The Moto3 world championship is now half way through an Asia-Pacific leg of the 2025 season. The 18th round of the season took place at the scenic Mandalika Circuit sited alongside the Indian Ocean. The previous race in Japan and the recent event in Indonesia was the first time South African rider Ruche Moodley has raced in the east.

“Mandalika is a beautiful circuit that was designed specifically for motorcycle racing. From what I’ve seen on TV it has great flow, so I was really looking forward to riding my BOE Motorsports KTM there,” said the SA teenage riding sensation in the days leading up to the race.
But the race weekend started off badly as less-than-ideal water quality in Lombok left many in the MotoGP paddock feeling worse for wear. This included Ruche who struggled with a tummy bug shortly after his arrival.
Practice sessions on Friday were all about learning the new circuit. The unfamiliar circuit and poor health left Moodley languishing at the tail-end of the field. “It was a real challenge to get to grips with the track as it is quite slippery off line,” said Moodley. “If you were just a few centimetres off the ideal racing line you were losing time. And it really didn’t help that I was low on energy as well.”

However, Moodley felt his confidence grow with each passing lap, knowing that he had plenty of pace in hand as the weekend progressed, and it showed on the timesheets. Ruche was the quickest rider in the Q1 session, which earned him a pass into Q2. In the shootout for pole position, Moodley set the 18th quickest time, which was where he’d start Sunday’s race.

His start on Sunday was one of the best of his rookie season. From 18th place on the grid, he had a straight shot down to the inside of T1 and he made the best of it.

“I timed the race start perfectly and made a great launch. The path to T1 opened for me as most riders moved over to the left side of the track, trying to take the racing line into the right-hander at T1, but I stayed on the right. It felt great as I passed about half a dozen riders by the time we got to T1.” Moodley was lying in 15th place when the field completed the opening tour.

The teenager put his head down and knew that there would be attrition as the race progressed in hot and humid conditions. As the field strung out, he found himself just off the leading pack with seasoned campaigner Dennis Foggia for company.

“I could see the leaders ahead as Dennis (Foggia) and I battled lap after lap. I’d get by him for a few laps, then he’d get ahead of me. We battled hard but fair as we gave each other enough room. It felt great to be keeping pace with a strong rider such as Dennis.”

Positions were swapped lap after lap. And as some ahead faltered, the pair progressed up the leaderboard. Moodley found himself in P12 with just six laps of the 20-lap race left to run. “It was incredible to see P12 on my pit board. But I had to maintain my concentration as there were still a few laps left to race.”

Moodley dropped down to 14th, then gained a position. The race ended prematurely as red flags flew for a nasty accident. Moodley’s official classification was 13th, with a handful of points for his efforts, despite feeling unwell and experiencing low energy levels.

“It was a really positive weekend for us. This is the form I was enjoying before the injury troubles around mid-year. It feels fantastic to be back in the points. It was also good to make progress through the race weekend, even if I felt miserable most of the time, getting faster with each passing session. That is very important for a rookie, such as myself,” concluded Moodley.

Published by: Double Apex on behalf of Ruche Moodley.

What South African Cross Country Moto Round 4 Report
Where Maseru, Lesotho
When Saturday 4 October 2025
Community South Africa National

Three class wins and third overall in Maseru

Everest Wealth Ridgeway Yamaha Racing once again came back from South African Cross Country motorcycle bout with a clutch of gold medals and top ten finishes. The team shone on all fronts at Maseru’s penultimate fourth round National on the foothills of the Maluti Mountains on Saturday 4 October.

“Maseru proved an epic penultimate South African Cross Country Motorcycle round in Lesotho over weekend!” Everest Wealth Ridgeway Racing team boss Harry Grobler confirmed. “Our Juniors all won their races; we were third overall and also took silver in the Seniors. Well done to the entire team on an excellent job in the mountains!”

Starting with the youngest, Everest Wealth Ridgeway Racing Yamaha’s Ryan Wichman remains unbeaten in the 65 cc Juniors and stands on the threshold of his first South African National championship. Then, Ruald Potgieter made it three out of four 85 cc Seniors race wins so far this season to extend his advantage at the top of that championship chase.

He may just be in high school, but Yamaha lad Murray Smith is a team veteran and he too won the class and came home tenth overall in Maseru to consolidate his lead in the 125cc class in Lesotho. It was also a great weekend for Maddy Malan, who finally found a little luck to power home third overall on his Yamaha YZ 450 FX, while Senior man Marco Cocci scored a fine second on his similar Shimwells machine.

All of which leads Everest Wealth Ridgeway Racing Yamaha in dominant control of the Junior championships and chasing an overall win en route to the South African Cross Country Motorcycle season finale at a venue to be confirmed shortly.

Issued on behalf of Yamaha Cross Country

Monster Energy Triumph Factory Racing’s Camden McLellan has enjoyed a strong end to the season with sixth overall at the 2025 FIM Motocross of Nations. Competing in the MX2 class at Ironman Raceway in the USA, McLellan charged hard in both races to secure his impressive individual result. Close behind were two more TF 250-X racers with Mikkel Haarup seventh and Guillem Farres in eighth, putting three Triumph machines inside the top 10 overall – the most of any manufacturer. Alvin Östlund raced his TF 450-RC to 11th overall in the Open class, and helped Team Sweden to seventh in the Nations Classification.

Following his solid season of racing in the MX2 World Championship, McLellan was excited to end the season on a high. In both of his motos, he fought through the field from mid-pack starts to secure his 13-18 race results for sixth overall in MX2, which helped Team South Africa to 14th in the final standings.

Haarup returned to racing at the Motocross of Nations after missing the final two rounds of Pro Motocross due to injury. Racing for Team Denmark, Haarup delivered improving results across the two races with his 17th in moto one followed up by a 15th in the second race. On the day, Haarup finished seventh in MX2, with his team 20th overall.

Close behind Haarup in the MX2 classification was Farres, who raced the Nations for the first time on Triumph machinery and finished eighth overall. With experience of racing in the USA, the Spaniard acclimatised quickly and finished 16th in both motos. At the end of the weekend, Team Spain placed 10th in the Nations Classification.

For the first time ever, the Triumph TF 450-RC was raced at the Motocross of Nations with Alvin Östlund competing for Team Sweden. Östlund was consistent across both races to secure his 20-21 results for 11th overall in the Open class – a solid performance that helped his country to seventh in the Nations Classification.

With the dust now settled on the 78th edition of the FIM Motocross of Nations, all of Triumph’s teams and riders now look forward to the off-season following what’s been a positive year of racing around the world.

Camden McLellan – Team South Africa
“Overall, it’s been a solid day. My team was 14th overall and I finished sixth in MX2. I had a little tip over in the second moto while I was third, so that was a little frustrating. But anyway, there are a lot of positives to take away from here and overall, it’s been a strong season with the team.”

Guillem Farres – Team Spain
“It’s been a bit of a rough day for me. In the first moto I had a bad start and I was around 30th, and I pulled through to 16th. Race two started better but then I had a big crash. So, overall, it’s been a challenging day for Team Spain and myself. On the positive side, I’m healthy, and now the focus is on next year.”

Mikkel Haarup – Team Denmark
“For Sunday’s races I improved a lot from Saturday. It was tough against the 450s on the start, but I fought my way through quite well in both motos to finish inside the top 20 each time. I ended the weekend seventh overall, so that wasn’t too bad, and always, it was an honour to represent Team Denmark.”

Alvin Östlund – Team Sweden
“The Nations is over and it’s been a great day for Team Sweden. We finished seventh overall and my teammates rode really well. I had two good races as well and I really enjoyed the track – and the whole weekend – with the team.”

Results – 2025 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations

Race 1 – MXGP and MX2

1. Jett Lawrence, MXGP, Australia (Honda) 34:51.650
2. Lucas Coenen, MXGP, Belgium (KTM) 34:58.662
3. Tim Gajser, MXGP, Slovenia (Honda) 35:09.067
4. Eli Tomac, MXGP, USA (Yamaha) 35:11.011
5. Romain Febvre, MXGP, France (Kawasaki) 35:29.577
6. Ruben Fernandez, MXGP, Spain (Honda) 35:47.571
7. Camden McLellan, MX2, South Africa (Triumph) 36:25.825
8. Guillem Farres, MX2, Spain (Triumph) 36:45.878
9. Mikkel Haarup, MX2, Denmark, (Triumph) 36:46.452

Race 2 – MX2 and Open

1. Hunter Lawrence, Open, Australia, (Honda) 35:35.442
2. Jo Shimoda, Open, Japan (Honda) 35:44.921
3. Jan Pancar, Open, Slovenia, (KTM) 35:50.369
4. Liam Everts, Open, Belgium (Husqvarna) 35:51.916
5. Maxime Renaux, Open, France, (Yamaha) 35:55.838
6. Andrea Bonacorsi, Open, Italy (Fantic) 35:57.682
7. Mikkel Haarup, MX2, Denmark, (Triumph) 36:49.967
8. Guillem Farres, MX2, Spain (Triumph) 36:53.145
9. Camden McLellan, MX2, South Africa (Triumph) 37:02.517
10. Alvin Östlund, Open, Sweden (Triumph) 37:04.498

Race 3 – MXGP and Open

1. Hunter Lawrence, Open, Australia (Honda) 35:33.482
2. Eli Tomac, MXGP, USA (Yamaha) 35:39.212
3. Jett Lawrence, MXGP, Australia (Honda) 35:47.540
4. Tim Gajser, MXGP, Slovenia, (Honda) 35:51.783
5. Romain Febvre, MXGP, France (Kawasaki) 35:57.985
6. Jo Shimoda, Open, Australia (Honda) 36:00.150
7. Alvin Östlund, Open, Sweden (Triumph) 37:23.606

2025 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations – Overall Classification

1. Team Australia, (Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, Kyle Webster) 19pts
2. Team USA (Eli Tomac, RJ Hampshire, Justin Cooper) 33pts
3. Team France (Romain Febvre, Maxime Renaux, Mathis Valin) 33pts
4. Team Sweden (Alvin Östlund, Isak Gifting, Albin Gerhardsson) 84pts
5. Team Spain (Ruben Fernandez, Francisco Garcia, Guillem Farres) 89pts
6. Team South Africa (Camden McLellan, Slade Smith, Cameron Durow) 116pts
7. Team Denmark (Mikkel Haarup, Mads Fredsoe, Magnus Smith) 107pts

MXGP Class Overall

1. Jett Lawrence, Team Australia (Honda) 4pts
2. Eli Tomac, Team USA (Yamaha) 6pts
3. Tim Gajser, Team Slovenia (Honda) 7pts
4. Romain Fabvre, Team France (Kawasaki) 10pts
5. Lucas Coenen, Team Belgium (KTM) 12pts
6. Isak Gifting, Team Sweden (Yamaha) 15pts

MX2 Class Overall

1. Kay de Wolf, Team The Netherlands (Husqvarna) 16pts
2. Justin Cooper, Team USA, (Yamaha) 20pts
3. Mathis Valin, Team France, (Kawasaki) 23pts
4. Andrea Adamo, Team Italy, (KTM) 24pts
5. Kyle Webster, Team Australia, (Honda) 28pts
6. Camden McLellan, Team South Africa (Triumph) 31pts
7. Mikkel Haarup, Team Denmark (Triumph) 32pts
8. Guillem Farres, Team Spain (Triumph) 32pts

Open Class Overall

1. Hunter Lawrence, Team Australia (Honda) 2pts
2. Jo Shimoda, Team Japan (Honda) 8pts
3. Liam Everts, Team Belgium (Husqvarna) 11pts
4. Maxime Renaux, Team France (Yamaha) 14pts
5. Jan Pancar, Team Slovenia (KTM) 17pts
6. Andrea Bonacorsi, Team Italy (Fantic) 21pts
7. Alvin Östlund, Team Sweden (Triumph) 41pts

Published by: Triumph Racing

27 long laps of the 4.3km Mandalika International Circuit were accompanied by high temperatures, persistent sunshine and noise from an eager 67,900 race day attendance on Lombok. The fourth Grand Prix for the new venue began with Brad Binder starting from 15th on the gird.

Brad made a decent start and conjured a few strong moves to gain places in the critical early phases and then establish a race rhythm that would also extend tire life around the slick Indonesian asphalt.

Brad eventually carved his way through to 4th; two spots higher than his previous MotoGP best in 2025.

Japan, Indonesia and now a brief pause for MotoGP. The pace will crank up significantly with the trip to Phillip Island and the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.

Brad Binder
4th and 11th in the championship standings:

“Much more happy with how today went. We made quite a big change in warm-up and straightaway I felt more confident with the front-end. I felt like I was turning better and it was more planted. I could push more. Happy to come through the field and better my starting position by a long way. Looking forward to see if we can try and keep this momentum rolling now. Happy also to be back in the fight.”

Published by: https://bradbinder33.com