The 2025 Motocross World Championship stays on the Iberian Peninsula for round eight this weekend, as the teams make the relatively short journey to the north-western corner of Spain, near the city of Lugo.
This will be the second GP held at the venue after last season’s MXGP of Galicia. The new circuit was well received by riders and fans alike, with a woodland feel to the track creating a more enclosed, intense atmosphere with a softer, grippier surface than most Spanish venues traditionally offer.
It’s one of 19 circuits to host a Motocross Grand Prix in Spain, but the only one in the region of Galicia.
Home hero Jorge Prado won all three races here last year to keep his local fans happy, while the MX2 class saw race wins for both Lucas Coenen and Andrea Adamo, with the Belgian getting the overall verdict on the second race tie-breaker.
Coenen is coming off the back of two consecutive MXGP overall victories and, with the absence of injured Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser in Portugal, the teenage sensation is suddenly a title contender for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, even though he has a sizeable 43-point gap to make up on new series leader Romain Febvre.
The Frenchman will wear the red plate on his Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine for the first time since the final round of the 2021 season, when he finished just five points off the world title.
Gajser’s HRC Honda team-mate Ruben Fernandez claimed his first podium finish for 19 months in Portugal last weekend, which moved him up to fifth in the standings, and raises the hope that he can carry the home crowd’s expectations for success in his first GP at the Lugo circuit.
In contrast to MXGP, the MX2 class now sees its top three contenders all within ten points of each other, as reigning World Champion Kay de Wolf has just a four-point advantage for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing over the first of two Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders, Simon Laengenfelder in second, just six points ahead of Adamo, who enjoyed the first perfect three-victory weekend of his career at Águeda.
Spanish hopefuls David Braceras of JM Honda Racing, Oriol Oliver of Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors, and Guillem Farres of Monster Energy Triumph Racing, currently sit all together in the series from 14th to 16th position, with just 11 points separating the three of them.
The battle to be top Spaniard could be as hot as the battle at the front.
Lugo also hosts the second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, and all Spanish hopes will be on local heroine and last year’s Vice-Champion Daniela Guillen, who crashed from the lead of race one in Sardegna and lies seventh in the Championship, but with clearly enough speed to challenge reigning Champion and series leader Lotte van Drunen.
The De Baets Yamaha rider has an eight-point lead over fellow Dutch pilots Shana van der Vlist and Van Venrooy KTM star Lynn Valk but watch for Guillen on her RFME Spain National Team GASGAS to haul back the 23-point gap to the top.
The EMX250 European Championship is approaching its halfway stage with round six on the horizon at Lugo, and VHR VRT Yamaha Official EMX250 rider Janis Reisulis put in a stunning maximum in the Portuguese mud to build up his series lead to 12 points.
JM Racing Honda’s Hungarian star Noel Zanocz is second to the Latvian, but the biggest cheers will be readied for Venum BUD RACING Kawasaki rider Francesco Garcia, who is only two points behind Zanocz and scored a second place in his last race on Spanish soil, back at Cózar in March.
It was all change at the top of the MXGP World Championship after Portugal, as Febvre took ownership of the red plate with second overall, aided of course by the absence of Gajser through a shoulder injury.
It is still yet to be confirmed whether or not the Slovenian will be able to line up at Lugo. There is a full GP race’s worth of points between Febvre and Gajser at the top, although for sure the Frenchman will have eyes on the gap back to third place Coenen, who is only 18 points away from Gajser and 43 behind the Kawasaki man.
Febvre, who has yet to win a GP in Spain during his long career, took 2-4 finishes to climb the podium in third overall there last year, matching the points of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star Jeffrey Herlings, who was second on the tie-break, while Gajser was fourth overall with 6-3 finishes after a small crash early in race one.
STANDINGS AFTER ROUND SEVEN OF 20:
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 330 Points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 Points; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 287 Points; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 250 Pts; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 223 Pts; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 217 Points; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 194 Points; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 177 Pts; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 162 Pts; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 156 Pts.
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 328 Points; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), 324 Points; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 318 Pts; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 269 Pts; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 225 Pts; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 222 Pts; 7. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 210 Pts; 8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 189 Pts; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 168 Pts; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 160 Pts.
Photo courtesy Kawasaki
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