Immaculate Herlings & L.Coenen Victorious at the Mxgp of Lombok
The Selaparang circuit ran in the reverse direction today for the MXGP of Lombok, but the heat and humidity of the island on the edge of the Indian Ocean remained, and even increased from last week, to test some of the most elite athletes in the world of sport across two gruelling races for each class!
This event was part of the fourth Indonesian double header in the last seven years, and the MXGP class had always seen riders sweep both rounds, until this year when that trend was halted by Jeffrey Herlings, completing a perfect weekend when he won every race and topped every practice session for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. “The Bullet” claimed his 105th Grand Prix win, although he faced stiff opposition from Championship leader Tim Gajser, whose second overall increased his points lead as he holds onto the red plate for Team HRC.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Calvin Vlaanderen earned his second trip to the podium in as many weekends with two strong third places.
The MX2 class was dominated by Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen, enjoying his own perfect weekend for his fifth career Grand Prix win, and eating into his teammate Kay De Wolf’s points lead in the process. Mikkel Haarup equalled his best career result with second overall for Monster Energy Triumph Racing, ahead of Simon Laengenfelder who took third for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing.
Jeffrey Herlings had topped the time tables in every session of the weekend, as well as winning the RAM Qualifying Race, as he lined up for the first race of the year, even taking the fastest lap in the morning Warm-Up by over a second from Tim Gajser!
It was the Slovenian, however, who took his fourth Fox Holeshot Award of the year, and defended moves from Herlings who was right there in second place from the first corner! Vlaanderen, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jeremy Seewer, and Mattia Guadignini for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing were all ahead of reigning Champion Jorge Prado! However, through an inspired series of waves and one corner the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing superstar leap-frogged them all into third and was snapping at Herlings’ rear wheel!
The Dutchman held off the reigning Champion, however, as he kept the leader just in sight, but not close enough to be eating his roost or to push too hard early on. A few seconds behind Vlaanderen and Seewer, the battle raged for sixth place between multiple riders, with the older heads of Fantic Factory Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff and Valentin Guillod for Team Ship to Cycle Honda Motoblouz SR prevailing for sixth and seventh ahead of their younger rivals. Guadagnini, Guillod’s teammate Kevin Horgmo, and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s rookie Andrea Bonacorsi played their part in a great battle, but finished in that order from eighth to tenth. They were all reaching for the cold drinks and the ice bath at the end of the race!
The leading pair started to stretch away from Prado, who could not rest with Vlaanderen, a week after his first overall podium of the year, pushing him all the way. Just after the 25-minute mark, Herlings bit down on his mouthpiece and closed the gap, initially running off the track as he got one corner a little wrong, but on lap 13 of 17 he pounced with a superb inside pass on his rival! Any attempt to strike back was immediately halted for Gajser, who span to the floor in the following corner!
Just after getting the two-lap board, Vlaanderen attacked the #1 plate holder, and burst into third with a great run through the waves at the top of the circuit! The Spaniard immediately backed it off, finishing nearly 14 seconds behind the Yamaha at the close.
The race victory, the 198th of his incredible career, went the way of “The Bullet”, although Gajser increased his series lead further due to the late drop-back of Prado.
The start of race two was like an action replay with Gajser again claiming the Fox Holeshot ahead of Herlings, but the Dutchman launched out of the third corner in a wild-looking but decisive pass to take the lead immediately! Guadagnini had started strongly in third ahead of Vlaanderen and Seewer, while Prado languished in ninth and took his time to get moving!
Vlaanderen and Seewer both got past Guadagnini within two corners after half a lap, although Seewer suffered an off-track excursion and had to fight back from eighth position. Guadagnini then also dropped his machine on the second full lap, ultimately finishing in 12th.
Meanwhile, Guillod had moved up to 4th position, and held on for that place for the duration of the race! Prado worked past Bonacorsi on lap five but had to put up with constant harassment from Seewer as the Kawasaki man would not let him relax, and as such he was unable to catch up to Guillod. The 31-year-old Swiss rider celebrated his best result for 8 years with a trademark massive whip, testament to his physical fitness in such tough conditions.
Vlaanderen secured his second consecutive overall podium with another lonely but solid ride into third place, but Gajser was not settling for second as he closed to within half a second of Herlings at one point! The Dutchman confessed after the race that he was struggling with a clutch issue but brought it home to win by just over six seconds, extending his all-time records to 199 GP race wins and 105 overall Grand Prix victories!
Gajser restored his Championship lead over Prado to what he had before they came to Indonesia, back out to 34 points, but he will have one eye on “The Bullet” as the #84 closed his deficit to the leader by a mighty twenty points over the two weekends on the island of Lombok! The fight will truly be on over the remaining eight rounds between the three multiple World Champions at the top!
Jeffrey Herlings: “I was very happy to get the win the second race because I had a little clutch issue in this second race but this is testament to how KTMs are built as kept going until the end, and a big thanks also to KTM Factory Racing Team as I could not have won this race without them, so thank you to all the team and the guys at home working on it. All my sponsors, thank you and I’m very pleased with a 1-1-1 for the first time this year “
Tim Gajser: “It was way better than last week you know, I was feel much better and more comfortable on the track too to attack! First race, I got a good start but made a couple of mistakes toward the end then Jeffrey (Herlings) got me. I thought that I could come back on him start to push but the next corner I crashed unfortunately. The speed was good though and I’m so happy with my starts as we work so hard with the team. We had a great battle with Jeffrey too in the second race but I had to settle in the end. A huge thanks to all my team and everyone around me.”
Calvin Vlaanderen: “It was solid, solid! I’m so happy to be back on the podium after last week, the confidence was definitely there this weekend and I felt good. I had a good first race in third and managed to pass Jorge (Prado) in the last couple of minutes because I was feeling strong. In the second race, I had to make the necessary to put myself in good position and try to chase the front two but they were a bit faster than me and I knew I had a good gap behind so I brought it home. Just want to say a big thanks to the team, my family, my girlfriend, really everyone who is supporting me back home in South Africa and the Netherlands. I’m just so stoke! Thank you so much”
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:21.365; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:07.436; 3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:14.873; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:28.814; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:39.037; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:48.801; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:52.802; 8. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:56.184; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:57.985; 10. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +1:09.584
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:56.731; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:06.087; 3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:11.716; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:13.768; 5. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:16.160; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:17.898; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:36.780; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:52.587; 9. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:00.313; 10. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +1:07.632
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 44 p.; 3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 40 p.; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 34 p.; 5. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 32 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 31 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 28 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 26 p.; 9. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 22 p
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 608 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 574 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 557 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 429 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 411 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 360 p.; 7. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 327 p.; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 274 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 264 p.; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 259 p
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 625 points; 2. GASGAS, 574 p.; 3. KTM, 569 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 511 p.; 5. Yamaha, 467 p.; 6. Fantic, 386 p.; 7. Husqvarna, 183 p.; 8. Beta, 142 p.
Lucas Coenen hammered home the point made with his win in Saturday’s RAM Qualifying Race, by claiming the fastest lap in morning Warm-Up. However, it was Simon Laengenfelder, feeling much better with both the heat and his sleeping cycle thanks to the extra time here between the two GPs, who launched into the lead to claim his fourth Fox Holeshot Award of the year in race one!
In familiar style, Lucas Coenen battled into the lead before the end of the first full lap. His teammate De Wolf followed him past on lap three, as Haarup battled with Sacha Coenen and his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Andrea Adamo. The reigning Champ slid to the ground as he tried to get past his younger teammate, giving himself a mountain to climb! Sacha then followed suit by nose-diving into the floor on the penultimate corner of lap six, allowing Haarup and the third factory KTM of Liam Everts into the fourth and fifth positions that they would keep to the flag,
On lap 11, De Wolf, who had just started to eat into the lead of his teammate, made a mistake and allowed Laengenfelder past, and although the Dutchman gave a spirited chase, he couldn’t get back in front of the German. As Lucas kept his nerve to clinch his first Sunday race win in over a month, it took the Championship lead down to 59 points between the teammates!
Laengenfelder repeated his holeshot in race two, but again Lucas Coenen was lurking, passing his brother almost immediately, just before Sacha lost his wheels from under him on a corner jump, and would finally finish in 13th after a further crash halfway through the race.
Lucas then closed on Simon at the front, causing near contact as the German defended his lead, but then suffered a big moment on the corner before the end of the first full lap, allowing the young Belgian to fly past!
Meanwhile, Adamo was looking in determined mood, passing Haarup on lap two, but his teammate Everts did not yield, and the pair came together in a right hand corner collision that put them both on the floor! De Wolf was also struggling, a couple of mistakes including a crash after the big triple jump demoting him to a sixth place finish.
That came after he had been passed by Haarup, the Danish rider bouncing back from his disappointments of the previous round to then force past Laengenfelder for second position on lap nine! Lucas Coenen was already 12 seconds up the track at this point, but Haarup continued to charge anyway.
The comeback of the race came from Adamo. In the humid conditions he showed a true Champion’s grit, passing Laengenfelder for third on lap 12, before closing in on Haarup to grab second place with two laps to go! That move looked to have dropped the Triumph man to third overall, until Laengenfelder tipped over two corners from home, allowing Everts past and promoting Haarup back up to second overall, matching his best career result from Portugal in April 2022! Laengenfelder had to settle for third on the podium.
Nobody could get near to Lucas Coenen, however, and the teenage Belgian cruised to a final winning margin of over five seconds, and the second perfect weekend of his season. His fifth career GP win puts him now 49 points behind his teammate, and few would deny that he has the determination to make a run at the 2024 title!
After everybody in the series travels back to Europe, there is a week off before we head to the classic venue of Loket for the MXGP of Czech Republic. Do not miss the continuation of these two epic Championship battles on the 20th & 21st of July!
Lucas Coenen: “First race was very difficult like for everybody. The heat was really high but I could cool down quite well between the races. I really did my own race in the second one, just passed Simon (Laengenfelder) and took it easy. I feel good so now we keep on going for the next one”
Mikkel Haarup: “We messed up last weekend but we kept believing. I put a hell of a ride in the second race but first of all I want to thank Monster Energy Triumph Racing, my mechanics, the whole crew. They kept me motivated throughout the week and kept my head clear so we could focus on this weekend. I also want to thank all the sponsors and everybody at home for supporting us, it means a lot to me and keeps me motivated for the rest of the season”
Simon Laengenfelder: “I was so happy about the first race, and also to keep Kay behind me. In the second race at the end my energy crashed and went slow but the mechanic wrote on the board that I would have a podium if I stayed so I just went for it. So I’m finished but I made it!”
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 33:56.609; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:04.273; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:05.096; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:12.029; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:20.389; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:53.457; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:56.826; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:08.826; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:11.541; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:14.062
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:51.702; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:04.910; 3. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:05.658; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:19.113; 5. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:26.015; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:58.445; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:03.411; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:08.121; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:10.631; 10. David Braceras (ESP, Fantic), +1:24.547
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 50 points; 2. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 38 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 38 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 37 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 35 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 26 p.; 8. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 20 p
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 576 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 527 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 509 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 471 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 455 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 399 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 346 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 341 p.; 9. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 228 p.; 10. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 226 p
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Husqvarna, 644 points; 2. KTM, 593 p.; 3. GASGAS, 516 p.; 4. Triumph, 424 p.; 5. Yamaha, 407 p.; 6. Kawasaki, 261 p.; 7. Honda, 247 p.; 8. Fantic, 171 p.; 9. TM, 39 p
MXGP OF LOMBOK QUICK FACTS:
Crowd Attendance: 50,000
Circuit length: 1640m
Type of ground: Semi Volcanic
Temperature: 32°
Weather conditions: Sunny
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