZIE, Billy ACU Yamaha MX1
40 Race 1 14 SEARLE, Tommy ACU Kawasaki MX2

7 Republic of South Africa 59
5 Race 2 26 RATTRAY, Tyla MSA KTM MX2
9 Race 1 26 RATTRAY, Tyla MSA KTM MX2
11 Race 2 27 AVIS, Wyatt MSA KTM Open
16 Race 3 25 BRADSHAW, Neville MSA Suzuki MX1
18 Race 1 25 BRADSHAW, Neville MSA Suzuki MX1
36 Race 3 27 AVIS, Wyatt MSA KTM Open

8 Spain 67
6 Race 3 28 BARRAGAN, Jonathan RFME KTM MX1
10 Race 2 29 CAMPANO, Carlos RFME KTM MX2
14 Race 1 28 BARRAGAN, Jonathan RFME KTM MX1
17 Race 3 30 LOZANO, Alvaro RFME KTM Open
20 Race 2 30 LOZANO, Alvaro RFME KTM Open
23 Race 1 29 CAMPANO, Carlos RFME KTM MX2

9 Estonia 69
4 Race 3 16 LEOK, Tanel MUL Kawasaki MX1
12 Race 1 16 LEOK, Tanel MUL Kawasaki MX1
13 Race 2 17 LEOK, Aigar EMF Yamaha MX2
16 Race 1 17 LEOK, Aigar EMF Yamaha MX2
24 Race 3 18 LAANSOO, Juss EMF Honda Open
27 Race 2 18 LAANSOO, Juss EMF Honda Open

10 Finland 78
8 Race 2 33 VEHVILAINEN, Jussi SML Suzuki Open
14 Race 2 32 SEISTOLA, Matti SML Honda MX2
17 Race 1 32 SEISTOLA, Matti SML Honda MX2
19 Race 1 31 PYRHONEN, Antti SML TM MX1
20 Race 3 33 VEHVILAINEN, Jussi SML Suzuki Open
33 Race 3 31 PYRHONEN, Antti SML TM MX1