MXGP

Jeffrey Herlings continued his domination from the Qualifying Race to post the fastest time in morning Warm-up, half a second quicker than Tim Gajser, as Calvin Vlaanderen got into the top three for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.

For the first time this year, Maxime Renaux took the Fox Holeshot Award for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, with Herlings giving chase ahead of the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP duo of Pauls Jonass and Romain Febvre, although Gajser was rapidly on the move and moved up to third by the end of the first full lap!

For Championship challenger Lucas Coenen, it was a tough start to what would be a very tough race, as he went through the first sector of the track in 12th place on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine!  He quickly made a sequence of passes, however, to fight his way into eighth place, amazingly finding his title rival Febvre right in front of him after the Frenchman made a few errors to slip back into the Belgian’s crosshairs!

Ruben Fernandez had tucked into fifth, behind Jonass and ahead of Glenn Coldenhoff, whose Fantic Factory Racing MXGP teammate Andrea Bonacorsi was ninth behind the two title combatants, while Jeremy Seewer started well in tenth for Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team.

Coldenhoff made a slight mistake after the wave section and suddenly the top two riders in the Championship went either side of the Dutchman, who was closing in on clinching third in the series this weekend.  Coenen looked ready to make a move on Febvre, but was never quite able to pull the trigger, and his target started to disappear as the Kawasaki man re-grouped to pass Fernandez for fifth on lap six.

Renaux was setting a steady pace out front, but Herlings and Gajser kept him in sight.  However, Coenen suddenly seemed to hit a physical wall and dropped behind first Coldenhoff, then Bonacorsi, to finish lap 11 in ninth place.  That’s where he would finish, ahead of Vlaanderen, who had passed Seewer on lap 12 to secure a top ten result.

Jonass made a mistake to slip to sixth on lap 13, still his best result since returning from injury, while the Fantic men took seventh and eighth, Coldenhoff keeping Bonacorsi behind him despite a couple of passing attempts from the Italian.

Herlings put in an incredible late charge to close up on Renaux, attacking the Frenchman in both of the two corners before the finish line straight, before firing past up the start straight to make the race his own! Gajser followed him through on the penultimate lap, but both riders scored their best results since their early season injuries.  Febvre stayed ahead of Fernandez for fourth, stretching his lead over Coenen to 36 points.

The teenage Belgian looked to have got himself into a stronger position as he challenged for the Fox Holeshot Award, which ultimately went to Gajser, at the start of race two.  However, Lucas lost the front wheel in the second corner and had to restart a long way behind the very back of the pack.  Renaux also got caught up in the incident, but was able to get going again with riders directly in front of him.

Just as Coenen hit the deck, Herlings was able to fire to the inside of Gajser to take the early lead, with Febvre third ahead of Fernandez. Sadly for Jonass, he fell on the exit of the third corner, remounting just ahead of Coenen as they chased after the pack in tandem.

Vlaanderen picked up the baton in fifth ahead of Bonacorsi and Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Mattia Guadagnini.  He was passed on lap two by the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP machine of Jago Geerts, while Ben Watson started ninth on the MRT Racing Team Beta, with Coldenhoff in tenth, until he passed the Brit on lap three.

Herlings powered away at the front, setting the Acerbis Fastest Lap on lap two, although Gajser latched onto his tail and kept him in site. Fernandez, meanwhile, sensing that Febvre was unlikely to push to the limit with the title on the line, launched an aggressive attack on the series leader and pushed past him on the final corner of the circuit at the end of lap four.

Coenen was unable to climb any higher than 14th, while Jonass got up to 12th at the flag, good enough for ninth overall ahead of Geerts, who put a strong pass on Bonacorsi to finish seventh in race two. The two Fantic riders finished together again, but this time the Italian was eighth ahead of Coldenhoff, with Guadagnini taking tenth at the flag. Renaux was able to put on a great charge through the pack to take sixth at the flag, one point away from a podium finish, taking fifth overall ahead of Vlaanderen, Bonacorsi, and Coldenhoff in eighth.

This result was good enough to clinch third in the Championship for the Dutch veteran, matching his career best Championship finish from 2019. Febvre, meanwhile, closed in on the medal they all want, the gold one, with fourth overall taking him 47 points away from Coenen as they head to the final round in Australia!

Third overall for Fernandez was the Spaniard’s third podium of the year, but Gajser pushed to the very end of the race in an effort to take the GP victory away from “The Bullet”! The Slovenian finished just seven-tenths of a second behind to take second overall, his first podium since his return from his early season shoulder injury.  The effort from Gajser was acknowledged by Herlings in animated conversation on the podium!

As for Jeffrey, he recorded his 112th Grand Prix victory, moved past Vlaanderen into fifth in the Championship, and now sits only 17 points behind Fernandez for fourth!  It was another incredible effort in conditions he freely confesses to despising!

The final round in Australia promises to be even hotter in many ways!

Jeffrey Herlings: " I did it, but honestly right now I feel like a chicken that’s been on the barbecue for an hour. The heat was so tough. Coming from Holland, I’m not used to these conditions, back home it was 12–13 degrees, and then here it’s just shocking. Carrying the speed was okay, but the heat really got to me. Tim [Gajser] pressured me the whole weekend, every race, and it wasn’t easy at all. Maybe it looked simple, but this was one of the hardest ones for me to win. To make it three GP wins in a row after only six weeks back on the bike, I’m really happy with that. It just shows how stacked the field is, even with fewer riders on the gate, the quality is still really high."

Tim Gajser: "It was a good weekend. Not easy, especially with the hot weather, but I feel like I’m slowly coming back to my old self again after the injury. In the beginning of the season I was struggling, but step by step it’s been getting better. Today the first race was really hot, the second was a bit nicer as the sun was going down, but Jeffrey [Herlings] and I kept pushing each other all the way. The battles were really nice. I even tried on the last lap to make a move, but he was riding perfectly, covering all the insides and not making mistakes. I just came up a little short, but I’m still happy to be back on the podium. Now I want to finish the season strong and carry good motivation into next year."

Ruben Fernandez: "I’m really happy to step back onto the podium again. The last few races have been tough for me, I struggled in the sand and also wasn’t feeling like myself. Together with the team we tried to figure things out with the bike and get me as comfortable as possible. I wanted to finish the season stronger, and this podium definitely helps. In the second race I felt that fire again. I knew I couldn’t waste time, so I made a strong move on Romain [Febvre] and went through because I didn’t want to repeat the first race where I got stuck behind him all race. I also knew it was for the podium, from fourth to third, so that gave me extra motivation. My speed was good, and in the end I just managed my pace and brought it home."

MX2

Championship leader Simon Längenfelder set the fastest time by over a second and a half in morning Warm-up, when the track was still soft from the overnight rain.  Mathis Valin took second in the session for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2, with Andrea Adamo showing his intent to improve on his result from Saturday with the third best time.

Sacha Coenen rocketed out of the start gate once again to claim his 16th Fox Holeshot Award of the season in race one, while Valin and Honda HRC’s Valerio Lata disputed second overall, until Valin ran out of space and fell on the third corner, getting stuck under the bike until the whole field had gone past him!

Kay de Wolf worked his way into fourth in the first few corners, directly behind Längenfelder, until he pushed to the inside of the German in a left-hand corner, forcing a mistake that also allowed his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammate Liam Everts to get past his title rival!  By the end of the first full lap however, the red plate holder was back past Everts, and followed De Wolf past Lata so that the winners of the last seven GPs were in second and third by lap four, but Sacha was already eight seconds up the track!

Adamo closed in on Lata to take fourth with two laps to go, with the younger Italian able to take fifth ahead of Everts. The Monster Energy Triumph Racing teammates Camden McLellan and Guillem Farres took seventh and eighth, with the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pairing of Rick Elzinga and Karlis Reisulis rounding out the top ten.

Längenfelder got briefly close to De Wolf, but the Dutchman pulled away over the last few laps to make back the two points he lost to the German on Saturday.  Neither of them could catch Sacha Coenen, despite the rapid Belgian crashing dramatically on the final lap, fortunately able to restart quickly and salvage a final winning advantage of a mere 7.865 seconds!

In race two, it was the turn of his teammate Längenfelder to grab his seventh Fox Holeshot Award of the season, a tally only bettered by the mercurial Coenen, and it was perfect timing for the series leader as De Wolf fought into the top five, unable to advance past a battle between Lata and Coenen for second, with Adamo also in the mix!  First Coenen, then the two previous World Champions, moved past the young Honda rider on lap one, while Farres and McLellan also pounced on the beleaguered Italian!  The top six stayed in that order until lap seven, when Adamo sliced past Coenen up the start straight, and McLellan passed Farres to take fifth.  Coenen then crashed hard trying to re-pass Adamo into turn two, messing up his goggles which he soon discarded!

Everts took seventh from Elzinga with four laps to go, as Valin claimed ninth in the race ahead of Reisulis.  Elzinga and Reisulis took ninth and tenth overall behind Lata, with McLellan, Everts, and Farres taking fifth to seventh overall.

De Wolf closed right in on Coenen in the final few laps, just unable to make a pass as he landed off-track with his best effort over a fast jump, but his title rival was unable to hold back his own pursuer in the shape of Adamo! The Italian, in the race that saw him mathematically eliminated as a title contender, made an inside pass stick that knocked Längenfelder from first to third in the GP, lifted Adamo to second overall, and put the goggle-less Sacha Coenen to the top of the podium for his fourth career GP victory!

Adamo’s race win was his first since Sweden a month ago, and De Wolf was unable to climb the podium, finishing fourth overall as he faces a 16-point gap to make up at the final GP in Australia.  Längenfelder, proving in China that he can deal with the heat much better than he did in Argentina, has just one more testing GP ahead to try and claim his first World Championship!

Will the two red plate holders be able to convert them to gold at the final Grand Prix down under?  It all starts this Saturday coming, as we conclude the season with the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler, at the brand new venue of the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex in Darwin!  Make sure you join us mate, it's gonna be a ripper!

Sacha Coenen: "It was a really difficult weekend for everybody with the conditions, but I still managed to win two races out of three. In the last one things got a bit crazy, I made a stupid mistake trying to pass Andrea [Adamo], crashed, and had to come back. On top of that I had to throw away my goggles because they were full of water, so I rode 15 minutes without them, which was really hard. But overall I’m happy to win here. Even in the first race I had a small crash on the last lap when I lost the front, but I could still win it, so that was good. Of course, I’m never completely satisfied because I want to win all three races, but it’s part of learning. When you win, it’s good, but you can always take something from it." 

Andrea Adamo: "It feels really good to be back on the box. In the first race my bad start basically ruined the race—it’s so difficult to come through when you don’t start well, even if the speed is there. Toward the end I had good lap times, maybe even the fastest on track, so that gave me confidence. In the second race I started around fourth, passed straight away, and then was behind Sacha and Simon. I made my move on Sacha when he made a small mistake, and then I really pushed to close on Simon. I tried to set a strong pace, and I could see he was getting more tired than me in the end, so I managed to pass and win the race. The heat was tough, of course, but it looked like the others were suffering more, and I think I was one of the best at recovering between the races. That gave me confidence to keep pushing."

Simon Laengenfelder: "Overall it was a good weekend. I was especially happy with my starts—they were really strong here, and in the second race I even got the holeshot again, which was nice. That allowed me to stay out of trouble and ride my own lines. On the track I felt good, especially in the second race, even though Andrea passed me in the end. It was still a positive result, and very important for the championship. I don’t know the exact points, but I’ve built up a nice gap heading into the last round in Australia. That makes me feel good, but I also know anything can happen, so I’ll just try to be ready for everything. The heat will be a factor again, but I heard it’s less humid there, which is nicer. Here you never stop sweating and it’s hard to recover between races, so hopefully it will be a bit better next week. I’m looking forward to it."