Amazing after such a wild weekend in Spain, we are not just a handful of days away from the 2024 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. As we all know, this could be one of the best ever, but we will need the weather to be kind to us and at the moment, that doesn’t look like its going to be the case.

As I sit here looking at the forecast on weather.com. it says overcast but some sun on Friday, then around 50% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, but seemingly, not a lot of rain, but man, rain and motocross, just a horrible combination in my eyes. Temperature around 15 and 17 degrees, so bring your winter jackets.

With names like Jett and Hunter Lawrence, Jorge Prado, Eli Tomac, Jeffrey Herlings, Cooper Webb, Tim Gajser, Kay de Wolf, Lucas Coenen, Romain Febvre and many more, I am excited, because it’s a very solid field of riders and we have the AMA supercross champion, and both World champions from MXGP and MX2 and of course, guys like Prado, Tomac, Herlings, Webb, Gajser and even Jett Lawrence are legends of our sport. Crazy to put Lawrence in that group, but he probably has more titles than all the others and is just 21 years of age. Then again, Prado is just 23, so the future is bright.

I really think that the Lawrence brothers might dominated, but as we know, Jett isn’t brilliant in rain and mud and names like Gajser, Herlings and maybe even Tomac are pretty good in it. We might even see Max Anstie do another fine performance, as he went 1-1 in the rain at Matterley in 2017 and will be strong for sure.

It is always hard to know what happens at the MXoN, and picking the winner is as big a guess as anything in the sport, but I will give it a go and try and explain why I think it will be like that.

MX2 opinion: In the MX2 class, it is hard to go past red-hot Lucas Coenen. Now, this could be the difficult one, because obviously Kay De Wolf has had all the pressure in those final few rounds of the MX2 World championship and it is hard to know how he comes into this event. I just think for now, it is hard to not pick Coenen, just because he is looking so good, but don’t be surprised if De Wolf hands The Netherlands some serious points and helps them to only their second Nations victory. Tom Vialle showed last year he is still brilliant, and like de Wolf he could also win the class. I think Kyle Webster, who has been training on the MX2 machine for some time, with the Lawrence brothers on a USA factory Honda might surprise a lot of people, although not sure how he is in the mud. Cooper Webb might not have had enough time on the 250 to be able to compete, but he is built for MXoN, and I think that gets him through.

MX2: Lucas Coenen, Kay De Wolf, Tom Vialle, Kyle Webster, Cooper Webb, Andrea Adamo, Simon Langenfelder, Mikkel Haarup, Max Anstie, Camden McLellan, Karlis Reisulis, Arnaud Tonus, Oriol Oliver, Tanel Leok

MXGP opinion: As is often the case, the Open class doesn’t run that deep, with the big names in the MXGP class and I cannot see Hunter Lawrence being beaten in this class. He won the MX2 class at Matterley in 2017 and for me, isn’t that far off his brother in speed and that is saying something, because his brother is just ridiculously fast. I think if we get some mud, Glenn Coldenhoff will give us another great MXoN, and Maxime Renaux has shown what a handy MXoN rider he is. Aaron Plessinger has ridden a lot of mud in his life and should be able to beat the rest, with Conrad Mewse finishing as fifth best Open rider.

Open: Hunter Lawrence, Glenn Coldenhoff, Maxime Renaux, Aaron Plessinger, Conrad Mewse, Andrea Bonacorsi, Max Nagl, Valentin Guillod, Ruben Fernandez, Jago Geerts, Jan Pancar, Harri Kullas, Alvin Ostlund

MXGP Opinion: Now, this is where it gets very tasty. Mouth-watering is an understatement when you talk about the MXGP class, because we have legend, after legend after legend. I seriously thought our GP riders had a shot at beating Jett Lawrence, who is coming back from injury, but he showed at the SMX championship, that his form is still great and because of his time out, he will be as fresh as a daisy. I figured that because the MXGP class has been so brutal, that our guys would have an advantage, but I start to think the fresh Aussie and our MXGP guys being a bit burnt out from such a tough, long series, might struggle a little. I hope I am wrong, but that is my gut feeling.

When you look at this class as see so many riders with multiple AMA and FIM championships, it really has to be one of the best MXGP classes in history of this event. Just our GP guys combined we have three riders inside the top ten all time Grand Prix riders (stats wise) and then the American based riders, Lawrence and Tomac have probably a dozen major AMA titles between them. We are talking big time legends here and all in pretty good form. Sure, Tomac and Herlings are past their prime, but they are both still capable of winning the MXGP class and helping their country to victory. If it rains, I can see Herlings beating them all.

MXGP: Jett Lawrence, Jorge Prado, Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser, Romain Febvre, Eli Tomac, Jeremy Seewer, Mattio Guadagnini, Kevin Horgmo, Brent Van Doninck, Tommy Searle, Isak Gifting, Martin Barr

Overall: So, if you want to go just on where I have placed the riders in their respective classes, you have Australia with 4-1-1 results and the winners, The Netherlands 2-2-3 and second and France 3-3-5 for third overall. I think these results is probably close to what many people expect anyway. Team USA with 5-4-6 won’t be winning this year, in my opinion. And Team GB, the home team, I cannot see a return to the top of the podium, or even a podium finish, because as good as the team looks (considering), they just don’t have the big guns to run with the leading teams.