Febvre and L.Coenen finally find their way to victory in Sumbawa – Indonesia.
The tenth round of the 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship marked the first round of the double header in Indonesia in the stunning venue of Sumbawa – Samota for the MNC MXGP of Sumbawa – Indonesia.
In MXGP it was Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre who came out victorious for the first time of the season in front of Red Plate Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer.
In MX2 it was another first as Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen got his first career victory in style with a perfect hat-trick ahead of his countrymen Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Jago Geerts for the first full Belgium podium since 2014 in Talavera where Clement Desalle won in front of Jeremy Van Horebeek and Kevin Strijbos.
The racing day was launched by the Opening Press Conference attended by David Luongo, Infront Moto Racing CEO, Antonio Alia Portela, FIM/CMS Director, MXGP Sumbawa-Lombok Coordinator Ir. H. Ridwan Syah, M.Sc, M.M, M.TP and the Vice Regent of Sumbawa Dewi Noviany, S.Pd.,M.Pd. The all took the time to greet and welcome everyone to Sumbawa and highlighted the joy to comeback to Indonesia for another year of motocross Grand Prix.
In race 1, Romain Febvre was the quickest out of the gate as he took the FOX Holeshot and kept going with the lead. Febvre looked like he was going to continue his domination on the Sumbawa-Samota circuit. Jorge Prado who followed him from the start, never lost sight of Febvre for a while but Febvre kept a fast pace to create a 5 seconds gap with Prado. However, everything got shaken up on lap 13 of 17 when Febvre lost the control of his bike on the down slope and went down to see Prado pass him and take the lead. Prado was never caught and could finish the race as the winner. Febvre had regrouped and was able to keep Jeremy Seewer at bay to stay 2nd in the end.
Seewer had a strong race and was able to ride in 3rd position for the whole race. His teammate Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff also made a very good showing as he quickly overtook Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Mitch Evans on lap 2 to move up to 4th. Coldenhoff paced got better as the race went on but couldn’t manage to pass Seewer and finished 4th. Unfortunately for Evans, he could not contain Team HRC’s Rubén Fernández on lap 3 and moved down to 6th. As he gets his rhythm back the Australian started to fade a bit moving down to 9th in the end but showed great pace.
Fernandez managed another good race as he got 5th on lap 3 and stayed there until the end. Team Gebben Van Venroy Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen looked really comfortable in the scorching heat as he found himself 8th on lap 1 but kept pushing forward to overtake Evans on lap 11 to go and finish in 6th position.
SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery MXGP’s Alberto Forato continued on his form and showed that he has resources as the Italian went from 11th after an average start to finish 7th in the end with an absolutely delightful move on lap 12 as he split Evans and De Baets Yamaha MX-Team’s Benoit Paturel to move up from 9th to 7th in one move. Paturel showed again his talent finished at a good 8th place.
In race 2, it was again Febvre who took his second FOX Holeshot of the day to hold the lead from the get-go. This time Febvre didn’t let his chance to win his first Grand Prix of the season go as he never looked back and kept his focus throughout the whole race to dominantly win race 2 and with it the GP of Sumbawa – Indonesia.
Behind him Ship to Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Valentin Guillod started very fast to find himself behind the leader and kept a strong pace for over 3 laps. However, Prado and Vlaanderen behind him were quicker and passed him on lap 4. Unfortunately, the Swiss made some mistakes and moved down the rank, although he still grabbed the 9th place for a 9th overall.
Prado went on to stay 2nd until lap 14 of 17 when an impressive Seewer came from the 5th place on lap 1 and kept pushing to finally manage to make his way through Prado for 2 on lap 14. Seewer showed so much determination to go 3-2 and get another good podium. Prado rode cleverly and settle for 3rd in the synonymous of 2nd overall to keep scoring important points and keep his Red Plate.
Vlaanderen who was riding strongly behind Prado got caught up by Seewer on lap 9 and finished at a good 4th for a 5th overall.
Coldenhoff was coming strong into this race too as he passed Guillod on lap 5 for 5th and was going to make his move on Vlaanderen when he caught Vlaanderen’s back wheel and fell. It was not too costly in the end but the ‘Hoff’ had to settle for 5th in the end and missed on the podium to finish 4th overall.
Evans made another solid race to finish 7th while Forato managed a good performance in 8th place for them to go 8th and 7th overall respectively. Despite being a bit less incisive in race 2 Paturel finished 11th, going 8-11 and a 10th overall.
Romain Febvre: “I needed this victory and it is always welcomed especially in these kind of conditions but I really like this track already from last year. I felt very comfortable in the first race, made my own mistake but I showed in the second that I was riding very well and that I was fast. I am happy to win here and I hope for more wins this season.”
Jorge Prado: “It was definitely a good weekend for me. I got to win race 1 which was amazing. I keep winning races week in week out which is very positive. I am happy with a 2nd overall and I need to keep racing like that and go riding for the wins”
Jeremy Seewer: “It feels very good to be on the podium especially after Germany (4th). Something happened in race 2 because I felt very good after the first corner, I could get aggressive straight away in the first lap and make some moves while maintain my energy pretty well. I get some good points, I felt good after making some adjustments to the bike and worked well today. Now onto the next round”.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:18.962; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:03.627; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:04.956; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:15.790; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:23.998; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:32.073; 7. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:37.236; 8. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:44.659; 9. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Kawasaki), +1:00.621; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +1:04.957
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 35:57.623; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:02.463; 3. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:14.192; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:18.102; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:32.890; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:45.801; 7. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:57.181; 8. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +1:03.972; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +1:07.599; 10. Alvin Östlund (SWE, Honda), +1:11.338
MXGP – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 47 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 45 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 42 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 33 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 31 p.; 7. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Mitchell Evans (AUS, KAW), 26 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 23 p.; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 23 p
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 505 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 404 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 386 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 374 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 371 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 346 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 324 p.; 8. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 256 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 229 p.; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GAS), 203 p
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. GASGAS, 511 points; 2. Yamaha, 499 p.; 3. KTM, 458 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 420 p.; 5. Honda, 404 p.; 6. Beta, 188 p.; 7. Husqvarna, 38 p.; 8. Suzuki, 15 p.;
In race 1, Jago Geerts clinched the first FOX Holeshot of the day as he started to lead the pack but made fell on lap 2 of 17 to pick himself up in 6th position. Getting his rhythm back after his injury and his comeback in Germany, Geerts managed to gain position to finish 5th in the end. Capitalising on Geerts’ mistake, Liam Everts took the lead confidently and kept going to show impressive calmness along the way. However, it was Lucas Coenen day as the blistering pace of the 16-year-old was enough to make a great pass on Everts on lap 15 to win the race. Everts settled for a good 2nd place in the end.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo showed that we can always count on him to fight as he battled hard his way with Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Simon Laengenfelder as they overtook each other several time over the race. The last word went to Adamo on the very last lap as Adamo made last pass to finish 3rd and getting important points for the Championship. Laengenfelder had to settle for 4th in the end.
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo looked strong this weekend and seemed to like this track, the Norwegian solidly finished 7th. The great performance of the race was for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Thibault Benistant who had to dig deep after a poor start to move up the rank from the 10th place up to a good 7th place on lap 8 before overtaking Horgmo on lap 15 to finish 6th.
Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s teammates Roan Van de Moosdijk and Kay de Wolf could not perform to their usual standards and had to settle for 8th and 9th respectively. De Wolf also crashed on lap 3 while he was 7th, moving down to 11th but he made a good effort to move back up to 9th.
As usual, TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team’s Jan Pancar kept riding well under these tough conditions. Pancar also showed that he can fight way up as he went from 15th on lap 1 to 10th in the end. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen stayed consistent as he finished where he started in 11th position.
In race 2, S.Coenen showed how fast he can go as he grabbed the FOX Holeshot just in front his twin brother L. Coenen. But it was L.Coenen took the lead on the second turn and kept pacing forward and never looked back as this was his day to shine. L.Coenen managed his first Grand Prix victory of his career with a perfect weekend going 1-1-1. This is a deserving win for the Belgium after showing all his speed and class since the beginning of the season.
Geerts made another great start to find himself 2nd and kept this place until Everts came knocking on the door on lap 10. After several unfruitful moves, Everts speed was too much for Geerts and Everts went on to finish 2nd for another excellent performance with a 2-2 and 2nd overall. Geerts after getting passed had to deal with his teammate Benistant until the very last stretch. Eventually Geerts held his ground which was vital for him to stay on the podium. In the end Geerts went 5-3 despite getting a fever on the Saturday that made him feel not totally fit which makes his 3rd overall place an incredible result. He also completed an historical full Belgium podium after the last one in Talavera in 2014 where Van Horebeek, Kevin Strijbos and Clement Desalle stepped up on the podium.
Benistant managed a good 4th place in the end as he battled a lot with Horgmo to get to 4th. Benistant went 6-4 for 5th overall and stay very much in contact with Red Plate Adamo in the Championship 5 points behind. Horgmo showed another great performance as he finished 5th for 7-5 and 5th overall. Van De Moosdijk increased his pace in the second race as he rode more confidently to go from 8th on lap 1 to 6th in the end. He went 8th overall just in front again of his teammate de Wolf who went 9-9 for 10th overall.
Pancar kept showing good pace and will to stay in the top 10 as the Slovenian managed to gain three positions during the race to finish 8th and get 9th overall. Things got more complicated for Laengenfelder as the German had an average start compared to his standard in 7th and fell down on lap 7 to pick himself up in 13th position. His speed was still enough to climbed to 10th in the end to go 7th overall.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Rick Elzinga made a good start in race 1 but then faded away and seemed to not find his flow in race 2 as the young Dutch rider finish 12th overall with a 12-13. S.Coenen faded a bit in the end after clinching his first FOX Holeshot of the season and settled for 12 for 11th overall.
JM Astra Honda’s Delvintor Alfarizi did not make the impact he wanted at home yet but he scored his first points as he finished 16th overall and will put on another hard work in Lombok to gain more points in front of his fans.
Lucas Coenen: “I think this win feels even better after what happened in Germany and it’s hard to describe how happy I am. I really want to thank everybody behind me, my manager, my physio, my mechanics and a special thanks to my dad for all his hard work. Next round is Lombok and we will get some fun.”
Liam Everts: “I had to fight hard in the second race to get to second but in the end I got the job done to get to the second on the podium. I am happy to walk away safe and with another podium, I am super happy.”
Jago Geerts: “My aim was to be on the podium but Saturday I woke up with a fever that made things very difficult for me as I was not fit. Today I felt a little bit better so I am very happy to be on the podium. We will take some rest this week and go back and fight for the next Grand Prix”
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 36:03.223; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:05.592; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:14.758; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:19.960; 5. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:28.771; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:32.031; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:33.749; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:35.555; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +1:00.831; 10. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:14.278
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:26.014; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:03.873; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:04.923; 4. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:05.276; 5. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:12.868; 6. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:19.428; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:29.614; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:38.272; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:43.455; 10. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:50.453
MX2 – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification : 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 50 points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 36 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 33 p.; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 30 p.; 7. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 29 p.; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 28 p.; 9. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 24 p.; 10. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 24 p
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 439 points; 2. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 434 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 417 p.; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 381 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 381 p.; 6. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 373 p.; 7. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 315 p.; 8. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 295 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 268 p.; 10. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 217 p
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Yamaha, 524 points; 2. Husqvarna, 501 p.; 3. KTM, 474 p.; 4. GASGAS, 357 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 273 p.; 6. Honda, 170 p.; 7. Fantic, 18 p.;
Text/Bild: Infront