By Race Chapman

American fans watching the Motocross of Nations saw their team have a rough go of it in Matterley Basin, England. The red, white and blue team was already considered an underdog by most, as Eli Tomac, recently crowned Lucas Oil Pro Motocross champion, had declined his seat on the team.

But it wasn't necessarily a lack of talent that doomed the racers. To start, Cole Seely was plagued with bizarre and terminal issues with his HRC backed 2018 Honda CRF450. The official statement from Team Honda claimed that the “particular conditions” at Matterley Basin caused a particular shock retainer clip to become dislodged.

Ultimately, this resulted in Seely having to retire from both of his motos in the team event, effectively destroying any hope of a good result for the Americans. After multiple disasters, the US team was only able to scrape together enough points for a ninth overall.

However, the explanation provided is both unsatisfying and suspicious for discerning fans, as no other bikes on the track suffered any failures, and Seely's bike had survived the entire Pro Motocross season without any issues. It seems mind-boggling that this one-in-a-million disaster would happen to Seely's bike not just once, but twice in the same day, and on totally different shocks.

Then again, no other racing machine in the world is subjected to the types of forces that motocross bikes are expected to endure on a weekly basis. Any racer has seen their share of mysterious and inexplicable failures on a bike, so perhaps it was just pure bad luck. It was fortunate, at least, that neither failure occurred at a time that would have jeopardized the racer’s safety.

As for the other two teammates of Zach Osbourne and Thomas Covington, they both fared better but only Osbourne recorded particularly impressive results.

Covington suffered a torn ACL during the qualifying races on Saturday, a fate that was not revealed to fans and competitors until after the racing on Sunday. Keeping that in mind, it was a truly gritty and inspiring performance for the MXGP regular to race on Sunday at all. His performances weren't terrible, although he had a fall in the beginning of both motos and had to work his way up from the back. Bum knee and all, he finished 17th and 22d for his part of the racing.

Osbourne, on the other hand, was stunningly fast aboard his 250 Husqvarna machine. During his first moto he was only able to finish 10th, having briefly held ninth before the end of the race. A poor start and vision problems from the mud and rain hampered his efforts.

However, the second moto saw a different Zach Osbourne. He exited the first corner in a slightly better position, and worked his way past every other 250f racer and the majority of the 450 racers to finish on the podium in third. In fact, only the blazing fast Romain Febvre and Jeffrey Herlings beat him, in second and first, respectively.

Febvre was integral along with Gautier Paulin in securing the fourth-consecutive Motocross of Nations win for France. Febvre finished second and third in his motos, with Pauling hanging on to third and sixth. Christophe Charlier had an inspired second moto, finishing sixth, and first moto was dropped leaving France with a minuscule 20 points.

Netherlands riders Jeffrey Herlings, Glenn Coldenhoff and Brian Bogers were a full eleven points behind France, taking second place overall. Herlings proved that he is not just "the Sandman," he can also win in the mud. He had an epic battle with Febvre in both of their motos, finishing ahead of the Frenchman each time. If not for the inspired performance of UK native Max Anstie, he would have almost assuredly taken two first-place finishes. As it was, he had to settle for a second and a first.

Coldenhoff and Bogers didn't possess the same runaway speed as their prodigal teammate, but nevertheless were able to maintain extraordinarily consistent, respectable finishes of eighth, ninth, eleventh and twelfth. With the worst position dropped, they were just able to edge out the UK for the second step on the podium.

Air horns were blaring every lap as the home team of the United Kingdom passed by, especially for Max Anstie who finished with two unbelievable first-place finishes. Anstie was certainly a fast rider during the regular MXGP season, but was unable to achieve a win on the 450 machine. But the home crowd must have been particularly inspirational to Anstie, as he was apparently untouchable during his two dominant motos.

Dean Wilson, a UK native that raced in America for his entire pro career, had a stellar performance as well. Wilson had respectable seventh- and eighth-place finishes in his motos. Tommy Searle was the only weak link for the UK team, finishing 15th and not finishing his first moto at all. Searle's performance caused the UK team to fall just one point short of finishing second overall.

In all, the muddy conditions provided for an unpredictable event with some crucial mistakes by even the most consistent racers. The competition was so stacked and so close, every moto by every racer was critical. Unfortunately for Team USA, the two mechanical failures for Cole Seely completely blew out any hope of a podium overall, regardless of the injury on Covington or the brilliant rides by Osbourne.

But for French fans, this was a momentous occasion. Four Motocross of Nations titles in a row is an astounding feat, and something that had not been done by anyone but the Americans for decades. It is yet unknown what it will take to finally knock them off the throne, but everyone will have to wait another year to find out.