Evans part of strong Australian showing in MXON qualification

Team HRC’s Mitch Evans came home fourth, to give Team Australia a strong foundation for today’s qualification races at this 2022 Motocross of Nations.

Held at the iconic RedBud track in Michigan, USA, Evans used his experience from the 2018 event to put in some good laps in practice, and just refamiliarise himself with the circuit. Whilst not important as gate-pick for the qualification race is decided by a random ballot – with Australia getting 23^rd – the free practice is still a good opportunity to get the settings right and make sure his Honda CRF450R is perfect for when the gate drops later in the day.

And he certainly got the start right in his MXGP qualification race, coming in from way outside, to sweep into second place after the first turn. Quickly making the pass to move into first, it was great to see the Australian riding so well and showing once again that he is one of the best motocross riders in the world. In the end, he did slip down a few spots to finish fourth but it was a solid start and gave Australia a good platform that allowed his teammates, Hunter and Jett Lawrence to ride with a little less pressure, as they then went onto finish second and third respectively and give Australia third gate-pick for the three important races tomorrow afternoon.

First up will be Mitch and Hunter in the MXGP/MX2 race, followed by the Lawrence brothers in the MX2/Open race two, before Mitch lines back up for the third and deciding moto where him and Jett will be trying to win Australia’s first ever Motocross of Nations.