Before we report on any of the racing itself, we hope you all join us in sending our very best wishes to Thibault Benistant, the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul rider who was enjoying his first home GP in the premier class, and scored his first Qualifying Race points of the season on Saturday.  The tall Frenchman, who had a crowd of enthusiastic fans in attendance with special #9 shirts to show their support, collided and crashed with another rider on the opening lap of MXGP race one, and after being initially treated trackside, was taken to hospital by air ambulance. While waiting for an official updae, the whole paddock wishes him a full and smooth recovery.

The MXGP class saw a pitched battle for the overall win between the top two in the Championship, and it was the chaser, Jeffrey Herlings, who added to his Qualifying Race win from yesterday with 2-1 finishes today to claim his third victory of the year for Honda HRC Petronas, with equal scoring to first race winner Lucas Coenen, who keeps the red plate by a narrow two points for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.  Third overall, after a tough weekend of never giving up, was French talisman and defending World Champion Romain Febvre, taking 7-3 results to the podium for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.

The MX2 class saw some incredible battles throughout the day, but ultimately the Grand Prix win went to Spanish star Guillem Farres, his first career victory being hard-fought and well-earned with a maximum 1-1 on the day, with his Triumph Racing Factory Team stablemate Camden McLellan completing the joy for the team with second overall, ahead of home hero Mathis Valin, who took his second straight podium for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2.

Despite the concern over Thibault, the French crowd had seen a thrilling day of racing and celebrated two of their own making it to the podium.  Many will be back to get behind them again at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations at Ernée in October!

MXGP

Scoring just fifth in the Qualifying Race, reigning World Champion Romain Febvre took the fastest time in morning Warm-Up to give the early rising fans something to cheer for, while yesterday’s winner Jeffrey Herlings took second spot, and Maxime Renaux showed that he was fired up for his home round with third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.

Febvre was nose-to-nose with Lucas Coenen down the start straight for race one, however, and the Belgian held the inside line to take his third Fox Holeshot Award of the season, ahead of a pitched battle between Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and Tom Vialle, who briefly took second for Honda HRC Petronas before the Italian fought back.

This helped Coenen to power away in the early laps, as Herlings passed Vialle around the outside into the final corner before the start of the first full lap.  Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Dutch flyer Kay de Wolf held fifth ahead of the duelling Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP pairing of Renaux and Tim Gajser, but Febvre, having been pushed wide in that first corner, came around in ninth behind his Latvian Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP teammate Pauls Jonass.

It took until the fourth lap for Herlings to get past Adamo, which he did by out-jumping the Italian out of the furthest corner of the circuit. Vialle tipped over in a cambered corner shortly afterwards to drop from fourth to seventh, behind De Wolf and the two factory Yamaha men.  Instantly putting in the fastest lap of the race, Herlings got to within 3.5 seconds of Coenen, but the teenager responded with a similar time immediately after, and put in enough of a margin to keep Herlings in second to the flag.

Gajser put in a real shift of work in the first half of the race, passing Renaux on lap five, De Wolf on lap nine, and finally Adamo with a sweet outside move on lap ten!  Adamo was unable to prevent his successor as MX2 World Champion, De Wolf, from pulling an aggressive pass to take fourth for good on lap 14 of 20.  He was able to keep Renaux back though, as the Frenchman with the special “X-Ray” kit slid to the ground while trying to pass the Italian. 

He had to remount quickly to salvage sixth from his chasing countrymen, as Febvre and Vialle came home seventh and eighth. Ruben Fernandez fought hard to claim ninth, ahead of a season-best ride from Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider Andrea Bonacorsi.

The second race started with a drag race between Coenen and Vialle into the first corner, but the Frenchman ran wide and crashed heavily in front of the pack, causing a pile-up that included Gajser, the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver,  Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Brent Van Doninck, and the returning MX-Handel Husqvarna Racing rider Kevin Brumann.  The race was red-flagged before the pack came around again, and Vialle and Gajser were unable to restart as their original motorcycles were too damaged to continue.

The restart actually saw the same top three as the first attempt, but in a different order as De Wolf claimed his second Fox Holeshot Award of the season, but was passed within three corners by first Herlings, then Coenen, while Jonass and the TEM JP253 KTM rider Jan Pancar collided in another first corner crash. Jonass recovered heroically to finish 11th, but the Slovenian had to retire after four laps.

Renaux and Febvre were fourth and fifth on the first lap, chased by Fernandez, Adamo, and Kevin Horgmo, riding superbly in an effort to lift the spirits of the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul squad.

Febvre was able to force past his countryman to take fourth on lap three, as the French pair reeled in De Wolf.  The Champ hassled the Dutchman for five laps, and the pair went back and forth in a thrilling battle on lap eight, finally going the way of the home hero!  Renaux then had his own battle with De Wolf, sealing the deal for fifth on lap ten! 

The scrapping wasn’t over for De Wolf, who then had to deal with a challenge from Fernandez!  He dropped behind the Spaniard, but ultimately got back up to fifth with three laps to go, and he held that spot to the flag! Adamo stayed solid in seventh, finishing sixth overall ahead of Fernandez. A late charge from Alberto Forato put the Fantic Factory Racing MXGP team leader into eighth, passing Horgmo on the penultimate lap.  Bonacorsi again came home in tenth, putting him eighth overall ahead of Gajser and Forato.  

The battle at the front, however, was absolutely enthralling.  The elder statesman held off the teenage tearaway throughout, despite constant attacks in the intense heat and difficult conditions.  Try as he might, the Belgian could not make the pass, and the pair were five seconds faster than anyone else on the all-out final lap! It was a stunning display of riding, giving Herlings his 115th career Grand Prix victory, and returning the points gap to just two between them, as they started the day!

Febvre was delighted with his second podium of the season, which puts him now ahead of both Gajser and Vialle in the standings, while De Wolf claimed fourth overall ahead of Renaux.  The Yamaha man is just one point behind Vialle for fifth in the series.

The “Battle of the Ages” is still well and truly on, and we return next week to Teutschenthal, where Herlings and Coenen had a mighty battle 12 months ago.  Who’s betting against another showdown on the German hardpack next weekend?!

Rider Quotes

Jeffrey Herlings: “He was quite close on me because I cramped in the last couple of laps. From Holland, where we haven’t had more than 20 degrees so far, then coming here at around 35! pushed hard, It’s not easy. Yesterday was a comfortable race. In the first race today I lost a bit of time overtaking a couple of riders and got gapped by about a second because of a five-second gap I wasn’t able to close. Second race, I was straight in the lead and got pressure for the full 18-20 laps. I managed not to make any mistakes; I could hear Lucas behind me the whole time. Just with three or four laps to go I started to cramp. I thought, this is not the right time for that. But we managed to keep charging and win. It’s going to be a heck of a season if we continue racing like this. I want to give it up to Team Gariboldi and HRC Petronas for the great job they’ve been doing, a lot of race wins but also a lot of improvements in testing. Big thanks to HRC and the people in Japan.”

Lucas Coenen: “I feel good. Just to start off, I hope Thibaut [Benistant] is OK. It’s never nice to see a rider down and just keep riding. Saturday was hard to pass on this track, but I managed to come back to third and then second. Today Jeffrey was strong, I was strong so 1-2 is a good weekend. In the second race I tried everywhere,  left and right and I couldn’t find a way through. He needed to make a mistake, honestly. I tried to move a little bit to avoid the roost but I felt bad doing it. I’m a little disappointed with the second race. But the weekend went great overall and I keep the red plate, which is important.”

Romain Febvre: “It was not expected, so it’s even more beautiful like this. In the first race I crashed and it took a lot of energy to come back and finish seventh — I didn’t expect to be on the podium after that. So I had to fight really hard in the second race. It’s really hot out there and it was the first time of the year in these conditions, so it was challenging, but we made it happen. I’m so happy to do it here in France. It’s time to recover and go again next week.”

MX2

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s title challenger Sacha Coenen might have lost his 100% Qualifying Race record yesterday, but the top time in the morning Warm-Up showed that he was ready to bounce back on Grand Prix day.  Camden McLellan was second fastest, ahead of Karlis Reisulis for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.

After a difficult Qualifying Race, Coenen set about making amends with his customary blazing start, taking his sixth Fox Holeshot Award of the season and attempting to escape at the head of the field. The crowd roared as Mathis Valin briefly held second, but Guillem Farres was swiftly past the home favourite on the downhill wave section, while Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s rapid rookie Janis Reisulis powered into fourth ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s red plate holder Simon Längenfelder and the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing machine of Liam Everts. 

Honda HRC Petronas’ sole MX2 rider Valerio Lata had crashed in turn one, and fought well to claim 12th at the flag, but the lead for Coenen was not to last long as he span round at the end of Pit Lane while beginning the first full lap!  This left Farres with a grip on the race ahead of Valin, while Coenen recovered well to restart fifth and snap past Längenfelder into fourth before the lap was done!

McLellan finished the first lap in seventh ahead of the Venum BUD Racing Kawasaki of Francisco Garcia and the Osička KTM of Julius Mikula.  On lap six, Längenfelder found his flow on the track and got back around Coenen, and suddenly also Janis Reisulis, to hold third by the start of lap seven! The Belgian also briefly passed the Latvian before getting cross-rutted in a deep corner and crashing off the side of the track!  He took his time to remount and came home a detuned eighth, ahead of Maxime Grau on the Maddii Racing Honda and Garcia in tenth.

The charge from McLellan put him past Everts on lap nine, then he profited from Janis Reisulis falling over the back wheel of a lapped rider to lie fourth. His charge wasn’t done as he hunted down the reigning Champion to take third on the penultimate lap! Everts was fifth behind the German, with Janis sixth and Mikula seventh. While Valin closed slightly, Farres had it all under control to win by over three seconds, celebrating his third race win of the year!

Janis Reisulis claimed his second Fox Holeshot Award of the year to kick start race two, by a whisker from the determined Valin! Everts was right there in third, but McLellan started much higher up and pulled a subtle but brilliant pass around the outside of both the Belgian and the Frenchman to go from fourth to second in one swoop!  Farres then pulled a similar move to pass Valin on the first full lap, and suddenly the terrier-like Spaniard was snapping at the heels of his teammate!

Neither of the top two title combatants started well, with Längenfelder sixth and Coenen seventh ahead of Karlis Reisulis, Lata, and Grau.  Farres was in a determined mood to take his first ever GP win, and chopped across the nose of his teammate to take second, before chasing down Janis Reisulis.  With overtaking becoming very difficult on the drying surface, the leading few held station as the Latvian simply did not yield to the chasing riders!

Outside the top five, Coenen took advantage of a late crash for Längenfelder to finish sixth, with the German seventh. Lata did well to claim eighth at the flag, with Grau ninth and Garcia again tenth!  This put the Spaniard tenth overall on his MX2 debut, a fine performance as he continues his EMX250 Championship campaign next weekend.  Lata finished ninth overall behind Grau, with Sacha Coenen losing four points on the day with seventh overall to Längenfelder’s fifth.  The gap is now eight points between the Red Bull KTM men.

Finally, on lap 18 of an eventual 20, the Reisulis resistance ended as Farres charged around him on the second corner of the track, and within a lap the Latvian dropped to fourth behind McLellan and Valin! Everts followed a lap after, so Janis’ fifth in race two and sixth overall really did not do his speed justice. The rookie’s time will come! Everts claimed fourth overall, dropping back from Farres in the Championship by 14 points over this weekend.

The drama wasn’t over at the front as McLellan suddenly closed right in on his teammate for the lead! On the penultimate corner, the South African went for an ambitious move around the outside, but Farres was not about to let a double win slip through his fingers and blocked the move! It was a Triumph Racing 1-2, both in the race and overall, and Farres was delighted with a perfect Sunday for his first Grand Prix victory!  He also halved the gap to the series leader to 20 points heading to Germany, where he took his first ever GP race win last year! 

Valin’s third place delighted the home fans, and put him on the podium for the second GP running as he passes Janis Reisulis for sixth in the series behind McLellan.

The Championship heads to the reigning Champ’s home GP in Germany next weekend, but Simon has never fared brilliantly at his home GP and will feel the pressure from the chasers. It’s sure to be a terrific tussle at the Talkessel!