TEAMMATES HERLINGS AND ADAMO CELEBRATE QUALIFYING WINS AT THE MXGP OF NETHERLANDS.
Local fans packed the compact Motorsportpark Gelderland Midden venue for today’s first day of track action at the MXGP of Netherlands, as round 17 of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships burst into life at Arnhem!
All-time top Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings took a fighting win for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the MXGP Qualifying Race, leading a 1-2 for the host nation as Glenn Coldenhoff claimed a solid second for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, while Championship leader Romain Febvre put in another strong performance for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP in third place!
The MX2 class saw another winner in orange as Andrea Adamo made it a double for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, with Sacha Coenen backing it up for the Austrian factory in second. A happy Liam Everts scored his best result since his Finnish back injury with third for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, while title combatants Simon Längenfelder and Kay de Wolf both suffered first lap problems to hamper their efforts.
Today was a nice taster enjoyed by a noisy Dutch crowd, who will line the circuit with expectations of a lot of home success tomorrow!
In Free Practice it was Herlings who made an instant statement with the fastest time by over a second from Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser, with Lucas Coenen third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. It looked like Coenen might take pole in the Time Practice session, however, until Herlings put in a mighty effort to take that first gate pick for the Qualifying Race by three tenths of a second! Coenen, frustrated at being held up by a local rider on one of his attempts, had to settle for second, with Gajser third, Febvre fourth, and Andrea Bonacorsi rounding out the top five for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
Despite placing outside the top ten in Time Practice, it was Glenn Coldenhoff who fired his own factory Fantic into the lead, just as he did on the way to the Qualifying Race win last year! Gajser was in his wake and fending off the attack of Herlings, with the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP pairing of Pauls Jonass and Febvre rounding out the top five as they started the first full lap!
Herlings charged past his fellow five-time Champ into second very early on in that lap and gave chase to his countryman, while Coenen recovered from an average start to pick his way past the green bikes, tucking past Febvre for fourth at the end of lap two. Bonacorsi held seventh early on, ahead of the JM Racing Honda of Brent van Doninck, with the third Fantic Factory Racing MXGP rider, Brian Bogers, coming around in ninth. A great start from MX-Handel Husqvarna Racing’s Kevin Brumann saw the Swiss rider in tenth early on, before being passed by the returning Monster Energy Yamaha MXGP star Jago Geerts.
Coenen was looking menacing at the front, and shot past Gajser for third on lap four, before nearly colliding with Herlings the following lap as the Dutchman moved out to protect his position! This prompted “The Bullet” to charge on Coldenhoff, and he leapt past the Fantic man into a corner to lead halfway around lap five! At about his time, Febvre was keeping a watching brief on his title rival, after also passing Gajser to take fourth.
On lap eight, as he tried to pass Coldenhoff, Coenen mis-judged a jump and landed off-circuit! Extremely fortunate to stay onboard, he dropped to fifth as a result, although he was soon back past Gajser to reclaim fourth.
Behind the leaders, the second Honda HRC teamster Ruben Fernandez put in an impressive ride in conditions he doesn’t usually favour, climbing to eighth by the flag, ahead of Jonass and Van Doninck, while Isak Gifting dropped his JK Racing Yamaha to end his race three laps early. Calvin Vlaanderen also suffered a crash, but was able to salvage 16th for Monster Energy Yamaha MXGP.
Fantic teammates Bonacorsi and Bogers moved forward to take sixth and seventh at the flag, while Gajser finished safely in fifth.
Coldenhoff got close to Herlings in the final laps but was not able to attempt a passing manoeuvre, and Febvre made a single-point gain on Coenen as they finished third and fourth behind the two Dutchmen!
Tomorrow should see an epic contest as the MXGP warriors wrestle their 450cc beasts around one of the toughest tracks on the calendar. Who will emerge triumphant is anyone’s guess, but it’s certain to be a thrilling encounter!
Jeffrey Herlings: „Fastest in each practice today and then to win the Qualifying Race here at my home GP feels really nice. The track was quite difficult to pass on and the sun was very low, with shadows making it tricky, so I just did enough to stay in front without taking risks. To line up first tomorrow in front of the Dutch fans is amazing, and I’m looking forward to seeing even more of them here on race day.“
MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 25:13.881; 2. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:01.417; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:05.961; 4. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:09.257; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:11.812; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:16.387; 7. Brian Bogers (NED, Fantic), +0:33.951; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:35.956; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:39.197; 10. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Honda), +0:40.452
MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 802 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 760 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 581 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 505 p.; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 480 p.; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 429 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 423 p.; 8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 416 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 341 p.; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 333 p
The morning Free Practice session saw the trademark blistering early pace of Sacha Coenen set the top time for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, with De Wolf second ahead of fellow home rider Cas Valk on the Van Venrooy KTM Racing machine. In Time Practice, however, it was De Wolf who set the pole position time ahead of another Dutchman, Rick Elzinga of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 squad, with Coenen in third. Camden McLellan of the Monster Energy Triumph Racing team got fourth ahead of Coenen’s teammate and red plate holder Simon Längenfelder.
It was that man Coenen again who nailed his 17th Holeshot from all races this year, but Adamo was instantly all over the Belgian and carved across him through the second corner, looking determined to make a break over his title rivals while he could. And as luck would have it for the Italian, both of them suffered issues on the opening lap! De Wolf tangled with another rider in turn one, starting a chain reaction that saw Längenfelder and Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors man Oriol Oliver hit the ground together!
While Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Thibault Benistant fell in a separate incident on the exit of turn one, Längenfelder had to tear into Pit Lane to change a damaged rear wheel, just re-joining the circuit before Adamo could come around to put him a lap down!
It must have been a relief for the German to get a message that De Wolf, easily the pre-race favourite, had hit trouble again! The reigning Champ tripped over the rear wheel of Kay Karssemakers’ Bike-It Kawasaki Racing Team machine, and ended up at the bottom of a three-bike pile-up with Karlis Reisulis and Scott Smulders on top of him!
All of this left Adamo and Coenen to pull away out front, while Everts took third away from Elzinga, who briefly dropped behind Valk before re-passing his fellow Dutchman on lap two! Valerio Lata was a good sixth for Honda HRC, ahead of McLellan, the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 bike of Mathis Valin, Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Guillem Farres, and KTM BTS Racing Team’s own Dutchman, Jens Walvoort.
On the arduous circuit, the top four held station, while De Wolf tore through the field, giving us a glimpse of his raw speed, lapping two seconds faster than anyone else ever did on lap two! It took him until the tenth lap to get into the top ten with a brilliant move on Walvoort, while McLellan worked past Valk in a similar fashion to take fifth from the rookie, who then immediately fell prey to Valin.
Two laps later, De Wolf used a brilliant sweeping line to take seventh from Valk, as Lata crashed out of the points! Farres and Walvoort took ninth and tenth behind Valk, but just as De Wolf was lining up a pass on Valin for sixth, he spun sideways and had to dig his front wheel out of a sand bank, halting his progress to leave him in seventh!
Valin took sixth for the third Qualifying Race in a row, with McLellan fifth, and Elzinga’s fourth improved his best Saturday result of the year by four places! Everts would have been delighted with third, while Sacha Coenen was again unable to grab that first Qualifying Race win of his season!
Instead, Adamo took it by just 1.3 seconds, leaving him now 49 points down on Längenfelder in the series, but only 13 shy of De Wolf. The Dutch hero chipped the German’s series lead to 36 points, and for sure he will be going all-out for maximum points tomorrow!
Do not forget to tune in for tomorrow’s Grand Prix races as they could throw up all sorts of surprises in the sand, with a packed house throwing up what’s sure to be another amazing atmosphere!
Andrea Adamo: „Unbelievable, I mean, it’s only a Qualifying Race, but i had tough gate pick but then I took the holeshot. From there I just put my rhythm, nothing crazy, I wasn’t super fast but I felt good out there. I’m really happy to take my fourth Quali Race win and to start on pole position for tomorrow. Let’s go, I love the races!“
MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 25:20.247; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.304; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:03.882; 4. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:24.429; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:25.350; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:26.605; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:36.201; 8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:38.106; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:39.647; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:45.597;
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 754 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 718 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 705 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 608 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 558 p.; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 510 p.; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 505 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 366 p.; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 359 p.; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.
Bild/Text: Infront