HERLINGS & L.COENEN BEAT THE HEAT IN THE WEST NUSA TENGGARA RAM QUALIFYING RACES.
The FIM Motocross World Motocross Championship saw the first action of the Indonesian double header today, as the Ram Qualifying Races in both classes decided the order for tomorrow’s gate pick and gave the riders a chance to add to their points tallies as we start the second half of the campaign.
The circuit was heavily watered to combat the 30-plus degree heat, and several sections gave multiple line choices which resulted in some excellent racing!
In MXGP it was a first RAM Qualifying Race win of the year for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing legend Jeffrey Herlings, after moving past Team HRC’s Tim Gajser on the fourth lap and holding off a late charge from reigning World Champion Jorge Prado, who claimed second for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing.
The race lead in MX2 was like hot potato, as first Sacha Coenen dropped out of the lead for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, then Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf also fell from the front! Ultimately it was Kay’s teammate Lucas Coenen who collected the win, while De Wolf recovered to take second ahead of Simon Laengenfelder, who took third for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing.
After Gajser had topped the timesheets in Free Practice, Herlings just edged out the Slovenian for first gate pick in the early afternoon’s Time Practice session. Prado took third pick, showing no ill signs from his Italian GP crash.
Gajser levelled with Prado into turn one and steered the GASGAS rider to the outside, while Herlings tucked up the inside to hold second behind the Honda man. Calvin Vlaanderen started up in third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, but spun sideways, and nearly off the bike, in the second corner. He had to fight back through to an eventual fifth.
Brian Bogers grabbed third for Fantic Factory Racing, but landed short on the big triple jump at the top end of the circuit and although he didn’t crash, the Dutchman immediately pulled off the circuit and back to the pits. We wait for information on what went wrong in the end. Simultaneously, Mattia Guadagnini crashed on the same jump and was lucky to not get hit by riders behind him! He went into the pits so that his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing mechanics could help to straighten out the bike.
This left Jeremy Seewer in third for Kawasaki Racing Team, until Prado leapt passed him with an excellent line through a wave section. Jorge was also clearing that big triple jump when none of the top riders were doing so, and was using the time gained to haul in the leaders!
After jumping past Gajser, Herlings had built a small gap over his fellow five-time World Champion. Prado got to the rear wheel of the Honda, and nearly landed on it, before pulling an excellent switchback move to take second place from the red plate holder!
Seewer held onto fourth, while Vlaanderen moved forward for fifth, ahead of the Ship to Cycle Honda Motoblouz SR pairing of Kevin Horgmo and Valentin Guillod. Jan Pancar finished a fine eighth for TEM Racing JP253 KTM, with Vlaanderen’s teammate Bonacorsi ninth, and Bogers’ teammate Glenn Coldenhoff claiming the final point in tenth.
Prado couldn’t quite get his claws into Herlings and had to be careful of a charging Gajser to hold on to second place. The gap at the top of the table is now 33 points after “The Bullet” took his first RAM Qualifying Race win since Latvia in 2023, over 12 months ago!
Gajser keeps leading the race for the RAM Truck driving Experience in front of Prado.
Jeffrey Herlings: “It’s been a lot today for sure! It was last year in Latvia since I won a ‘Quali’. So it feels nice! It was not easy as you couldn’t make mistake on this track but anyway, I took the 10 points and I really look forward for tomorrow now!”
MXGP – RAM Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 25:09.310; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:03.034; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:06.061; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:13.719; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:19.963; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:27.916; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:32.476; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:33.552; 9. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:39.936; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:43.362
MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 519 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 486 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 450 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 345 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 339 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 327 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 303 p.; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 274 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 213 p.; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 211 p
The three fastest in practice for MX2 were the same in both sessions, although Sacha Coenen led from Lucas and Kay in Free Practice and the red plate holder claimed the first gate pick in Time Practice.
Sacha Coenen once more bolted into the lead from the start ahead of De Wolf and, after he passed Laengenfelder coming out of turn two, Lucas Coenen. However, the KTM speedster dropped the bike after the big triple jump and in getting back on track actually cut a corner. This led to him being penalised by five positions, ending up as classified in 12th position.
De Wolf then led, until he then made a mistake by clipping a bank into a right-hand corner and sliding to the ground! Lucas gratefully inherited the lead and pressed on to win by a solid six seconds. De Wolf managed to pick the bike up in third and set about catching and passing Laengenfelder, which he did on the penultimate lap!
Sacha Coenen’s teammates Liam Everts and Andrea Adamo matched their Championship positions in fourth and fifth, and Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup fought past Ferruccio Zanchi to claim sixth. Jack Chambers was enjoying heat similar to his native Florida, and claimed eighth for Bike It MTX Kawasaki ahead of Haarup’s teammate Camden McLellan, with Oriol Oliver scoring the final point for WZ Racing.
Lucas Coenen’s win brings to just two points shy of Laengenfelder for second in the series, while De Wolf’s second gives him a 49-point lead heading into tomorrow’s MXGP of West Nusa Tenggara!
Lucas Coenen: “I knew the track was a bit tricky. It was an easy one for myself in the end. I made a good start and then I was following Kay (de Wolf) who was leading the race. He made a little mistake and then he crashed so I took the lead and could do my own race! Now let’s see tomorrow how it is going to be!”
MX2 – RAM Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 25:05.501; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:05.880; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:07.339; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:10.013; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:21.661; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:23.264; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:52.813; 8. Jack Chambers (USA, Kawasaki), +0:56.321; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:57.682; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:01.138
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 482 points; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 433 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 431 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 400 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 375 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 319 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 300 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 278 p.; 9. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 226 p.; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 197 p
Text/Bild: Infront