Herlings wins in Latvia as Gajser moves into MXGP points lead

2024 FIM Motocross World Championship
Round Nine – MXGP of Latvia – Kegums
Motocenter “Zelta Zirgs”

The MXGP of Latvia was held over the weekend, with brutal battles at Zelta Zirgs Motocenter near Kegums, with the sandy circuit providing plenty of challenges after what had been initially dry conditions, turned challenging after the circuit was hit by a deluge during the opening MX2 race, leaving the track sodden for the MXGP contest.

Five-time World Champion Jeffrey Herlings to break the drought since his last Grand Prix victory for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, which was at this very same circuit last year. A stirring win in race one’s soggy conditions and a charging third in race two gave “The Bullet” his 104th Grand Prix win, extending his record total and collecting his 197th individual race win in the process.

That saw, for the fifth straight Grand Prix, the red plate in MXGP changes hands after the results from Latvia, as Jorge Prado’s second race win for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing couldn’t prevent Team HRC’s Tim Gajser from moving four points ahead after solid second places in both of the very different MXGP races.

Just before his senior team-mate added to his record tally, the one rider on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team that had yet to even reach a podium, 17-year-old Belgian Sacha Coenen in MX2, took his first top three finish in race one, but also his first race win and the overall Grand Prix honours in a brilliant display of controlled riding.

With his twin brother Lucas Coenen taking second overall, it was the first time in 27 years that a pair of brothers had finished first and second in a Motocross Grand Prix, dating back to Kiwis Darryl and Shayne King at the French 500cc Grand Prix in 1997.

MXGP – Qualifying Race

The morning practice sessions saw the Dutch riders loving the sandy going, with Glenn Coldenhoff topping a Netherlands 1-2-3 for Fantic Factory Racing in Free Practice. Come Timed Practice though and Gajser outran them all to grab the first gate pick on his Team HRC Honda, ahead of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP star Calvin Vlaanderen, and Coldenhoff’s team-mate Brian Bogers.

It was close for the holeshot as Reigning World Champion Jorge Prado tucked his Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing machine into the inside line, but Gajser managed to out-drag him into the second corner and set a blistering pace from there.

Behind the leading title contenders, Mattia Guadagnini got into third early for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing and stayed there for two-thirds of the race. Caught by the battling Dutch pair of Coldenhoff and Vlaanderen at the start of lap nine, they both dived inside him on the long right-hand corner after the finish line to drop the Italian to fifth. Still his best finish of the season, helped by holding another Dutchman, multiple World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, back into sixth place at the finish.

To round out the points scorers, Cornelius Toendel held onto a good start to finish seventh, Bogers took eighth, Andrea Bonacorsi brought his Monster Energy Yamaha home in ninth, and Maximillian Spies scored his first ever Saturday point with tenth.

At the head of the field, the gap fluctuated between one and four seconds between Gajser and Prado. At several points, the Spaniard closed, but the Slovenian always managed to keep the red plate holder just far enough back for Prado not to mount a challenge.

With a near-crash over the penultimate jump on the run to the finish line shrugged off by the five-time Champ, it was Gajser who jumped to the top of the RAM Qualifying Challenge standings, with his fourth Saturday win of the season, with Prado just behind him.

MXGP – Qualifying Race Results

MXGP Race One

RAM Qualifying Race winner Tim Gajser took to the starting line first as the rain poured down. With the amount of water on the circuit, the start would be more vital than ever. The Fox Holeshot Award was fiercely contested. Prado had just taken it for the tenth time this season, but Herlings had started with him and was on the case immediately.

Making an aggressive pass around the corner after the finish line, he wrestled the early lead from the defending Champion. Gajser had been beaten into third by Glenn Coldenhoff, but the Slovenian didn’t wait around, and knowing that Prado has only had issues this year in wet weather, he fired back into third and instantly attacked the Spaniard to take second.

Brian Bogers moved past team-mate Coldenhoff into third by the end of the first full lap, and actually started to pressure Prado. It paid off, as on lap three, the GASGAS man again had problems in the rain and slid to the floor on the face of a jump. He dropped to eighth behind Calvin Vlaanderen.

Coldenhoff got back past Bogers for good on lap five for third, and the two Fantic men stayed there until the chequered flag. Despite a few mistakes by Herlings, Gajser couldn’t get near The Bullet, who took his third race win of the season and hacked a few points off of his deficit to the leaders.

With a lap 11 fall for Cornelius Toendel, Prado managed to get into seventh ahead of the Norwegian, nearly gaining a further position when Vlaanderen fell with two laps to go. However, as Kevin Horgmo held on to a season-best fifth, the Champ had to console himself with 14 points, meaning that Gajser took the Championship lead into race two.

MXGP Race One Results

MXGP Race Two

The holeshot once more went the way of the #1 plate holder, but Herlings was right with him, until Gajser dived up the inside of the Dutchman into the second corner. Desperate to prevent Prado from escaping at the front, the Slovenian gave chase, and Herlings was unable to match the pace of the leading two in the first ten minutes.

The Factory Fantics packed out the top five, especially as Vlaanderen dropped the bike in a tight left-hand corner and eventually came home in seventh.

He will have to console himself with climbing to fifth in the Championship ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jeremy Seewer and the unfortunately absent Pauls Jonass.

Seewer was to take sixth in race two after a crash-affected fourteenth in race one. Coldenhoff held on to fourth, and Bogers fifth.

The gaps between the leading three riders got tantalisingly close on occasions, but Herlings got the closest to making a move as he caught Gajser with four laps to go, but the Slovenian turned the screw. Ultimately, Prado held on to win by 1.6 seconds from Gajser, with Herlings just another 1.7 seconds further back.

MXGP Race Two Results

MXGP Overall

Herlings took the round overall by a single point from Gajser, 45-44, with Jorge Prado third on 39-points, just clear of Coldenhoff. Bogers rounded out the top five, followed by Vlaanderen, Horgmo, Guillod, Toendel, and Jeewer.

Gajser now leads the standings by four points on 454, Prado second on 450. It’s a long drop to Herlings in third on 386, with Febvre (327) and Vlaanderen (299) completing the current top five after Latvia.

Seewer, Coldenhoff, Jonass, Horgmo and Guillod round out the top-10 in the standings.

Jeffrey Herlings – P1

“I’m definitely super happy. Yesterday I drove to my hotel and I thought.. what am I doing, I need to do more! But today I came back to show that I can still do it you know. So, already a podium was good but to get the win is really really amazing! I did two good starts too, with the first race where I was the fastest, second race I couldn’t get the pace to overtake them (Prado and Gajser) but I kept them within my sight and in the end close them down but couldn’t pass as they were very fast too. I’m very happy with the win and looking forward to the next one.”

Tim Gajser – P2

“I’m very happy and it’s nice to have the red plate back! Also with both races, the speed was there but maybe my starts were not the best. I would definitely wish to start like yesterday in Quali race with a FOX Holeshot because it wasn’t easy after that. Second race I was a bit in between, pushing for Jorge and got some pressure from Jeffrey. I was searching for the lines but couldn’t open the door for Jeffrey so it was a good race in the end and very happy. Huge thank you to all the team because they work very hard and everybody around me. I’m already looking forward to the next one!”

Jorge Prado – P3

“It was a pity about the first moto; yesterday, I was feeling super good on the bike, but I just couldn’t make the pass on Tim in the qualifying race. Today in the first moto, I got a good start, but he [Tim Gajser] passed me on the first lap. I was actually feeling really good with my rhythm, but then I went aquaplaning into the face of a jump with all the standing water on the track. So that resulted in P7 in the first moto, which wasn’t the best. But then, with drier conditions in the second moto, I got the holeshot and led until the end! I’m happy with my performance and form in the second moto for sure, and hopefully we can get the red plate back as soon as possible!”

Glenn Coldenhoff – P4

“Went 3-4 for 4th overall in Latvia today. Consistent and solid all weekend. Pity to miss the podium, but we just keep working for more.”

Calvin Vlaanderen – P6

“I’m happy with my riding and my speed but I’m not too happy with results. But that’s racing. I crashed twice in Race One and once in Race Two early on, so it was a challenging day to say the least. But I’m in one piece and fast so I’ll keep at it. I’m just pushing too hard early in the races as I see the guys up front creeping away and I’m rushing passes. I’m up to fifth in the championship now, but we have a lot of races to go. Obviously, it’s nice but my focus for now is to get back on the podium. I’ll be looking to fully recover ahead of next weekend in Italy, where I’ll be giving it my best shot again.”

Jeremy Seewer – P10

“We really needed that second moto. After Germany we took a big gamble on settings and it didn’t work out as we had hoped yesterday; we learnt from that and adjusted the settings for today but then it rained like hell just before our first race. The track changed completely and it’s always difficult to push hard at the speed we are racing if you don’t have confidence. I’m really happy to bring it back in race two. In fact if I could have started fourth I think I could have been there to the finish; the first-three are in a race of their own at the moment but I had the speed of anybody else. Next weekend is Maggiora and it’s a super-fun track to ride and race with good memories; I took my second-ever podium there in MX2 back in 2015 and won the GP there last year. And it’s close to home so the Swiss fans will be there to cheer me on.”

Mattia Guadagnini – P11

“Overall, I’m quite happy. Saturday was great, and I managed to find a really good rhythm in the sand. I’ve put a lot of effort into training, and I think this is paying off. I got a good start during the qualifying race, and then was riding in third for almost all the moto. I just couldn’t quite hold that pace until the end, so some riders passed me, and I finished fifth. Then on Sunday, I didn’t have the best start in the first moto, and I crashed on the second lap, so I was far back. I tried to fight back, but it wasn’t easy. I think I dropped to 20th or more, but then I got to 13th. Then in the second moto, the start was better, and I made up a few positions in the first lap. I could not quite find as good a rhythm as before, but I finished ninth.”

MXGP Round Overall

MXGP Championship Points – Top 20

MX2 – Qualifying Race

Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Lucas Coenen came in on a three-GP winning streak and was still fastest, ahead of team-mate Kay de Wolf and Simon Laengenfelder after Timed Practice in Latvia.

It was, however, his brother Sacha Coenen who flew into the lead in the RAM Qualifying Race and proceeded to put a gap on the rest of the field as his team-mate Andrea Adamo battled with the lone Monster Energy Triumph Racing pilot Mikkel Haarup for second.

De Wolf and Lucas Coenen were fourth and fifth early on, however, they blasted around the outside of the reigning World Champion Adamo at the end of the first full lap The pair were promoted on lap two as Haarup crashed out of second on landing from a small jump. The Dane remounted in seventh.

De Wolf set about hunting down Sacha Coenen, while Lucas got past Adamo into the new section of the circuit. The series leader fired past the Belgian on lap five, and a lap later, his twin brother got through as well, leaving the two team-mates out front.

Behind, Laengenfelder had started on the edge of the top ten and had to fight his way through to third with two laps to go. Adamo and Haarup also fought past Sacha Coenen in the closing laps, the holeshot artist bringing it home in sixth.

Oriol Oliver finished a fine seventh ahead of Liam Everts, and in an enthralling battle of the rookies, Ferruccio Zanchi claimed ninth in the closing laps by passing Quentin Prugnieres, who took the final point in tenth.

Lucas was never quite able to get his teeth into his team-mate, as the Dutchman’s smooth style was able to cope better with the increasingly choppy surface. The gap at the chequered flag was just over two-seconds.

MX2 – Qualifying Race Results

MX2 Race One

Sacha Coenen rocketed into the lead of race one ahead of De Wolf while Lucas Coenen and Simon Laengenfelder gave chase.

It took six laps of De Wolf trying to break Sacha Coenen’s advantage before something gave way, and that something was De Wolf’s patience as he lunged for a line that Sacha was already heading towards, sending the Dutchman briefly off the circuit in a wild ride that he somehow survived to bring back on track.

Temporarily back to third, De Wolf took just a lap to recover enough to pass Lucas for second, then within two more corners he was alongside Sacha and into the lead. Lucas followed through almost instantly, and that was finally the order we expected.

De Wolf simply had too much pace for the Belgian, and took the race win, his first on a Sunday since back in round four, by 2.8 seconds at the flag. Sacha kept his solid third position, his best to date in MX2, 15 seconds clear of Laengenfelder in fourth, with Sacha’s team-mate Liam Everts in fifth and Oriol Oliver with his own career best in sixth.

MX2 Race One Results

MX2 Race Two

De Wolf tucking up the inside to claim his second Fox Holeshot Award of the year in race two, with Sacha Coenen right behind, followed by Lucas.

Just coming to the end of the first full lap, De Wolf lost control and hit the ground, gifting the lead to Sacha, and then dropped it again after only a few more corners. Halfway around the second lap, it was Lucas’ turn to hit the deck.

Suddenly, Quentin Prugnieres was second, with Laengenfelder third and Everts in fourth. Then Everts also hit the ground, from which he would recover to finish in fourth.

Lucas recovered to third by lap five, then Prugnieres crashed out of fourth on lap eight, ultimately finishing in twelfth. Rick Elzinga brought the lone Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 bike up into a solid fifth from a start outside of the top ten.

De Wolf, meanwhile, suffered a further crash and could only claim ninth at the flag, Mikkel Haarup taking his Monster Energy Triumph Racing machine to finish sixth ahead of Oliver.

Lucas crashed again, but kept hold of third behind Laengenfelder, the German’s best result since before his Portuguese injury.

All eyes were on Sacha Coenen, however, who finally held it all together to bring home a dream first Grand Prix victory, despite a real moment over the final jump before the finish line, on the final lap.

MX2 Race Two Results

MX2 Overall

It was Sacha Coenen who took the overall on 45-points, ahead of brother Lucas on 42, with Laengenfelder rounding out the round podium on 40-points. De Wolf and Everts completed the top five, Elzinga, Haarup, Oliver, Adamo and Walvoort, the top-10.

Kay de Wolf still holds an extensive lead in the standings on 443-points, Lucas closest on 388, and Laegenfelder third on 381-points. Everts (341) and Adamo (327) are fourth and fifth, Haarup on the Triumph currently sixth, followed by Ezinger as top Yamaha, then Sasha.C, Benistant and Prugnieres.

Sacha Coenen – P1

“I was feeling good out there and after the first race I wasmt the happiest but I had good speed and felt good on the track. I knew I could do it. The second race Kay (de Wolf) crashed and I took the lead and managed to bring it home. I was so happy on the finish line to get this first win. It’s such a nice feeling!”

Lucas Coenen – P2

“I’m super pumped for my brother to get the win. All those hard moments he went through, it’s great to see him up there. Of course, as a competitor, I want to do better though. I took some big hits (crashes) in the second moto, so I think it could have gone better from my perspective. I struggled the whole weekend, let’s say, so I think we need to build on this and look ahead to fighting again in Italy.”

Simon Laengenfelder – P3

“I’m definitely pleased with the overall result. My performance in the first moto wasn’t where I wanted it to be, but after making some setup changes, I felt much better in the second moto. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake in the last few laps while pushing as hard as I could. Congratulations to Sacha on the win. I’m already looking forward to the next race!”

Kay de Wolf – P4

“I had a mixed weekend, but I think there are still lots of positives to take from it. I had a really good Saturday, and the first moto on Sunday was super positive with a win. But in the second moto, I just made too many mistakes. I had two stupid crashes and should not have made them. I threw away a possible GP win and finished fourth overall instead. So, I’m quite upset about that, but I’ll work on it and will come back stronger in Italy. We are making progress every weekend, so this is the most important thing!”

Liam Everts – P5

“Hard weekend and one of my most difficult races yet. Sunday was a little bit more positive than Saturday. We need to keep on working and keep on pushing to be back at the top.”

Rick Elzinga – P6

“Overall, it’s been a decent weekend and my speed was there for the top five. I didn’t have a great start in Race One. My jump was good but I got pushed outside, so I was around 12th early in the race. I made some good passes and moved into seventh, but then when I was riding by myself, I lost my rhythm a little bit. For the second race, I started around 12th again and made passes quickly. I fought hard to the end, held off Mikkel Haarup and caught up to third and fourth. It was close but not enough. I showed my fitness though and my speed, so I’m happy about how that race ended.”

Andrea Adamo – P9

“Yesterday was good and I was happy with P4 but it felt like everything went badly today! In the first moto I had a little issue that meant I was down outside the top twenty and came back to 13th, and in the second I crashed in the second corner and had to come back from last again. The speed was good but the results were not. We need to wake up a bit, not make these silly mistakes and get back to the front and some consistency. Looking forward to Maggiora. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake in the last few laps while pushing as hard as I could. Congratulations to Sacha on the win. I’m already looking forward to the next race!”

Ferruccio Zanchi – P13

“My speed was good and I made a lot of passes on a track that wasn’t easy to pass on, but a few small moments cost me a top 10 overall. One was my fault, early in the first moto but the other two were frustrating and I hope I can learn from them and avoid that kind of thing in the future. Still, my fitness was good and I pushed until the end in both races so overall I am pleased with my progress and I’m really looking forward to a home GP in Maggiora next weekend.”

Jack Chambers – P15

“It was a super tough weekend as one mistake in each race cost me. I got pushed into the trackside banners in the first race; it took me about thirty seconds to get unstuck and I came from last back to seventeenth. I had a good flow in the beginning of race two and stayed with the front pack for a while, but I just tucked the front wheel up the face of a wall jump. It was a stupid mistake on my part but I came back to sixteenth to finish it off. I need to turn some things around and have a couple of positive weekends.”

Bobby Bruce – P21

“It was a really tough day; yesterday we didn’t even know if I would be able to race! My shoulder was already sore this morning so the plan was just to survive and put some points on the board; I got eighteenth in race one and the second moto was going really good. I raced top-ten for seven laps and was still P13 when my hand came off the bars and I had another big crash. It was so painful all day, but I’m proud of my efforts and speed in such difficult circumstances; hopefully, we’ll be healthy next weekend and be able to show what we are capable of.”

MX2 Round Overall

MX2 Championship Standings