The deep Dutch sand of Arnhem played host to round 16 of the FIM World Motocross Championships, and the MXGP of The Netherlands attracted a packed house of passionate fans who could possibly look forward to a clean sweep of all four racing classes for their heroes across the weekend!
The extra attraction of the debut of the Ducati Factory MX Team, with their Desmo450 MX machine being ridden by none other than nine-time World Champion Antonio Cairoli, brought many curious fans into the paddock area to see what the iconic Italian brand’s first foray into Motocross actually looked like.
The MXGP class delivered exactly what the home crowd were looking for, a dominant double win for Jeffrey Herlings. However, “The Bullet” had to dig deep into his seemingly bottomless barrel of strength and resolve to climb from outside the top ten in race one! Then a straight fight with his two main Championship rivals in race two had the packed venue spellbound as the atmosphere stayed tense until the very end of the racing!
The battle for the MX2 World Championship between the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammates continued to swing one way and then the other, with Lucas Coenen denying Kay de Wolf of the home victory he so craved. The Dutch teenager suffered a pair of crashes that cost him a small slice of his Championship lead.
MXGP
MXGP red plate holder Tim Gajser was marginally faster than Jeffery Herlings in the morning warm-up, but it was the Qualifying Race winner Glenn Coldenhoff who took the Holeshot in race one with a carbon copy of his first corner move from Saturday!
Reigning World Champion Jorge Prado immediately gave chase in second, Kevin Horgmo started among the factory men in third place! Jeremy Seewer and Romain Febvre started fourth and fifth ahead of Gajser, but Herlings was outside the top ten after getting cut off into the first corner from his far inside gate position. It was even worse for Calvin Vlaanderen, who fell in turn one and would take no further part in the event.
Before the end of the first full lap, Prado did what he couldn’t do on Saturday and passed Coldenhoff for the lead, aware that he had to make ground at the front to avoid a repeat of the events at Lommel. Herlings had got to seventh ahead of Vlaanderen’s teammate Jago Geerts, enjoying his first full GP race in MXGP! Unable to make a move on Febvre stick, it wasn’t until lap five that “The Bullet” started to make progress, and at this point, he was 18 seconds behind leader Prado, as Gajser had worked his way into third ahead of Horgmo and Seewer.
Those two succumbed to the growing speed of Herlings on lap five, but it still took until lap eleven for the record GP winner to advance past Febvre for fourth. In the meantime, Toni Cairoli had not enjoyed a great start, and was to finish in fifteenth spot, still scoring six Championship points for Ducati to add to his four points from Saturday.
Herlings caught Gajser for third on lap thirteen, making short work of the Championship leader, as Prado and Coldenhoff started to appear on his horizon! With the bellowing crowd urging him on, the #84 drew alongside the Fantic at the top of the circuit, and the two Dutch heroes nearly collided in mid-air in a heart-stopping moment for the home crowd! Herlings then blasted around the outside of “The Hoff” to take second, and a lap later did the same thing to Prado as the crowd roared for their hero’s efforts! True to his Champion’s mindset, the Spaniard did not give up and pressured the Dutchman to the flag, causing nails to be chewed as the final margin was just over three seconds!
Race two saw a straight blast into the first corner from Coldenhoff to complete his perfect start trilogy for the weekend, and his fourth Holeshot Award of the year! This time though, the three title combatants were snapping at his rear wheel immediately, with Gajser second and Herlings railing around Prado in the second corner to take third! Behind them was Geerts and Mattia Guadagnini, as once more the two Kawasaki men were locked together, Seewer in front of Febvre just within the top ten!
On the first full lap, Herlings briefly veered off-track slightly, giving Prado his chance to move into third, and on the second lap the Spaniard closed on Gajser, the pair of them swapping places and nearly clashing in mid-air as they threw their machines sideways just millimetres apart over the Finish Line jump! Their battle drew them to the real wheel of Coldenhoff, and in the Championship order of Gajser, Prado, and Herlings they all passed the Fantic to leave him in fourth position, and off the overall podium.
Febvre got past Seewer for fifth, and the men in green finished in that order ahead of Guadagnini. All eyes were at the front, however, as Gajser grimly hung on until lap seven, as under pressure from Herlings it was Prado who took the lead from the Slovenian. “The Bullet” was not to be denied, however, and on lap eight he managed to sweep past both of his rivals, outworking Prado through the waves as the entire venue shook with the fans getting behind their star man!
From there, it calmed down at the front as Herlings powered to a 9.4 second win ahead of Prado, although Gajser had several big moments before a crash over a jump he was having particular trouble with. This left him within striking distance of Coldenhoff, desperate to get on his home GP podium which he just missed out on last year. Gajser knew he was going to lose points to his rivals as it was, and dug in to stop the rot and at least salvage a podium for the weekend.
Coldenhoff would have to settle for fourth overall ahead of Febvre, Seewer, and a consistent Andrea Bonacorsi, who was seventh overall. Guadagnini ended the weekend in eighth ahead of Horgmo, and Alberto Forato rounded out the top ten for his best result of an injury-affected season. Sadly, Cairoli was unable to finish the second race and pulled into the pits on lap six.
Herlings celebrated his 107th Grand Prix victory, his 15th on home sand, and closed to within 35 points of Gajser in the title chase. Prado now sits just nine points behind the Slovenian, although both of the top two are looking forward to the four hard-pack circuits that close out the year. If those GPs are half as good as the one at Arnhem, they are going to make for amazing viewing!
“I finally got a good start, I think I was third and I followed Glenn (Coldenhoff) and Tim (Gajser) for a while,” Herlings reflected. “I just wanted to try to attack, you know and I made a mistake and Jorge came past me and I tried to follow them and you know, once they passed Glenn, I straight passed Glenn as well and then I managed to pass Tim and obviously got quite the lead. So I’m really pumped with a 1-1 at home. So it’s been a while since I’ve won a home GP, so I’m very happy with it. And I’m just, uh, I’m just looking forward to Switzerland next weekend.”
MX2
Kay De Wolf made a statement by being massively faster in the morning warm-up and lined up next to his teammate on the grid. Suddenly it looked like Lucas Coenen dropped backwards, just making contact with the gate to slow him down from the launch!
Sacha Coenen once more grabbed the holeshot, for the fifteenth time this season, and it was actually a Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1-2-3 at the front with Liam Everts and Andrea Adamo giving chase to their younger teammate! That was until the fourth corner when De Wolf got past Adamo through a difficult wave section. Everts was quickly into the lead, and before the end of the first lap, the red plate holder had also passed the holeshotting Coenen.
The other Coenen, Lucas, had recovered well to cross the line in sixth position at the end of the first full lap! As he challenged Camden McLellan, his teammate was closing in on Everts, and with his home crowd’s roar of approval, De Wolf took the lead from the Belgian and started to drop the hammer, although Lucas was working hard and passed McLellan and Adamo on consecutive laps, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap five as he had a clear track towards Everts!
De Wolf was looking untouchable out front, but Lucas kept on charging. Everts and Adamo kept their solid third and fourth positions as McLellan held off a challenge from Rick Elzinga to claim fifth place. Elzinga in turn held back his teammate Karlis Reisulis, while Mikkel Haarup came home a disappointed eighth. Sacha Coenen faded back to tenth behind the equally disappointed Simon Laengenfelder, in what proved to be the worst weekend of the German’s season.
Lucas mercilessly closed in on De Wolf, if only to send his teammate a message about his speed, and as the Belgian chased across the line just under a second behind the home hero, his hand gesture made it clear that he would be after revenge in race two!
It started well for De Wolf, however, as the two started next to each other and the Dutchman got the better drop, although once more Sacha Coenen rocketed to the Holeshot line first. He now cannot be caught for the overall award for the season, being nine ahead of Laengenfelder with only eight races still to come!
Adamo was again right with him, and Jack Chambers got into third, before the waves saw him overtaken by Haarup, McLellan, and De Wolf, and the Dane took advantage of a slight wobble for the reigning Champ along the next straight to claim second. The series leader was quickly past Adamo as well, then carved inside the Triumph to leave just Sacha in front of him!
Lucas Coenen was the fastest man on track, however, and passed both Haarup and Adamo on lap five to put himself into third! Before De Wolf could catch Sacha out front, he collided with a lapped rider in a left-hander and hit the floor, re-mounting off-track while Lucas gratefully inherited second! A lap later he had passed his twin brother and set about stretching out a lead.
Liam Everts had fallen down to twelfth on the second lap and had to fight through his rivals to an eventual seventh, with wild-card Ivano van Erp behind him, while Haarup slipped to an eventual ninth ahead of a dejected Laengenfelder.
Adamo and McLellan got the better of Sacha Coenen, who finished a better sixth this time, as Elzinga put in a better performance to claim fifth at his home GP. De Wolf, however, crashed with two laps to go while trying to haul in Lucas Coenen, and with bent handlebars and worse on his machine, dropped backwards to fourth, powerless to prevent the charge of Adamo, who was ecstatic with second and therefore third overall, and third place finisher McLellan.
Lucas took the win by over 33 seconds and matched his teammate with his seventh career GP win and his second in succession. McLellan claimed fourth overall ahead of Everts, Elzinga, Sacha Coenen seventh, Haarup, Laengenfelder, and rounding out the top ten overall was Cas Valk, which will boost his confidence for his EMX250 title assault in weeks to come!
The gap between the top two is now 44 points, although sadly for Lucas Coenen he may need help to close that gap by 11 points per round as the final four GPs beckon!
“It was two really bad starts and then I made my way up,” Coenen explained. “It was quite tough to pass at some places so I found some of them and went second first race. Then, second race I wanted to win and also to get that start but then Kai made a mistake, I passed him, then passed my brother and just put the base up in the front and finish the race perfectly. So I mean, good weekend, now up to Switzerland.”
The last round of the final triple-header of the year takes place next weekend on the grasslands of Frauenfeld for the MXGP of Switzerland. Both classes should see more enthralling World Motocross action.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:52.707
2 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:03.244
3 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:04.637
4 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:13.281
5 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:31.188
6 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:55.258
7 Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:56.862
8 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:00.182
9 Alberto Forato (ITA, Honda), +1:05.013
10 Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +1:17.172
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:08.709
2 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:09.413
3 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:11.378
4 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:11.871
5 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:25.059
6 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:59.787
7 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:01.385
8 Brent Van doninck (BEL, Honda), +1:03.868
9 Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +1:11.940
10 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:17.119
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 Points
2 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 44 Points
3 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 38 Points
4 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 38 Points
5 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 32 Points
6 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 30 Points
7 Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 26 Points
8 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 24 Points
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 24 Points
10 Alberto Forato (ITA, HON), 22 Points
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 801 Points
2 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 792 Points
3 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 766 Points
4 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 550 Points
5 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 547 Points
6 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 495 Points
7 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 492 Points
8 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 359 Points
9 Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 306 Points
10 Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 283 Points
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 34:22.715
2 Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.998
3 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:38.624
4 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:44.482
5 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:47.748
6 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:50.199
7 Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:53.232
8 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:53.811
9 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +1:12.596
10 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:23.200
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:53.956
2 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:33.450
3 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:34.190
4 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:46.209
5 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:47.124
6 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:53.057
7 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +1:07.904
8 Ivano Van Erp (NED, Yamaha), +1:12.606
9 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +1:15.568
10 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +1:25.211
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1 Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 47 Points
2 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 43 Points
3 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 40 Points
4 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 36 Points
5 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 34 Points
6 Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 31 Points
7 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 26 Points
8 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 25 Points
9 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 23 Points
10 Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 20 Points
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 777 Points
2 Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 733 Points
3 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 676 Points
4 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 636 Points
5 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 545 Points
6 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 542 Points
7 Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 492 Points
8 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 444 Points
9 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 315 Points
10 Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 290 Points
