Lucas Coenen takes the overall MX2 victory in Holland
Words and images courtesy MXGP
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 in the deep Dutch sand of the Motorsportpark Gelderland Midden circuit near the historical city of Arnhem. De Wolf also suffered a pair of crashes that also cost him a small slice of his Championship lead in the process.
De Wolf made a statement by being massively faster in morning warm-up and lined up next to his teammate on the grid. Suddenly it looked like Lucas 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 the Monster Energy Triumph Racing machine of Camden McLellan, so 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 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pilot Rick Elzinga to claim fifth place. Elzinga in turn held back his teammate Karlis Reisulis, while the second Triumph of Mikkel Haarup came home a disappointed eighth. Sacha Coenen faded back to tenth behind the equally disappointed Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing star 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 Fox 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 put his Bike-It Kawasaki 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 VRT Racing Yamaha 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.
Kay de Wolf said: “The crash was my mistake but we just found out what the problem was with the bike and I’m really happy that I even brought the bike home. So, yeah, it could have ended up way worse than this. But still, I’m a little bit disappointed to not get this GP win in front of all the Dutch fans but it is what it is and we move on!”
Andrea Adamo finished third overall thanks to his 4-2 moto finishes. He said : “It’s super nice I’m super happy! The weekend didn’t start so well I had P12 in free practice, P16 in time practice so on RAM Quali race I was so far but I had a good start then put myself in a good position for today. Two really solid races, I was a little bit lucky because Kay had a crash and then had an issue so I could finish second but it would not have changed the podium order if I would finish like this so I was pretty happy!”
Lucas Coenen, though, took the second moto win by over 33 seconds and matched his teammate with his seventh career GP win and his second in succession. He said: “It was two really bad starts and then I made my way up. 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.”
McLellan claimed fourth overall ahead of Everts, Elzinga, Sacha Coenen seventh, Haarup, Laengenfelder, and rounding out the top ten overall was Gabriel SS24 KTM wild-card 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!
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. Join us for that one!
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 McLellan (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 McLellan (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 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 36 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 6. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 31 p.; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 25 p.; 9. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 23 p.; 10. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 20 p
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 777 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 733 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 676 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 636 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 545 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 542 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 492 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 444 p.; 9. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 315 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 290 p
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification:
1. Husqvarna, 881 points; 2. KTM, 775 p.; 3. GASGAS, 683 p.; 4. Triumph, 588 p.; 5. Yamaha, 553 p.; 6. Honda, 325 p.; 7. Kawasaki, 295 p.; 8. Fantic, 223 p.; 9. TM, 52 p