The damp conditions of recent days made way for glorious sunshine at the weekend as the Motocenter Zelta Zirgs played host to the MXGP of Latvia, round eight of the FIM Motocross World Championships.
It’s been threatening for some time, but today it finally happened – the Coenens finally became the first ever twin brothers to each win a Motocross Grand Prix on the very same day, and they are the first brothers to achieve the feat since French bothers Sebastien and Christophe Pourcel took victories in MX1 and MX2 at Faenza in Italy, on the 15th of July 2007, when Lucas and Sacha Coenen were only nine months old.
Lucas Coenen was simply imperious on his way to victory in MXGP for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, leading every single lap and only being led through the first few corners in race two, a situation he quickly remedied.
Kay de Wolf claimed his best MXGP class result yet with second overall for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and the only man who briefly led a Coenen all day, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s No.1 plate holder Romain Febvre, took third overall.
Sacha Coenen used his incredible prowess off the start to take both holeshots and was never led by anyone to complete the perfect weekend for the family and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Camden McLellan moved himself up in the Championship with second overall for the Triumph Racing Factory Team.
Mathis Valin climbed the podium for the fourth straight GP with third overall for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2.
Spare a thought for home hero Karlis Reisulis, who was looking good for a dream podium at home for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 until a last lap pass by McLellan knocked him back to fifth overall.
There was major adversity for title contenders in both classes as well, making it just about the most perfect weekend of racing possible for those with the surname Coenen.
Once again, Jeffrey Herlings put his HRC Honda Petronas machine at the top of the timesheets in morning Warm-Up, with reigning world champion Febvre second fastest, ahead of old foe Tim Gajser on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.
From his qualifying race win, however, Lucas Coenen had the inside gate and used it to great effect in race one, claiming his seventh holeshot of the season as Herlings lost traction briefly enough to have Febvre come past him into the second corner.
The crowd were immediately involved as their home hero Pauls Jonass, in his first MXGP of Latvia since 2022, burst into view in fourth place for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP ahead of the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver.
Oliver was bounced around a little on the first lap by Kay de Wolf and Gajser, as well as the second Honda HRC Petronas machine of Ruben Fernandez.
De Wolf also sliced past Jonass after the uphill triple jump to claim fourth on the first full lap. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and the sole surviving Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen rounded out the top 10.
Calvin’s team-mate Andrea Bonacorsi had undergone surgery on Saturday evening to treat injuries to his abdomen from his crash in the qualifying race.
As Gajser took advantage of a mistake by Jonass to pass the Latvian around the outside of a left-hander, taking fifth on lap four, so Herlings was attacking Febvre.
He was simply unable to get around the reigning world champion, allowing Coenen to ease away at the front.
Behind them, Fernandez cut inside Jonass for sixth on lap seven, but that was as far as the local favourite would drop, while Adamo got past Oliver for eighth, and they finished in that order ahead of Vlaanderen.
Finally, on lap ten, Herlings was able to lean on Febvre to take second, but by that time De Wolf had caught them both and was able to pick the pocket of the Champ on the very next corner.
The Frenchman would stay fourth ahead of Gajser and Fernandez at the flag, but De Wolf wasn’t done as he drew level with his elder compatriot over the big jump in front of the grandstand, the pair landing close together and the Husqvarna securing the move in the following corner.
Lucas’ final margin was just over three seconds, and he revealed that he had been wrestling with a technical issue for the last few laps, which was extremely worrying for the opposition.
The only racing achievement that didn’t have the surname “Coenen” stamped all over it was the second race Fox Holeshot Award, as Febvre nudged the Kawasaki’s wheels ahead of Coenen’s KTM on the run from turn one to turn two.
Herlings came round in third ahead of another great start for Oliver, and Adamo initially in fifth, but former world champions Jonass, Gajser, and De Wolf would nudge the two KTM men down to seventh and eighth by the end of the first full lap, with Maxime Renaux ninth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP and Jago Geerts a great tenth for MRT Racing Team Beta.
Coenen drew level with Febvre over the finish line jump, and pinched the Frenchman to the inside of the first corner of the first full lap, to grab the advantage and make the field chase after him once again.
Herlings obliged, determined not to let his young rival streak away as he blasted around the outside of Febvre to take second along the next straight and corner jump.
Sadly, Oliver and Renaux were to both drop out of the race early due to technical issues.
Geerts was promoted to eighth, higher than he has been all year for the factory Beta squad, and he had Jan Pancar behind him for TEM JP253 KTM Racing.
Fernandez had gone down in the first corner and would face a race-long fight through to 11th at the flag.
Jonass held on to fourth for a loudly-hailed five laps before both Gajser and De Wolf got past him, while Pancar also overtook Geerts on the same lap to put the Belgian back to ninth ahead of Estonian Yamaha Keskus wild-card Jörgen-Matthias Talviku.
Talviku would battle with the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul rider Kevin Horgmo, finally nailing down eighth in the race with three laps to go ahead of the Norwegian, with Geerts scoring his first top ten race finish for Beta.
Pancar had an entertaining scrap with Adamo in a real factory-versus-privateer battle, which the Italian won to take sixth with two laps to go. Seventh was still by far the Slovenian’s best race of the year.
At the front, Herlings and Febvre refused to let Coenen escape, and the teenager was absorbing the pressure well.
As the Frenchman closed in, suddenly Jeffrey’s bike came to a stop on the exit of a left-handed corner, and the Dutchman would have to walk back to the Paddock for the second time in two GPs.
De Wolf got past Gajser in blazing style at around the same time to claim third. As much as Febvre gave chase, Coenen was equal to it and cruised away to an eight-second race win and his 20th career Grand Prix victory, equalling his MX2 tally with his tenth in the premier class.
With De Wolf second overall ahead of Febvre, and Herlings’ problems giving Lucas a sudden 62-point advantage at the top of the standings, it was an amazing day for the red plate holder.
Gajser and Jonass held fourth and fifth to the flag, and would finish in those places overall ahead of Adamo, Fernandez, and a brilliant Pancar. Horgmo went 11-9 to take ninth on the day and his second top-10 in succession, with Herlings a dejected tenth overall.
Lucas had completed the most perfect weekend for one family in the history of Motocross, with complete domination of all three races across the weekend in both classes.
Where can it go from here? As the halfway point of the season approaches, the rest of the field needs to find something in next weekend’s break from action before we rip into the MXGP of Italy at Montevarchi.
Lucas Coenen: “It’s just amazing, I can’t describe it better. To see me and my brother win all the races together on the same weekend is just so amazing.
“Thanks to the team a lot, because they worked really hard after what happened in race one, they put me in really good conditions to go out in the second Race, and then I just tried to control it and not make any mistakes, because the track was really tricky.
“I was in the lead so I just had to do the laps and try not to make a mistake, and that’s what I did.
“I was not searching to make a gap because the track was so tricky that you could easily make a mistake, so I was just happy to be up front with clear vision. It was a good weekend.”
Photo courtesy Juan Pablo Acevedo
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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:06.647; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:03.738; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:05.385; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:26.417; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:35.092; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:49.314; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:57.624; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:06.693; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:09.931; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:10.999.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:32.862; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:08.108; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:13.586; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:15.973; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:49.795; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:12.826; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:17.936; 8. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, Yamaha), +1:21.382; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:28.441; 10. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:34.865.
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 50 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 42 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 30 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 25 p.; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 22 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 21 p.; 10. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 20 p.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 404 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 342 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 310 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 294 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 261 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 247 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 241 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 219 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 175 p.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:04.768; 2. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.324; 3. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:25.321; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:27.137; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:29.842; 6. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:31.608; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:33.146; 8. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:48.526; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:56.432; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:57.565.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:10.618; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:06.484; 3. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:08.987; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:15.292; 5. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:15.761; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.471; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:43.354; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:54.660; 9. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +1:09.447; 10. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:14.865.
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 50 points; 2. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 42 p.; 3. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 37 p.; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 36 p.; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 35 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 28 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 24 p.; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 23 p.; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 21 p.; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, HON), 20 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 380 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 343 p.; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 340 p.; 4. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 326 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 314 p.; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 308 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 280 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 223 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 216 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 161 p.