After Saturday’s qualifying effort, it was easy to believe that Team USA – which won all three qualifying races on Saturday – was going to run away with the Motocross of Nations here in St. Jean D’Angely, France, but the Nations race format is an interesting one, and things rarely go smoothly for any team.

The reason they run the races even though there are clear favorites to win is because, in racing, nothing is completely predictable. Anything can happen.

In the premier MX1 class, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Frenchman Steven Frossard took the early lead over fellow Frenchman, from the Monster Energy/CLS Kawasaki team, Chris Pourcel. The former MX2 world champ, Pourcel, stuck to Frossard’s rear wheel for the entire moto, then passed Frossard with three laps to go to record his first moto win of the season – in his third moto raced of the season – over Frossard, defending world champ and points leader Antonio Cairoli, Estonian Tanel Leok, German Max Nagl, and the rest of the field.