Headlines
Time to Dig Deep at Lommel For The MXGP of Flanders
MXGP: The 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships has a quick turnaround for the MXGP of Flanders this weekend, as the harder terrain and the hillsides of Loket make way for the undulating, infamously deep sand of the Stedelijk Motocrossterrein circuit of Lommel, one that even the toughest of competitors dread as one of the most physically demanding venues in the world of Motocross!
Headlines
MXGP: The 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships has a quick turnaround for the MXGP of Flanders this weekend, as the harder terrain and the hillsides of Loket make way for the undulating, infamously deep sand of the Stedelijk Motocrossterrein circuit of Lommel, one that even the toughest of competitors dread as one of the most physically demanding venues in the world of Motocross!
Despite Lommel’s historic reputation, established immediately in 1981 when Team USA famously took an upset win in the Trophée des Nations, their first in any team competition but the start of a 13-year unbeaten streak in such events, the first Grand Prix held here wasn’t until 1990, when Finnish rider Pekka Vehkonen took both race wins in the 250cc class. The venue only gained a regular spot on the calendar from 2008, although it took two years out in 2012, when it hosted the Motocross of Nations for the only time, and in 2013, when the series went to Bastogne instead. The top winners all-time here are Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado, who have each won four GPs in the deep black Belgian sand! The most successful rider at Lommel who is racing this weekend is Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP star Jago Geerts, who won for three years running in MX2, from 2021 to 2023.
The MXGP class comes to Flanders with the smallest gap between the top two in the Championship since the very beginning of the season, as the red-plate holder for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, Romain Febvre, has just ten points over Belgian teenager Lucas Coenen, who comes to his home Grand Prix with a two-round winning streak for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing! Behind them, Glenn Coldenhoff has had a run of finishing third or fourth overall in each of the last four GPs as he tries to lock down a World Championship bronze medal for the second time in his career, and the first one for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
The MX2 World Championship has been full of unpredictable results, with the podium positions only being repeated once all season, but Simon Längenfelder has more than doubled his career GP win tally this year, and holds a 47-point advantage in the Championship over fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star Andrea Adamo. Reigning Champ Kay de Wolf is another 12 points further back for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and won overall last year in Flanders, despite Längenfelder winning the second race. Even with Adamo’s poor record at Lommel, this could see a titanic scrap between the title combatants!
The leading Belgian in the MX2 World Championship is Sacha Coenen, who won his only GP this year in the sand of Latvia for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and will look to improve his relatively modest record at the Lommel circuit. The other top Belgians – Geerts, JM Racing Honda’s Brent van Doninck, and VNT Racing KTM’s Nicholas Vennekens – will all look to get their home crowd cheering in the GP classes!
The EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing holds its final round this weekend, and the series is tremendously close between Italian Racestore KTM Factory Juniors rider Nicolò Alvisi and the new FIM Junior World Champion from France, Mano Faure on the VHR VJC Yamaha Official EMX125 squad. They sit just six points apart, and with roughly equal results in the sandy races so far this year, it’s anyone’s guess as to whose nerve will hold to tie down the title! Filippo Mantovani of the Beddini KTM Racing Team sits in third, while Belgian stars Jarne Bervoets, teammate to Faure, and the Fantic Factory Racing EMX125 rider Douwe van Mechlegen, only just missed the podium in the sand of Finland, so they would dearly love to get up there on home ground!
The EMX Open European Championship has its single round this weekend at Lommel, and Czech rider Jakub Teresak will defend his title for KMP Honda Racing Team by DVAG, although he will have competition again from last year’s runner-up Jere Haavisto on the SILVE Racing KTM, and first race winner from 2024, Micha-Boy de Waal. The 2008 MX2 GP winner Gert Krestinov will also line up in this class, as will early-season EMX250 red plate holder Adrien Petit, who could be a real threat with his beach racing experience in the deep stuff at Lommel! Latvian Mairis Pumpurs made a strong showing in his home GP earlier this season, so he could also have something to say about the podium places, as could French Tech 32 rider Tom Guyon, who scored the very first points for Triumph in MXGP at Ernée this season.
The MXGP of Flanders will be a gruelling and challenging weekend for everybody that takes to the start line, and the racing could be some of the best this season, with many riders able to challenge on a circuit most of them know extremely well.
It’s coming down to the smallest of margins in MXGP at the top of the Championship table. Romain Febvre took two wins from the three races at Loket, but a tiny slip in race one on Sunday meant that Lucas Coenen still caught up by five points over the weekend, leaving the gap at just ten between them as they head to Lommel!
In terms of their form in the Belgian sand, as usual it is Febvre who has the strongest history here, with six career podium appearances including two GP wins, in 2021 and 2023, both of them against such sand-masters as Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado. Third last year even on a comeback from injury, the strong Frenchman is not to be underestimated in the heavy going. Coenen, meanwhile, had a crash-affected GP last year to score 5-8 finishes for seventh overall. Two seconds behind Jago Geerts in 2023, plus his first ever EMX250 victory in 2022, show that he’s not allergic to the sand, so the question is if the young pretender can cope with the pressure of his home GP to bring the fight to Febvre!
Glenn Coldenhoff took a race win at Lommel in 2022, and has finished third overall here on four occasions over the years. A 6-6 for fifth overall last year shows that he can get the Fantic around Lommel quickly, and his 43-point advantage over Ruben Fernandez in the battle for third is looking healthy. The Honda HRC pilot missed last year’s event and took a best race finish of sixth in 2023.
Although he doesn’t like to be classed as a sand specialist, Calvin Vlaanderen has taken his best results this season in the soft stuff, including his first podium of the season in Finland for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP. He has finished second overall twice at the venue just down the road from the team’s workshop, and for sure he will lift the blue brand’s spirits if he can match or even better that in 2025.
Andrea Bonacorsi has been strong in the sand this year for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, and an improvement on his ninth position last year is likely. He pushed Coenen to the limit in EMX250 three years ago, and could be a surprise force this weekend as he tries to defend sixth in the series from Maxime Renaux. The Frenchman is fighting through another injury-affected season, but has twice got on the podium here in MX2, so if the body is strong enough, he could put in a good result, maybe even enough to bridge the two-point gap to Bonacorsi!
Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Jeremy Seewer is not a sand specialist, but now up to eighth in the standings he will do all he can to grind out a result. He has climbed the podium twice here in the past, but a return in 2025 would be a surprise. Jago Geerts , who had that winning streak at Lommel from 2021 to 2023 in MX2, needs seven points to move past the injured Kevin Horgmo for 11th in the Championship, and if he gets a start like he did at Lugo in May then he could even be a threat to win again! He will have no shortage of fan support at his home GP.
Ben Watson for MRT Racing Team Beta has happy memories of Lommel after two race wins and three podium finishes in MX2, including the Grand Prix victory at the last of three rounds held here in 2020. Tenth overall in 2023 is something he will be looking to match or better on the Italian machine. Brian Bogers took his single career GP victory here in 2022 and could again be strong for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, whileRoan van de Moosdijk has memories of a race win in MX2 and second overall here in 2020 as he continues to campaign for the KTM Kosak Team.
Finally, Brent van Doninck is a sand master himself, with the JM Racing Honda team workshop within sight of the finish line jump, and in a year where he has troubled the top ten on many occasions, he could be a nuisance with a good start this weekend!
The most powerful bikes at the track will be a challenge for the very fittest riders on one of the toughest circuits in the world, and the MXGP elite will be tested to the maximum this weekend, which should make for some amazing racing! Don’t miss this one!
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 678 Points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 668 Pts; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 494 Pts; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 451 Pts; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM) 392 Pts; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 370 Pts; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 368 Pts; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 327 Pts; 9. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 325 Pts; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 Pts.
Simon Längenfelder comes to Lommel with the red plate and a 47-point lead over Andrea Adamo, as both riders took a race win in Czechia to capitalise on a rough day for reigning World Champion Kay de Wolf. De Wolf took overall victory here last year with a 1-2 scorecard, and just missed out on the GP win, which would have been his first, with the same scoreline back in 2022.
He must come in as the favourite this weekend, especially as he needs to make up 12 points to catch Adamo before he can even think about Längenfelder. The German is no slouch in the Belgian sand, however, having taken third overall here in each of the last two years, including the second race win in 2024.
Adamo is the one who might not look forward to this weekend, after missing last year’s race due to injuries from Loket, and finishing seventh and eighth here in the two years before that. His sand form has been better in 2025, and the gritty Italian is likely to dig in for a good result.
Sacha Coenen is another with a less than impressive record around the Flemish circuit, with a best of ninth overall last year, but he is 28 points ahead of Thibault Benistant for fourth in the series and hoping to keep the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 star at bay. The Frenchman hasn’t lined up here since 2022, when he took sixth overall, although his best of fourth overall came in 2021. He did take three wins out of four at this circuit in the EMX250 class during the 2020 season, however, so he can still ride in the heavy going!
While Liam Everts is still unable to compete for Nestaan Husqvarna Factroy Racing due to his injuries from Finland, he is still unlikely to be caught by Monster Energy Triumph Racing star Camden McLellan, although the South African likes a bit of sand and was third in the opening race here last year. His teammate Guillem Farres has moved up to ninth in the series, and last saw Lommel back in 2022 in EMX250, when he finished second in race two to Lucas Coenen! The Spaniard hasn’t had his best results in sand this year, but with good starts he could still be a threat.
Valerio Lata is eighth in the Championship for Honda HRC, and still the top rookie, and he won the EMX250 round here last year with two second places. Van Venrooy KTM Racing’s Cas Valk won the second race that day, and is now tenth in the standings in MX2, hoping that the deep sand can spark a return to top form. He is the highest-placed rider in the Championship without a win of any kind, and would dearly love to rectify that situation at one of his more local rounds! Mathis Valin, who completed that 2024 EMX250 podium with a 1-4 scorecard, is coming off his best GP weekend yet for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2, and will be keen to show off his sand skills at a venue where he was also a podium man in EMX125 two years ago!
EMX250 regulars Nico Greutmann, Liam Owens, and Mads Fredsoe of the Cat Moto Bauerschmidt Husqvarna team, Max Werner and Gyan Doensen of Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors, and Ollie Colmer for Chambers KTM Racing, who becomes the first British rider to race MX2 this year, all help to fill out a 40-rider entry list for one of the toughest GPs of the season!
WMX World Champion Lotte van Drunen will also line up, audaciously all in pink for De Baets Yamaha MX-Team as she prepares for the next WMX round at Arnhem!
It’s time for the sand men to cash in and the rest to make the best of it at the MXGP of Flanders, join us for a dramatic weekend worthy of “Lommelwood” as the deep sand never fails to deliver an exciting Grand Prix!
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 665 Points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 618 Pts; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 606 Pts; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 520 Pts; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 492 Pts; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 Pts; 7. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 417 Pts; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 330 Pts; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 306 Pts; 10. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 299 Pts.
TIMETABLE
SATURDAY: 08:05 EMXOpen Group 1 Free practice, 08:30 EMXOpen Group 2 Free practice, 08:55 EMX125 Group 1 Free practice, 09:25 EMX125 Group 2 Free practice, 09:55 EMXOpen Group 1 Qualifying practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 11:50 EMXOpen Group 2 Qualifying practice, 12:30 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying practice, 13:05 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 EMXOpen Race 1, 15:45 EMX125 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 RAM Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP RAM Qualifying Race.
SUNDAY: 09:40 EMXOpen Race 2, 11:30 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
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