The Twins Tower Over Kegums as Lucas And Sacha Coenen Make History at The MXGP of Latvia
The damp conditions of recent days made way for glorious sunshine today as the Motocenter Zelta Zirgs played host to the MXGP of Latvia, round eight of the FIM Motocross World Championships, in front of full banks of spectators eager to cheer on their home riders, of which they had a full complement for the first time in many years!
It’s been threatening for some time, but today it finally happened! The Coenens finally became the first ever twin brothers to each win a Motocross Grand Prix on the very same day, and they are the first brothers to achieve the feat since Sebastien and Christophe Pourcel took victories in MX1 and MX2 at Faenza in Italy, on the 15th of July 2007, when Lucas and Sacha were only nine months old!
Lucas Coenen was simply imperious on his way to victory in MXGP for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, leading every single lap and only being led through the first few corners in race two, a situation he quickly remedied! Kay de Wolf claimed his best MXGP class result yet with second overall for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and the only man who briefly led a Coenen all day, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s #1 plate holder Romain Febvre, took third overall.
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Sacha Coenen used his incredible prowess off the start to take both Fox Holeshot Awards and was never led by anyone to complete the perfect weekend for the family and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Camden McLellan moved himself up in the Championship with second overall for the Triumph Racing Factory Team. Mathis Valin climbed the podium for the fourth straight GP with third overall for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2. Spare a thought for home hero Karlis Reisulis, who was looking good for a dream podium at home for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 until a last lap pass by McLellan knocked him back to fifth overall.
There was major adversity for title contenders in both classes as well, making it just about the most perfect weekend of racing possible for those with the surname Coenen!
Once again, Jeffrey Herlings put his HRC Honda Petronas machine at the top of the timesheets in morning Warm-Up, with reigning World Champion Romain Febvre second fastest, ahead of old foe Tim Gajser on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.
From his Qualifying Race win, however, Lucas Coenen had the inside gate and used it to great effect in race one, claiming his seventh Fox Holeshot Award of the season as Herlings lost traction briefly enough to have Febvre come past him into the second corner! The crowd were immediately involved as their home hero Pauls Jonass, in his first MXGP of Latvia since 2022, burst into view in fourth place for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP ahead of the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver.
Oliver was bounced around a little on the first lap by Kay de Wolf and Gajser, as well as the second Honda HRC Petronas machine of Ruben Fernandez. De Wolf also sliced past Jonass after the uphill triple jump to claim fourth on the first full lap. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and the sole surviving Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen rounded out the top ten. Calvin’s teammate Andrea Bonacorsi had undergone surgery on Saturday evening to treat injuries to his abdomen from his crash in the Qualifying Race. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
As Gajser took advantage of a mistake by Jonass to pass the Latvian around the outside of a left-hander, taking fifth on lap four, so Herlings was attacking Febvre. He was simply unable to get around the reigning World Champion, allowing Coenen to ease away at the front. Behind them, Fernandez cut inside Jonass for sixth on lap seven, but that was as far as the local favourite would drop, while Adamo got past Oliver for eighth, and they finished in that order ahead of Vlaanderen.
Finally, on lap ten, Herlings was able to lean on Febvre to take second, but by that time De Wolf had caught them both and was able to pick the pocket of the Champ on the very next corner! The Frenchman would stay fourth ahead of Gajser and Fernandez at the flag, but De Wolf wasn’t done as he drew level with his elder compatriot over the big jump in front of the grandstand, the pair landing close together and the Husqvarna securing the move in the following corner!
Lucas’ final margin was just over three seconds, and he revealed that he had been wrestling with a technical issue for the last few laps, which was extremely worrying for the opposition!
The only racing achievement that didn’t have the surname “Coenen” stamped all over it was the second race Fox Holeshot Award, as Febvre nudged the Kawasaki’s wheels ahead of Coenen’s KTM on the run from turn one to turn two! Herlings came round in third ahead of another great start for Oliver, and Adamo initially in fifth, but former World Champions Jonass, Gajser, and De Wolf would nudge the two KTM men down to seventh and eighth by the end of the first full lap, with Maxime Renaux ninth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP and Jago Geerts a great tenth for MRT Racing Team Beta.
Coenen drew level with Febvre over the finish line jump, and pinched the Frenchman to the inside of the first corner of the first full lap, to grab the advantage and make the field chase after him once again. Herlings obliged, determined not to let his young rival streak away as he blasted around the outside of Febvre to take second along the next straight and corner jump.
Sadly, Oliver and Renaux were to both drop out of the race early due to technical issues. Geerts was promoted to eighth, higher than he has been all year for the factory Beta squad, and he had Jan Pancar behind him for TEM JP253 KTM Racing. Fernandez had gone down in the first corner and would face a race-long fight through to 11th at the flag.
Jonass held on to fourth for a loudly-hailed five laps before both Gajser and De Wolf got past him, while Pancar also overtook Geerts on the same lap to put the Belgian back to ninth ahead of Estonian Yamaha Keskuswild-card Jörgen-Matthias Talviku! Talviku would battle with the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul rider Kevin Horgmo, finally nailing down eighth in the race with three laps to go ahead of the Norwegian, with Geerts scoring his first top ten race finish for Beta! Pancar had an entertaining scrap with Adamo in a real factory-versus-privateer battle, which the Italian won to take sixth with two laps to go. Seventh was still by far the Slovenian’s best race of the year.
At the front, Herlings and Febvre refused to let Coenen escape, and the teenager was absorbing the pressure well. As the Frenchman closed in, suddenly Jeffrey’s bike came to a stop on the exit of a left-handed corner, and the Dutchman would have to walk back to the Paddock for the second time in two GPs! De Wolf got past Gajser in blazing style at around the same time to claim third. As much as Febvre gave chase, Coenen was equal to it and cruised away to an eight-second race win and his 20th career Grand Prix victory, equalling his MX2 tally with his tenth in the premier class! With De Wolf second overall ahead of Febvre, and Herlings’ problems giving Lucas a sudden 62-point advantage at the top of the standings, it was an amazing day for the red plate holder.
Gajser and Jonass held fourth and fifth to the flag, and would finish in those places overall ahead of Adamo, Fernandez, and a brilliant Pancar. Horgmo went 11-9 to take ninth on the day and his second top-ten in succession, with Herlings a dejected tenth overall.
Lucas had completed the most perfect weekend for one family in the history of Motocross, with complete domination of all three races across the weekend in both classes. Where can it go from here? As the halfway point of the season approaches, the rest of the field needs to find something in next weekend’s break from action before we rip into the MXGP of Italy at Montevarchi!
Lucas Coenen: “It’s just amazing, I can’t describe it better. To see me and my brother win all the Races together on the same weekend is just so amazing. Thanks to the team a lot, because they worked really hard after what happened in race 1, they put me in really good conditions to go out in the second Race, and then I just tried to control it and not make any mistakes, because the track was really tricky. I was in the lead so I just had to do the laps and try not to make a mistake, and that’s what I did. I was not searching to make a gap because the track was so tricky that you could easily make a mistake, so I was just happy to be up front with clear vision. It was a good weekend.”
Kay de Wolf: “Just positive. We aimed for going 3-3 on the weekend, ended up going 2-3, so we’re really happy. We achieved another goal going second overall. The second Race was a bit tougher, I got pushed wide with the start which put me in around ninth, and it didn’t flow as well as the first one. The first Race I had a way better flow and could ride way easier, so it’s tough to come through the pack. Tim [Gajser] put up a good fight and I made a few big mistakes actually which should not happen, but we’re still learning and we keep achieving new goals so I’m really happy. [About his acclimatation to MXGP Class] The first race in Spain wasn’t so good, I’d basically been lying on the physio table for three weeks doing nothing and then going racing in Spain was two tough Races. After the first one I was like, how am I going to even start the second? But I managed to get a decent result, seventh overall, and ever since then I’ve been going forward; fourth, then fifth last weekend, and now second. We just keep building and trying to be consistent.”
Romain Febvre: “It’s a good weekend, just consistent, 4-2 on Sunday. The start was quite decent and I tried to work as much as possible on that, because even if you are not the best, if you start well it’s easy to stay with the good group, and that’s what I did this weekend. In the first Race I was maybe 20 minutes in second place, but behind me they were pushing, finding other lines, and every time I made a small mistake they came close, so I held on, held on, held on, and then at some point physically I was a little bit not strong, so I decided just to keep it for fourth. In the second Race I didn’t change anything but I was feeling much better physically. I took the holeshot but Lucas and Jeffrey passed me straight away on the first lap, so I was a little bit shocked, I lost two positions in one lap. But I stayed with them, one or two seconds all the way, and then I guess Jeffrey had an issue with the bike and I was behind Lucas. I came close to him with two laps to go, but I was thinking too much about being on the podium because the last few weeks I missed it so many times and was not consistent. Either way, it’s definitely good to be on the podium, and with what happened to Jeffrey in the second Race, we take good points for the championship!”
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:06.647; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:03.738; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:05.385; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:26.417; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:35.092; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:49.314; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:57.624; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:06.693; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:09.931; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:10.999;
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:32.862; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:08.108; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:13.586; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:15.973; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:49.795; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:12.826; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:17.936; 8. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, Yamaha), +1:21.382; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:28.441; 10. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:34.865;
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 50 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 42 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 30 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 25 p.; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 22 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 21 p.; 10. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 20 p.;
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 404 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 342 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 310 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 294 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 261 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 247 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 241 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 219 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 175 p.
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 425 points; 2. KTM, 420 p.; 3. Yamaha, 353 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 335 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 273 p.; 6. Fantic, 171 p.; 7. Ducati, 160 p.; 8. Beta, 63 p.; 9. Triumph, 57 p.; 10. GASGAS, 4 p.
Sacha Coenen once more set the fastest time in the Warm-Up session for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, but Janis Reisulis kept the crowd excited with second for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 ahead of the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 machine of Mathis Valin.
Who else was going to take the Fox Holeshot Award? Coenen fired into the early lead and promptly escaped, as Jens Walvoort started in second on his SB Racing KTM, ahead of reigning Champion Simon Längenfelder on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine! Fast all weekend, Valerio Lata was initially fourth for Honda HRC Petronas ahead of the Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia of Maxime Grau, but Camden McLellan was on the charge and quickly past both red bikes, as well as Walvoort, to reach third behind Längenfelder by lap four. Valin had started at the edge of the top ten, just ahead of Triumph Racing Factory Team rider Guillem Farres.
McLellan got past the Champion for second on lap seven, as Valin marched up the order to hold fourth by then, as Lata crashed and damaged his machine to the point where he could not continue. Farres, Karlis Reisulis, his brother Janis and the lone Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing pilot Liam Everts all got around the fast-starting Walvoort.
DRT Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers got past Grau to claim tenth with three laps to go, while Walvoort hung on to finish ninth, as Everts finished seventh between Karlis and Janis Reisulis, but behind Coenen the top order would take a final shake-up as McLellan went down heavily on landing from the uphill triple! Amazingly unhurt, he had lost second for good to Valin, but recovered well enough with no helmet peak to hustle past Längenfelder for third on the final lap, and his teammate Farres followed in his wake! This put the Champion down to 14 points behind Coenen, but worse was to come for the German.
Race two saw Sacha Coenen extend his Fox Holeshot Award tally to ten for the year, but this one was more marginal over Lata, while Karlis Reisulis got the crowd roaring with a great start in third! The Kawasaki machines of Valin and Karssemakers followed, but the Dutchman was passed early by the Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team rider Ferruccio Zanchi, who was thankfully showing no ill effects from an over-the-bars crash in race one!
Karlis drew further excitement from the crowd with a quick pass on Lata to take second, and almost held on to Sacha, but there was no-one equipped with any Coenen Kryptonite, in either class, all day long! The Triumph teamsters had not started well, and they had to fight through the pack again. McLellan and Farres, in that order, worked past Valin to get into the top five on lap 12, a situation which put Karlis Reisulis in line for a home podium if he could stay in second!
Behind the leaders, Janis Reisulis recovered from a mid-race crash to claim tenth behind Karssemakers, while Zanchi made a few mistakes on his way to eighth, still a season’s best for the Italian before his home round to come! Liam Everts finished a disappointing day in seventh, only good enough for sixth overall. Janis, Karssemakers, Walvoort, and Grau with 11-11 results would round out the overall top ten.
Längenfelder, meanwhile, was having a torrid time, and only got up to ninth before suffering a painful crash which cracked his back over the bike’s front wheel, and he pulled into the Paddock in pain. McLellan broke Latvian hearts with a last lap pass on Karlis Reisulis for second, knocking the Yamaha man down to fifth overall behind Farres, and gifting Valin a podium despite finishing behind the Spaniard, who had passed Lata for fourth in the closing laps. It gave McLellan a strong second overall, and he moves past Everts now into fourth in the Championship.
At the top though, stands Sacha Coenen, who backed off from his 25-second lead to bring home his third straight GP win at Kegums, and the sixth of his career to date. More importantly in his mind, the Belgian is now 37 points ahead of Längenfelder in the World Championship, with Farres now just three behind the German!
There is hardpack to come, which will give hope to the chasers maybe in both classes, but the double Coenen express trains are looking impressive to say the least as the Paddock takes a week off, before re-convening at the seldom-used venue of Montevarchi for round nine on the 20th and 21st of June!
Come and join us for that one at an unfamiliar track that will raise a heap of questions for everybody! See you out there!
Sacha Coenen: “It’s amazing, I have no words. It’s really nice to win all the Races at the same time as my brother on the same weekend.. it’s really special! Especially on this track where I won my first GP, and now I’ve won here three times in a row, so it’s quite special. I’m really happy. I just like this track, it kind of suits me. I like everything about it, it’s a bit sketchy in some places and you need to be really careful. I’m not really thinking about the championship, I’m just trying to go race by race and do my best every weekend. I’m still having fun on the bike, just keeping myself at the front every race and making the most points possible.”
Camden McLellan: “All in all, pretty good from my seat this weekend, a lot of sand flying in my face, but for the rest it was pretty good. I think if I could get out of the gate I could run with Sacha, but there are ifs, buts and maybes every weekend, so I really need to polish that and figure out why I’m not getting starts. Overall I’m happy, the team’s done a great job, the track was tricky, the bike was awesome and I was riding well, so if we can continue this momentum going forward I think we’ll be good. It doesn’t need to be a holeshot every time, but if I can round the first corner in the top five it would make my life a lot easier. The issue is Sacha is really good at sprinting in those first two or three laps and can build ten seconds before you blink. I think it’s mental, to be honest; I’m very calculated in terms of risk and reward, and I’m not willing to push over the limit when there’s no real reward. I’ll just build on confidence gradually and calculate it, which is my approach.”
Mathis Valin: “It wasn’t easy this weekend. I wasn’t feeling that great with the track, but I managed a good first Race. I didn’t have the best first corner but I had to fight to come back, and Camden made a mistake at the end so I could finish second, which was a good one. I gave everything in the first Race so I was a bit tired in the second. Overall it was good; four podiums in a row, so I have the consistency now. I’m feeling good mentally. I just take it race by race and give my best, and if I can fight for the championship I will, but I’m not putting any pressure on it.”
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:04.768; 2. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.324; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:25.321; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:27.137; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:29.842; 6. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:31.608; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:33.146; 8. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:48.526; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:56.432; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:57.565
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:10.618; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:06.484; 3. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:08.987; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:15.292; 5. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:15.761; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.471; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:43.354; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:54.660; 9. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +1:09.447; 10. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:14.865
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 50 points; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 42 p.; 3. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 37 p.; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 36 p.; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 35 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 28 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 24 p.; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 23 p.; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 21 p.; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, HON), 20 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 380 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 343 p.; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 340 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 326 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 314 p.; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 308 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 280 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 223 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 216 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 161 p.
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 437 points; 2. Triumph, 407 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 332 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 314 p.; 5. Yamaha, 309 p.; 6. Honda, 247 p.; 7. TM, 87 p.; 8. Ducati, 76 p.; 9. GASGAS, 27 p.; 10. Fantic, 8 p
MXGP OF LATVIA QUICK FACTS:
Circuit length: 1750m
Type of ground: Sand
Temperature: 25°
Weather conditions: Sunny
Crowd Attendance: 25,000
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