LUCAS COENEN AND DE WOLF TAKE THE FIRST KYMIRING WINS AT THE MXGP OF FINLAND!
The most northern round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships fired into life today with the Qualifying Races for the MXGP of Finland at the new KymiRing venue, as the European heatwave spread to the forests in the south of the Scandinavian nation.
After getting acquainted with the new purpose-built circuit, the MXGP elite put on a high-speed display of sand riding in the sun to compete for the points on offer in the afternoon’s Qualifying Races.
Lucas Coenen continued to be the master of Saturday this season, with his fifth Qualifying Race win of the year for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, as battle raged behind him with Calvin Vlaanderen taking second for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP. Andrea Bonacorsi took a career best Qualifying Race finish with third for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
In MX2, it was a mixed bag of fortunes for the two Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing riders, as Kay de Wolf took just his second Qualifying Race win of the season after Liam Everts crashed heavily from the lead. Sacha Coenen took second for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Guillem Farres claimed by far his best Qualifying Race result with third place for Monster Energy Triumph Racing.
The new circuit got very rough and technical at the end of the day, and with tomorrow’s longer races it is sure to present even more of a challenge to the World Championship contenders!
The leading pair in the MXGP World Championship began today’s duel as early as Free Practice, with Lucas Coenen snatching the top time from Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre on his final lap of the session. The Frenchman took the advantage back, however, with a late push in Time Practice to grab the first gate pick for the Qualifying Race, while Glenn Coldenhoff took a solid second for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, edging Coenen down to third. Calvin Vlaanderen, in the special 70th Anniversary colours being run this weekend for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, took fourth despite a crash that ruined a lap that looked faster, and Andrea Bonacorsi put a second Fantic into the top five!
Coenen, who has proven to be the most consistently fast starter in MXGP this year, rocketed into the lead through the first corner of the Qualifying Race and immediately started to pull away, while Coldenhoff veered into the path of Febvre and held up the red plate holder through turn one! This left Bonacorsi in second, with Jago Geerts initially third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, although he had to yield immediately to Honda HRC’s Ruben Fernandez. However, both factory men were surprised by a brilliant few corners from British rider Adam Sterry, who fired his Chambers KTM Racing machine past them both to take third by the fifth corner on the track!
The action came thick and fast on the opening lap, as Coldenhoff tried an outside line to make a pass on Geerts, who had slipped down to sixth behind Vlaanderen. Glenn left the door open to a desperate passing attempt by Febvre, and the two veterans were suddenly in a pile on the floor!
Remounting just inside the top twenty, Febvre set about salvaging as many points as he could to protect his Championship lead, while Fernandez and Vlaanderen squeezed past Sterry by the end of the first full lap. Outside of the top six, Brian Bogers was the second-highest Fantic but involved in a tussle with the MRT Racing Team Beta of Ben Watson, Jeremy Seewer for the Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team, and the JM Racing Honda of Brent van Doninck!
Geerts was unable to get past Sterry in the early laps, although Fernandez ran off track on lap three to briefly drop behind the Welshman. Vlaanderen set after Bonacorsi, and did the classic livery proud with a fantastic pass around the outside of the Italian on lap six to take second place!
By this time, Febvre had worked up into the top ten with a strong pass on former teammate Seewer, before Watson fired around the outside of Bogers into the second corner to take away seventh from the Dutchman! By lap eight, Febvre was up to seventh, while Bogers slipped down the order to an eventual 15th as Seewer rounded out the top ten at the finish.
Van Doninck passed Watson with four laps to go as the pair claimed eighth and ninth, but above them there were more changes! Geerts took until lap ten to find a way past Sterry at the very top of the track, and Febvre also took the Chambers KTM man for sixth a lap later.
Seventh was still a career best MXGP Qualifying Race result for the British rider, while fifth for Geerts ahead of Febvre was the Yamaha man’s best result apart from his win at Lugo in May.
Fernandez took fourth on Saturday for the fourth GP in a row, Bonacorsi celebrated his best Saturday race yet in third, and Vlaanderen equalled his second place from the muddy race in Portugal. However, Coenen cruised to a nine-second win, his fifth Qualifying Race win of the year, and took five points off the Championship lead, putting him just 27 behind Febvre heading into tomorrow’s GP races!
Lucas Coenen: “I was feeling good today, warm weather, fast track, the holeshot and then I just rode each lap, had fun and enjoyed it. Time Practice was tough because I didn’t get any flow, but the Quali race was better. I kept the bike neutral, found my rhythm, and that’s the goal tomorrow: holeshots and then stay in front.”
MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 23:35.419; 2. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:09.363; 3. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:18.094; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:28.816; 5. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:34.579; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:40.506; 7. Adam Sterry (GBR, KTM), +0:43.415; 8. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Honda), +0:46.423; 9. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +0:49.576; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:52.02
MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 589 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 562 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 411 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 390 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 347 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 328 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 325 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 320 p.; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 275 p.
The leading riders in the practice sessions showed that it was clearly a track for the sand lovers, as Kay de Wolf finished top in the morning session ahead of Sacha Coenen, although the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider reversed those positions to take the first gate pick for the Qualifying Race, while Liam Everts was third behind his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammate. Cas Valk was third and then fourth for Van Venrooy KTM Racing, while his former EMX250 rival Mathis Valin was also in the top five for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2. Red plate holder Simon Längenfelder could only manage seventh, just ahead of fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider and main championship chaser Andrea Adamo.
It’s never a surprise to see Sacha Coenen take a Holeshot, although the teenage Belgian hadn’t taken one on a Saturday since Riola Sardo back in April, but he remedied this with a clear lead over Everts and Honda HRC’s Valerio Lata, although the Italian was moved down the order quickly, still sore from his big crash at Matterley Basin.
Just as in MXGP, the first few corners of the Finnish circuit saw major changes in the leading five, and it was Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Guillem Farres who made a move inside Längenfelder and the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 machine of Thibault Benistant to take third! Längenfelder slipped further back behind not just Benistant, but also De Wolf and Valin, to finish the first full lap in seventh place! His main consolation was that Adamo was still two positions behind him in ninth!
Halfway around that first full lap, Coenen had made a mistake on landing from a tabletop, and Everts took advantage to grab the lead from his compatriot. With the sort of smooth riding that has become his trademark, Liam started to pull away from the pack on the roughening surface.
De Wolf had got up to fourth and chased Farres down, catching him at the end of lap three and pulling a sharp overtake on the Spaniard into the second corner, chopping across the Triumph’s front wheel! On the same section, he nearly did the same to Coenen two laps later, but this time was able to edge past on the exit of the turn to claim second behind his teammate!
Everts, who had taken points in every Qualifying Race of the year up until today, lost that perfect run with a heavy fall through the uphill wave section. The early diagnosis is a fracture of a bone at the bottom of his back, so he is on his way home to seek medical attention. Everyone in the Paddock wishes him a speedy recovery.
De Wolf inherited the lead, and Längenfelder had started to recover from his early issues as he passed Valin on lap eight, for fifth, which turned into fourth a few corners later as Benistant crashed down the order.
The Frenchman would come home in eighth, just ahead of Valk, who had passed the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider Karlis Reisulis for ninth on the final lap. The second Triumph of Camden McLellan had to move forward from a poor start to claim seventh behind Adamo. Valin’s fifth place matched his best Saturday finish yet in MX2, while Längenfelder’s fourth was good enough to gain two further points on Adamo, leaving him now 54 ahead of the Italian. Farres’ third place was his best in MX2 by some margin, while Coenen took second for the fifth time this year, still chasing that elusive Saturday win! De Wolf, however, took only his second Qualifying Race win of the year to reduce his deficit to Adamo down to just 13 points for second in the series.
It marks a welcome return to form for the defending World Champion, and while there is some rain expected during the night, the forecast for tomorrow is also for a dry day, which should lead to more great racing around the frantic KymiRing circuit! Don’t miss the action tomorrow from Finland!
Kay de Wolf: “I felt really good today. I was worried when I saw that crash with Liam, my mind went straight to him and I really hope he is okay, but after that, I reset and focused on the race. Getting the Qualifying win feels great, and now I’m excited for tomorrow.„
MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 23:51.073; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:06.407; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:12.197; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:13.841; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.337; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:28.847; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:29.626; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:53.339; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:54.748; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:56.883;
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 582 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 528 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 515 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 442 p.; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 420 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 362 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 281 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 269 p.; 10. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 249 p
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