MXGP: The iconic Foxhills Moto Parc was resurrected this weekend for its return to the FIM Motocross World Championship calendar, and the awesome atmosphere that was last seen 26 years ago was back in all its glory as the main valley filled up with fans and the steep climbs and drops challenged the riders to their limit!
The track preparation, always a key issue at a venue with a fundamentally hardpack clay base, was absolutely on-point and provided some truly fantastic racing to raise the volume in the valley even further! It was a phenomenal return to action for the circuit itself and the fans were also back to enjoy the experience in their thousands!
Both classes saw massive changes in their Championship pictures, unfortunately almost directly as a result of problems for the incumbent red plate holders.
At the twelfth round of the season, Jeffrey Herlings made it a 50% GP win record for himself with the Honda HRC Petronas team by taking his sixth GP win, in almost unique fashion for him with two consecutive Fox Holeshot Awards helping him on his way! Defending World Champion Romain Febvre gave chase all day long to claim second for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, while Tim Gajser broke his three-month podium drought with third overall for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.
In MX2, Spaniard Guillem Farres claimed his third consecutive GP victory for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, with another perfect Sunday score, while Simon Längenfelder battled hard for second overall on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine, ahead of the second factory Triumph of Camden McLellan.
Both of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing twins Lucas Coenen and Sacha Coenen battled injury issues, and Lucas saw his MXGP series lead cut drastically to 11 points, while Sacha lost the MX2 red plate to Farres despite struggling through the pain of a collarbone injury. Everything looks massively different as we head to the MXGP of Czech Republic next weekend!
Tim Gajser confirmed his pace from Saturday to top the table in the morning Warm-Up, by just 24 hundredths from Jeffrey Herlings. Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass took the third fastest time.
It was “The Bullet” that shot to the lead in race one to claim just his second Fox Holeshot of the season, just out-dragging his Honda HRC Petronas teammate Tom Vialle, although Gajser tucked into second down the next jump-filled straight of the circuit. Romain Febvre was fourth ahead of the TEM JP253 KTM of Jan Pancar, although the third Honda HRC Petronas machine of Ruben Fernandez would squeeze into the top five by the end of the first full lap! Jeremy Seewer restarted his season with Venrooy KTM Racing in seventh place, ahead of the second Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP of Maxime Renaux.
Lucas Coenen, having started from the extreme outside of the gate after not finishing the Qualifying Race, was initially just inside the top ten, battling with his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Andrea Adamo, but he clearly was not his usual self. Dropping to twelfth on the following lap, he then retired from the race in obvious physical discomfort.
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Adamo himself did make progress, and lifted himself to sixth by lap four, running ahead of the non-factory KTMs of Pancar and Seewer. The Slovenian and the Swiss would finish seventh and eighth, with Seewer getting there with a last lap pass on Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul’s Norwegian Kevin Horgmo. Gabriel SS24 KTM rider Oriol Oliver had an up and down race to take tenth on the final lap from wildcard British rider Taylor Hammal on the Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki, who still took a credible eighth in his first MXGP class Sunday race!
Up front, Gajser kept hounding Herlings, but could not break the Dutchman. Vialle was also holding Febvre at bay, but he suffered a massive crash as he got cross-rutted and slammed into the face of a jump on lap 14! With a seriously twisted bike, the Frenchman limped home to 14th at the flag. Fernandez had lost fifth to Adamo with a mistake, but he fought back past along the main valley on lap 13, and that became fourth, behind Febvre, with Vialle’s crash.
Herlings’ win was enough to cut Coenen’s points lead to 36 before race two, with the Belgian’s very participation in question for race two.
For the first time in many years, Herlings made it two Fox Holeshot Awards in one day as he fired into the lead of race two, with Vialle being passed almost instantly by Gajser and then Febvre who chased after “The Bullet” from the start. Seewer was also initially in the top five, but he was also overhauled by Fernandez and Adamo, as well as by Jonass, to sit eighth at the end of the first full lap. Isak Gifting also ran in the top ten on his return to racing for JK Racing Yamaha.
Coenen had again attempted to race, but pulled up on lap four in obvious pain, and limped off the bike. There would be no points from Foxhills for the Belgian, and we await news of his condition while wishing him the very best of health.
There was sadly a bad crash for Jonass on one of the steepest downhill sections, exiting the race from seventh, although he was fortunately diagnosed with little more than bruising after the race. Seewer was therefore promoted to seventh, good enough for sixth overall the day after his 32nd birthday. Horgmo claimed eighth in the race for seventh overall, while Jago Geerts scored his best result of the season for MRT Racing Team Beta with a fine ninth, while Brent van Doninck rounded out the top ten for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
Vialle held steady to take sixth in race two, good enough for tenth overall behind Renaux in ninth and Pancar in eighth. The top five in race two stayed set for most of the race, but Gajser and Febvre continued to press Herlings for the lead to keep the fans on their feet throughout! On lap 11 Gajser tipped over in a corner at the top of one of the hills, losing second to Febvre in a fall that put him third overall for sure. Fernandez and Adamo held on for fourth and fifth in both race two and the overall, meaning that the Spaniard passed the Italian for sixth in the Championship over the course of the weekend.
Febvre still got close to the front, but Herlings would not budge, claiming his 118th career Grand Prix victory with a perfect 1-1 day, his fifth in the UK. It closes him to within 11 points of Coenen in their battle for the Championship.
The Belgian has only explained things to the extent of saying that he hurt his leg, but will try again in Loket, where he won in MXGP last year. This could lead to a fascinating end to the season!
Jeffrey Herlings: “Another perfect weekend, two holeshots and I led every single lap. But I don’t like gaining fifty points this way. My thoughts go out to Lucas; even though we’re rivals, you never want to gain points like this, it’s a shame, and I’d rather he’d just broken his bike than hurt himself. I hope he’s back healthy as soon as possible and I’m looking forward to more good battles with him. Coming back to my day though, I’m super pumped about how I rode — this one felt like a little gift to myself. One-one, two holeshots, the timing couldn’t have been better from a personal point of view. Looking forward to Loket. Big thanks to Honda HRC Petronas for the great job they’ve done. Seven rounds to go.”
Romain Febvre: “I feel good at the moment, and like I say, I’m improving every weekend. I’m getting closer to a race win now, that’s what I’m looking for. It’s good, what we’ve been working on during the week with the bike and everything, now we can run on the front with the guys, so that’s really important. Next GP is Loket, a track I like, and then Lommel after that, so we’ll see. But I’m feeling good at the moment, so happy to finish second overall this weekend.”
Tim Gajser: “It’s good to be back on the podium. Yesterday was a difficult day, but today I felt way better I felt good from the beginning. First race, solid start, I was there, the speed was there, I was putting pressure on Jeffrey, but he didn’t make any mistake, and it wasn’t easy to pass, so I finished second. Second race was kind of the same, I was second behind him, putting on pressure, and then I made a mistake at the top. I went from second to third and finished the race like that, so it’s a bit of a bummer, that crash in the second race. But overall the speed is there, and we’re going to keep working hard. Thank you to the team and everybody around me.”
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 34:43.207; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:03.121; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:07.806; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:37.346; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:47.685; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:54.269; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:57.973; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +1:01.452; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:02.822; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:05.452
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 34:38.594; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:01.299; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:18.247; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:22.436; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:26.442; 6. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:29.019; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +0:53.253; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:54.738; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:01.252; 10. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Fantic), +1:02.237
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 50 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 42 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 42 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 36 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), 27 p.; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 25 p.; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 24 p.; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 24 p.; 10. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 22 p.;
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 555 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 494 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 452 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 392 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 378 p.; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 375 p.; 8. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 317 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 273 p.;
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 643 points; 2. KTM, 621 p.; 3. Yamaha, 535 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 519 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 303 p.; 6. Ducati, 261 p.; 7. Fantic, 241 p.; 8. Beta, 105 p.; 9. Triumph, 84 p.; 10. GASGAS, 4 p.
After only just losing the Qualifying Race with a late slip-up, Guillem Farres re-asserted his authority with the fastest time in the morning Warm-Up. Valerio Lata took the next best time for Honda HRC Petronas, with Camden McLellan taking third.
Farres instantly made life easier for himself with the Fox Holeshot Award in race one, with Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Liam Everts in second ahead of Längenfelder. Janis Reisulis was fourth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, just edging past Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team’s sole MX2 rider Ferruccio Zanchi. Zanchi engaged in a pitched battle with the Osička KTM of Julius Mikula for sixth place, while Championship leader Sacha Coenen crashed awkwardly behind them, fortunately on the stronger shoulder, dropping to 14th spot on lap five for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
McLellan quickly worked past Mikula and Zanchi, but took until lap four to get past Janis Reisulis in a corner at the bottom of a hill. Lata held eighth ahead of the Dixon Racing Kawasaki of Kay Karssemakers and the S/B Racing KTM of Jens Walvoort.
Roughly halfway through the race, Längenfelder closed in on Farres, and the pair battled back and forth for almost an entire lap, thrilling the packed valley of fans! The Spaniard dug in and picked up his pace, ultimately taking the race victory with a little point back to his rival over the finish line jump!
Everts held off McLellan on their battle for third, with Janis Reisulis fifth ahead of Mikula. Sadly, Zanchi suffered a scary crash on the biggest downhill of the track, and it was a relief to see him walk off. We understand he has a back injury, but we wish him well.
Lata inherited seventh as a result, with Karlis Reisulis eighth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2. Walvoort took ninth while Coenen recovered for tenth.
Längenfelder, took his fourth Fox Holeshot Award of the season, and fortieth of his career, in race two! Farres was instantly with him, while Coenen was third, with Everts carving ahead of the Maddi Racing Honda ABF Italia of Maxime Grau to take fourth in the second corner!
Längenfelder tipped over in exactly the same corner as where Farres crashed on Saturday, and this time the Spaniard was the benefactor, taking the lead and looking untroubled. Coenen was briefly second, but slid sideways on an uphill and allowed Simon back past him.
McLellan passed Janis Reisulis, just as in race one, to climb to fifth, with Karssemakers seventh ahead of Karlis Reisulis, Walvoort, and Lata.
Nobody was catching Farres this time, and Längenfelder was solid in second. Everts took a tumble in a left-hand corner, just losing one position to McLellan, which decided the podium in the favour of the South African.
Coenen was able to hang on this time to fifth position, while Karlis Reisulis adopted the sixth place abandoned by his brother and held it to the flag, with Mikula seventh, Janis Reisulis eighth, Lata ninth, and Grau, having dropped the bike following his initial fast start, recovering to tenth place.
Mikula’s consistency took him to his second top five overall finish of the year, while Janis edged Karlis for sixth overall in the battle of the brothers! Coenen took eighth overall ahead of Lata and Grau, but of course the big news for the Belgian was that his Championship lead was lost.
Farres has taken seven Sunday race wins from the last eight, and looks in great shape with an 11-point advantage over Coenen as we head to Loket in the Czech Republic! Längenfelder’s resurgence has seen him pull a 20-point gap over McLellan for third.
With both Championship battles taking major turns, the Monster Energy MXGP of Great Britain made as much of an impression on the series as it did on the banks of excited British Motocross fans! In one stunning weekend, this fantastic Foxhills venue restored its reputation as one of the very best in the world, and was a credit to all who had helped to get it there! See you here next year, and do not be missing Loket next weekend!
Guillem Farres: “It was a nice ride. He made a mistake in the opening laps and I took advantage, and then we went back and forth for a bit. Happy that things are going the right way, the starts are helping, and hopefully we keep it that way.”
Simon Langenfelder: “What a crash, that was a stupid one, I must say. But I kept him on his toes, the speed was good, I just dropped off a bit at the end. The track was sketchy, but I’m super happy to take home another trophy, those are always really cool in England. I think that’s my fourth now, it’s really, really big.”
Camden McLellan: “It’s been a good weekend, good to get back on the box. I was happy with my ride in the second race, I was moving forward at the end. My starts just weren’t there today, though I was happy with my start yesterday, so one of three was good, I’ll take the positives and keep working. It was a nice push with Liam at the end, I think we kept Simon and Guillem honest. If I can get that pace from the beginning and be in the top five, the first one will be good. Big respect to Sasha too, he fought really hard out there. Great for Guillem, and really happy. Thank you.”
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:02.322; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:01.268; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:16.938; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:26.891; 5. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:33.323; 6. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:43.509; 7. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:43.757; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:11.737; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:20.566; 10. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:26.329
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:13.772; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:05.835; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:07.225; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:09.392; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:44.771; 6. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:51.235; 7. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:55.297; 8. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:01.368; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:04.119; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +1:06.456
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 50 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 38 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 38 p.; 5. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 29 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 29 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 26 p.; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, HON), 21 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 563 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 552 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 521 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 501 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 477 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 434 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 336 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 307 p.; 10. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 253 p.
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 647 points; 2. Triumph, 644 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 477 p.; 4. Yamaha, 465 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 430 p.; 6. Honda, 354 p.; 7. Ducati, 135 p.; 8. TM Moto, 87 p.; 9. GASGAS, 65 p.; 10. Fantic, 8 p
MONSTER ENERGY MXGP OF GREAT BRITAIN – FOXHILLS QUICK FACTS:
Circuit length: 1793m
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 24˚
Weather conditions: Sunny
Crow Attendance: 32,000
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