This year Team USA will be made up of purely Kawasaki sponsored athletes with James Stewart and Tim Ferry riding KX450Fs while the third team member Ryan Villopoto will be making his last race appearance on a KX250F before he moves up to the bigger capacity class.

James Stewart who leads Team USA is a former winner of the MXoN, an AMA Supercross Champion as well as the current points-leader in the AMA Motocross Championship.

Stewart will race a KX450F in the MX1 class at Donington Park and after missing the 2007 race because of a serious knee injury is looking forward to representing his country and Kawasaki again.

“I'm excited to be a part of Team USA," said Stewart. "My main goal this season was to win the motocross championship and I knew if I could do that I would have a good chance of representing the USA at the Motocross of Nations. Last time I competed at the MXoN at Matterly Basin in 2006, I didn’t even win a moto but I was happy because the team won. It’s a team race and the real goal is to bring the trophy back home and I believe we can do that.”

For Team USA’s MX2 rider Ryan Villopoto this will be his third and probably final ride at the event onboard a Kawasaki KX250F.

Dominant at last year’s race at Budds Creek where he became the first MX2 pilot ever to win the mixed MX1/MX2 class moto, RV is excited to try and repeat his brilliant performance at Donington Park.

"Riding for Team USA is always a great experience" said Villopoto. "This will be my last race riding a Kawasaki KX250F and I really want to end my MX2 career with another great run against the world's best racers."

For Open class Team USA member Tim Ferry this will also be his third appearance at the famous race. As a vital member of last September’s winning team where he powered his KX450F to two consistent rides, Ferry is ready to do his bit again to ensure that the all-Kawasaki mounted squad are successful again.

“It’s an honour to be a part of this team,” said Ferry. “Being on the team with two great riders – James and Ryan – is awesome and I know we are going to do our best to win it all again!”

The 2008 Motocross of Nations will also feature factory Kawasaki stars Sebastien Pourcel and Tanel Leok who’ll be representing France and Estonia on their factory KX450F-SRs.

This will be the third time that Pourcel has represented his country as well as Kawasaki at this prestigious team event and despite not knowing who’ll be joining him on Team France – rumours suggest it may be another Kawasaki rider – Sebastien is excited about the race ahead.

“I recently got confirmation that I will be part of the French team for the Motocross of Nations,” said Sebastien. “I don’t know yet who my teammates will be but I’m excited about this race because we finished second last year in Budds Creek. The goal for this year will be the same and we expect to be on the podium.”

For Tanel Leok the Motocross of Nations is usually a family affair and he’ll be teaming up with his cousin Aigar and Gert Krestinov – no relation – for the second year in succession to represent Team Estonia.

Usually finishing around the top five the Estonian’s are always a force to be reckoned with and as a team will be looking forward to racing the fast, jump filled, hardpack Donington Park circuit.

For Tanel the 2008 Nations race will offer another chance for him to go head-to-head with his old sparring partner James Stewart who he beat in a battle for the Y2K 85cc Motocross World Championship.

“Hopefully I can go there and take another win over him,” said Tanel with a smile. “We’ll have to see though because he’s really fast you know but I think it will be close. “For many years now the Estonian team has been a lot of fun to represent at the Motocross of Nations and it’s always good to just go there and race. We have a really good team this year and I think we can be top six if everything goes well.”

For more updates on Kawasaki’s involvement with the 2008 Motocross of Nations and plenty of behind the scenes news and images stayed tuned to www.kawasaki-racingteam.eu