MXGP

In the morning Warm-Up session, Jeffrey Herlings put in a late quick lap to finish as the fastest ahead of his old foes of the last decade-plus, yesterday’s Qualifying Race winner Tim Gajser, and Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s #1 plate holder Romain Febvre.

The Honda HRC Petronas duo of Herlings and Tom Vialle, returning from injury this weekend, closely disputed the race one Fox Holeshot Award, which just went to the Dutchman for the second time this season as he tore up the first hill with his teammate in his wake, followed by Maxime Renaux, the sole Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen, and home hero Alberto Forato in fifth for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.

Caught in a vice in the first corner between Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and the TEM JP253 KTM of fellow Slovenian Jan Pancar was Gajser, and in the hustle and bustle a foot peg played havoc with the front wheel of the factory Yamaha, and he had to pull into Pit Lane for a hasty wheel change, putting him nearly a lap down and with no hope of repeating his success from yesterday!

His teammate, though, was on a mission, carving to the inside of his countryman Vialle to take second on lap three, and he looked extremely threatening on the back wheel of Herlings for most of the first half of the race!  Meanwhile, Forato had been displaced by Pancar and the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver, with the Red Bull KTMs of Adamo and Lucas Coenen in eighth and tenth, either side of Febvre!

Coenen immediately began his march through the field, although it was executed with supreme patience for a 19-year-old with the MXGP red plate, and he picked off Febvre, Forato, and Oliver on successive laps.  Only two laps further on he was to squeeze past Adamo, then on to Pancar just another lap later for fifth by lap seven! Vialle meanwhile, re-adjusting to life at the sharp end of MXGP after his four-week break from racing, had been demoted by Vlaanderen with a smart inside move by the Ducati man through a sharp left-hand turn.

Further back, Oliver would just be moved out of the top ten by Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass, who finished in tenth behind Forato, with Pancar eighth.  Febvre was unable to get any further forward than sixth, which he took from Adamo with two laps to go. 

On lap nine, Lucas took a double portion as he passed both Vialle and Vlaanderen to move up to third.  And he wasn’t done there! As Vlaanderen put in his best finish yet for Ducati in fourth, holding off a counter-attack from Vialle, so Coenen charged up to the rear wheel of Renaux, urging the Frenchman up towards Herlings again!  The leading three did finish in that order, less than three seconds covering all of them!  It meant that “The Bullet”, with his 220th GP race win, and 35th on Italian territory, clawed back five points from the teenager’s series lead.

To the roar of his home crowd, Andrea Adamo started race two by claiming his first Fox Holeshot Award in the MXGP class, but Gajser was immediately in his wheel-tracks, desperate to make up for the first race when he finished less than a second from scoring points after fighting from the very back! Vialle, Coenen, and Renaux were also in contention, but Herlings showed incredible aggression in the first half-lap to get to fourth, although he survived a big moment in the waves while trying to pass his teammate Vialle, just after bolting past Coenen!  The points leader himself then made his own mistake to allow the Dutchman back in front of him, and by the end of the first full lap Herlings had made the move on Vialle for third.

Renaux was behind Coenen in sixth, with Pancar, Oliver, Febvre, and Jonass in an orange and green train behind them!  Oliver dropped behind the two Kawasaki men, and a fired-up Vlaanderen, who got into the top ten on lap three.

Adamo resisted Gajser with the fans urging him on, but the Slovenian took his first half-chance to carve inside the KTM at the top of the track, and the move forced the Italian wide, over-balancing further to head off the side of the track briefly, but long enough to allow both Herlings and Coenen past as well. There followed a thrilling sequence of laps where the two five-time World Champions and the series leader showed considerable intensity, but no passes could be made as their fortunes ebbed and flowed with every attempt at an overtake!

Behind them, Adamo showed great tenacity to hold onto fourth until the flag, while Febvre put a determined move on Renaux for fifth with three laps to go.  Vialle dropped from fifth to ninth with a small crash a lap earlier. Pancar and Jonass were beneficiaries to claim seventh and eighth, while Vlaanderen held tenth, just behind Vialle at the finish line.

Gajser’s race win, his second for Yamaha and the 99th of his career, put him ninth overall ahead of Jonass, and two points behind his fellow Slovenian Pancar in eighth overall, matching his best of the year from the previous round in Latvia!  Vialle’s seventh was a solid return from two GPs away, and Vlaanderen, in his last GP before turning 30 years old this week, took his and Ducati’s best result of the year in sixth overall.

Adamo was to finish a point ahead of Febvre on the day in fourth overall, but Renaux was very happy with his second podium of the season, as both he and Honda HRC Petronas’ Ruben Fernandez, beaten up after a crash on Saturday and struggling to 13th overall today, jumped ahead of the absent Kay de Wolf in the Championship, after the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing man had to sit out the GP due to injuries in the same incident as the Spaniard.  Renaux is now back up to fifth in the standings ahead of Fernandez. 

Coenen was delighted with second overall on a track which he didn’t much fancy from the outset, and Herlings’ victory puts him a little closer to the Belgian, now 56 points down as we approach the halfway point in the series.

The red dirt of Agueda beckons the MXGP elite to the shores of Portugal next weekend, and it should be another wide open, fervent affair!

Jeffrey Herlings: "I had the speed to win all weekend long. Yesterday we missed the start and had to fight through the pack with Romain [Febvre] and Lucas [Coenen]. Today I took a gamble, going to the gate twice next to the box, and it paid off, especially in the first race where I got the holeshot and could lead. It's not easy leading with pressure all race, first from Maxime [Renaux] and then from Maxime and Lucas. In the second race I had a better start, then was behind Maxime until about six or seven minutes to go and I knew if I kept Lucas behind me, I’d win the overall.

That's another GP win, my fourth of the season. Credit to Honda, Gariboldi and the whole HRC Petronas team, they've worked so hard through the good and bad. We had two tough weekends in a row with DNFs, that cost us around 40 points in the championship, but we keep charging, and we're at the halfway point now. Racing against Lucas is good as he’s a fair, clean rider to pass, he's never done anything dirty to me, and racing him like that, he'll hopefully have a long career”

Lucas Coenen: "I'm happy to be standing here on the podium. Coming from the US, I wasn't expecting much here. When I went out for the first lap I looked at the team like, this isn't going to be good. In race one I had a bad jump and was almost last into the first corner, but I made some good passes and worked my way back to the front. In the second race I had a better start, and Jeffrey and I were battling back and forth. You don't want to make a big mistake, you have to be smart and play it cool, and that's what I did. At the end I had a small issue with my goggles, but I was happy to finish third with those two guys ahead of me."

Maxime Renaux: "Latvia was a disappointment, two technical issues, so it was a pretty dark weekend. We put that behind us and came here motivated to get some points back. I felt alright from the first day, even with the heat. I'm struggling a bit with my health at the moment, so it was hard physically. In the first race I pushed hard on Jeffrey trying to find a way past, then Lucas came flying at the end, so I had to give everything on the last lap, I think it was my best lap of the race. In the second race I had a good start but hit neutral in a corner and lost a couple of positions. From the fourth lap I was really struggling physically, but finishing on the podium is a good step forward for the season and the championship.

The battle with Jeffrey was intense. The first fifteen minutes we had a really good pace, we pulled away from everyone, then I realised I wasn't sure I could make the pass, I was getting tired from the heat. I backed off a little and followed his pace. Then I saw Lucas closing on the board, so I woke up because he was coming. By the end we'd caught Jeffrey and were right on his wheel. It's hard to follow someone that closely, you're a bit blind, and then you've got Lucas trying to find a way past. It was a really entertaining race, hopefully we'll have more like that this season."

MX2

In the morning Warm-Up session, Guillem Farres gave further proof of his pace with the fastest lap, while Liam Everts took second for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.  Another rider whose Qualifying Race was affected by the first corner pile-up, Janis Reisulis, took third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.

After their Qualifying Race problems at the start, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo Sacha Coenen and Simon Längenfelder made amends by firing into the first corner together, and this time upright! The Belgian made a mistake on acceleration, however, and the German claimed his second Fox Holeshot Award of the season ahead of the Osička KTM of Julius Mikula! Coenen did hold onto third initially, but then ran wide in the corner in front of Pit Lane and lost a lot of places!

Honda HRC Petronas’ sole MX2 rider Valerio Lata was in a strong third initially, but Farres was quickly on his case, and Janis Reisulis was also in the top five.   Coenen recovered to sixth by the end of the first full lap, ahead of Maddi Racing Honda ABF Italia’s Maxime Grau, on a weekend where the local team and their rider enjoyed sleeping in their own beds between days at the track! 

Farres started to advance on lap three, disposing of Lata with a rapid inside move on an uphill corner, then passing Mikula on lap four put him in a prime spot to close on the reigning Champion.  The job was done with an opportunistic move in one of the slowest corners of the track, and from there the Spaniard was not to be challenged on the way to his fifth win of the season.

Coenen had done great work to advance to third, but took his time to get onto terms with Längenfelder, which he eventually did by simply outpacing the German under braking with four laps to go!

Meanwhile, Everts took advantage of his throttle control to advance to fourth, and looked within range of Längenfelder on the final lap, while Qualifying Race winner Mathis Valin also fought from an average start to get to fifth at the flag for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2.  Sixth was a fine return to action for Mikula, while Camden McLellan had to overcome an early crash to finish seventh, passing Janis Reisulis with two laps to go. Grau finished behind the Latvian in ninth, and local boy from nearby Florence Ferruccio Zanchi, hampered by a last gate pick for the Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team, did supremely well to fight up to tenth. 

After a brief rain shower before the start of race two, Längenfelder again took the Fox Holeshot Award by half a wheel from Coenen, although the lighter Belgian powered into the lead up the first big hill! Valin, Everts, and Lata gave chase, and the Champ made life difficult for himself by running wide in turn three, also struggling by Pit Lane, and dropping back to eighth by the end of the first full lap!

McLellan had a much better getaway this time, and was sat behind Valin and Everts while Sacha tried to streak away to secure the overall win.  With Farres struggling outside the top 15 initially, the South African kept the Triumph team on edge as he skilfully passed Everts on lap four, then closed in to take advantage of a Valin mistake, moving into second on lap nine! They had all caught up to Coenen after the Belgian slid sideways exiting the waves, and McLellan needed only one lap more to find a way to blast around the outside of the Belgian and into the lead!

Coenen rode a controlled race, safe in the knowledge that the overall victory was his, and that he was ahead of his biggest Championship rivals. Everts out-braked Valin to take third with three laps to go, while Farres recovered to a brilliant fifth to claim second place overall behind Coenen.

Lata only dropped as far as sixth this time, the best of the home contingent in ninth overall.  Behind him in the race was Grau, matching his best race finish of seventh and his best career result of eighth overall! Mikula’s eighth overall was good enough for seventh on the day, while Janis and his brother Karlis Reisulis rounded out the top ten in race two for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.  Janis claimed tenth overall.

Mysteriously, Längenfelder could manage no higher than 12th in race two, putting him sixth overall and leading to him dropping to fourth in the Championship.  Everts and Valin finished just off the podium in fourth and fifth.

It was joy for McLellan, however, who finally took his second race win of the season after his victorious day in Spain at round two! It lifted the South African to third in the Championship, as well as third in the MXGP of Italy.

However, the day belonged to Sacha Coenen, who showed great patience to win overall with a 2-2 score-line for the first time in his life, and claim the seventh GP victory of his career! His advantage over Farres is now 35 points as we head towards the halfway point of the season, with McLellan just another 17 further behind.  The Triumph guys have momentum, but Coenen is also looking strong.  Who will prevail at the MXGP of Portugal in just six days’ time?

The Coenen twins and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing squad maintain a firm grip on the red plates, but the leading contenders are still in the hunt as we head to Agueda! See you out there!

Sacha Coenen: "It was a difficult weekend, but it was the same for everyone. Even though a couple of riders were faster than me today, I managed to finish second and second and take the overall win, so I'm pretty happy with that. I also took some time to find my rhythm. In the first race I had a good start but messed up in a corner and dropped back, then made a mistake before the pit lane and lost more places. I had to fight back, and finished second behind Guillem, with my best lap coming as I passed Simon [Längenfelder], so I had good flow at the end. I was trying to be safe out there because there were a lot of riders to get past, so I just focused on racing smart this weekend."

Guillem Farres: "I felt okay yesterday, I had a good pace and felt comfortable. I had a small crash in qualifying and had to work hard to get back to second. Today, in the first race, I didn't get the best start and had to work my way up again, I had some good opening laps and made some good passes. In the second race my start was terrible, and unfortunately, I crashed on the first lap and was buried at the back. From there I tried to salvage some points but could only get back to fifth.

It's not only about the race win for me. I felt like I had good pace this weekend, it's frustrating to crash on the first lap, that was all on me, my own mistake. Still, it was a solid weekend, around fifty points, so it's not too bad. We know we belong and we're in the fight every weekend, which makes me happy, but it's frustrating to lose my chances like that in the first lap. We'll learn from it and keep going."

Camden McLellan: "I was pretty annoyed after my first race, and honestly after the whole weekend. I was half asleep until the gate dropped yesterday, then I had a moment of reflection and started riding well. So I was already fired up yesterday, and today I felt good from warm up. I'd been riding at about eighty percent all weekend, I wasn't willing to risk it the way some other riders were, and it was working. The first race was tough, I got a bad start and crashed on the first lap, my own mistake. I was frustrated and knew I'd already ruined my chances of an overall. Speed wise I felt really strong, and I backed it up with a good second race, I was fired up and wouldn't have accepted anything less than a race win, so I'm happy I delivered on that.

For sure, riding on Triumph gives extra confidence. Already on Friday's track walk we know what we've got and which conditions might suit us, and I think this was one of them. I quite liked the track, I thought it was easy to make passes on. I came from way back yesterday and again today in the first race, and we worked our way through. I think that's part of what makes it interesting, you have to be smarter about the risks you take, and that's what the world championship is about, different circuit, different terrain each week. I'm happy with it, I think they did a good job with the track today."