Lucas Coenen delivers a perfect 1-1 rides in Swedish MX2 GP  

Words and images courtesy MXGP

The momentum in the MX2 World Championship shifted again after the MXGP of Sweden provided some incredible action at the Glimminge Motorstadion  circuit near Uddevalla, as Lucas Coenen delivered an imperious performance for a 1-1 scorecard for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, with his Championship leading teammate Kay de Wolf missing the podium to make that points gap smaller as well!

While Kay De Wolf had looked imperious on Saturday, events were not to give him such an easy ride on Grand Prix Sunday, as the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing machine of Simon Laengenfelder powered to the Fox Holeshot and led from Lucas Coenen and Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup.  De Wolf made his own mistake in the second corner and ran off the track, putting himself back to around 15th position and with a fight on his hands!

Meanwhile, Lucas Coenen was in no mood to hang around. With a glorious retro livery to pay homage to the Swedish heritage of the Husqvarna brand, he fired up the inside of Laengenfelder around the first corner at the start of the second full lap and was never caught by anyone from there.  Meanwhile, De Wolf  crashed down the order on his second lap to make matters even worse for the red plate holder.

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo of Liam Everts and Andrea Adamo held down fourth and fifth throughout the race, with Camden McLellan putting a second Monster Energy Triumph into the top six.  His teammate Haarup carried over his speed from Saturday and moved past Laengenfelder for second on lap ten.

De Wolf had to work hard on a tough circuit and fought past the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pairing of Rick Elzinga and Karlis Reisulis to claim seventh at the flag and lose 11 points to Lucas, whose brother Sacha Coenen was detuned after a big crash in Warm-Up and finished in tenth spot.  Lucas’ winning margin was a solid seven seconds from a delighted Haarup and last year’s Uddevalla winner Laengenfelder.

 The German GASGAS man again launched into the lead to claim his seventh Fox Holeshot Award of the year, and after fighting past a spirited Adamo, Lucas Coenen again set his sights on utter domination, snapping past Laengenfelder at the end of lap two this time.  Adamo moved up to second a couple of laps later, while De Wolf was in fifth position, trying to chase down Everts. 

The track seemed to be giving the riders a few problems and there were an unusually low number of passes being attempted throughout the top ten.  Even getting past lapped riders was proving to be an issue, as Lucas Coenen had his scariest moment avoiding one who had stalled on the first corner, and De Wolf had to reach out an arm in mid-air to avoid a collision with one over a huge tabletop jump in front of the packed hillsides!

De Wolf was finally able to drive past Everts for fourth on lap twelve of nineteen, as Haarup could not advance from sixth to leave himself off the podium in fourth overall. Ferruccio Zanchi took seventh for Team HRC after a DNF in race one, McLellan eighth, and Elzinga fought off his younger teammate Reisulis as they came home ninth and tenth.

It was all about Lucas Coenen, however, as he took home his fifth GP win of the year to rebuild his momentum and slash De Wolf’s points lead from 67 before today to 49.  After missing Lommel due to his Loket injuries, Adamo showed true grit to claim second overall ahead of Laengenfelder, who climbed his third straight podium to consolidate his third place in the series.

Lucas Coenen said: “Of course, it was a good weekend! I needed to bounce back and I did it. So it was perfect. Won the two races. I was just riding smooth out there and had a lot of fun on the track. So yeah, it was better than yesterday, so very positive. Now we keep on building for the Netherlands and we’ll see you guys there.”

Adamo said: “I did struggle so much in RAM Quali race, and I had completely no fire to ride well but today in the first race it was already better.  Then in the second one, it was a long time I think since I was riding this smooth and this fast so I’m really, really happy. Lucas (Coenen) was fast. I had a good battle with Simon (Laengenfelder), but then the race stayed pretty static. because I was in second and quite far from the lead and also Simon was quite far behind me. So that was nice and I hope to keep going on this on this way”

Laengenfelder added: “I think this one was a tough one, especially to find all the good lines, to be always perfect, and make no mistakes because you needed to hit the lines perfectly straight. Otherwise, with that stony ground, it’s really easy to make a mistake but I could avoid that in the end. straight. I didn’t have the speed to win but I think I was consistent and I’m happy about that”

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:  

1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:58.112; 2. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:07.163; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:12.891; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:14.217; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:47.235; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:50.887; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:52.471; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:08.937; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:15.671; 10. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:27.442

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 

1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:39.588; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:05.003; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:06.761; 4. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:07.375; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:22.323; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:27.740; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:33.660; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:34.783; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:40.382; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:42.612

MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 

1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 50 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 37 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 32 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 32 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 28 p.; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 23 p.; 10. David Braceras (ESP, FAN), 20 p

MX2 – World Championship Classification: 

1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 725 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 676 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 653 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 594 p.; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 511 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 498 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 457 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 415 p.; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 274 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 273 p

MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 

1. Husqvarna, 821 points; 2. KTM, 725 p.; 3. GASGAS, 660 p.; 4. Triumph, 546 p.; 5. Yamaha, 518 p.; 6. Honda, 308 p.; 7. Kawasaki, 278 p.; 8. Fantic, 215 p.; 9. TM, 52 p