What a race, what a pace. MXGP of Netherlands delivered excitement, woke up inner beasts and returned the legends. Already in the first turn we have thought that the championship battle is over, but we soon figured out that we couldn’t be more wrong. The beast was awaken.
Romain Febvre came into the weekend with a 42-point lead with only 4 rounds to go and at the beginning of the Sunday’s races it seemed that, the championship battle is over.
The Championship Slips Away… For A Moment
The gates have dropped. Lucas Coenen got blocked and didn’t make it in the front but still, wasn’t a bad start. But the first turn came along, the wheel slipped and Coenen was down in the very first turn.
The time has stopped. Lucas needed to have 2 great races as the championship was slipping away after the weekend in Sweden.
But now he was on the ground, at the very beginning. And Febvre was at the front.
As the championship was running away from Lucas, he quickly stood up, started the bike and went for a run we have not expected to see that day.
He was out of the TOP 25. Romain was 4th. If that was to stay like that, Febvre would have gain a massive advantage in the championship fight.
But Lucas had different plans. The beast was awaken inside the young Belgian.
He wasn’t cruising. He was flying, surfing through the sands of Arnhem as everyone next to him seemed to be standing still. Just to put things into perspective – even when he got inside the TOP 10, his pace was 3 seconds per lap faster that everyone around him.
No Time To Relax
When he got to 9th place, the Kawasaki team didn’t understand the pace Lucas was riding at, as the board to Febvre was saying: “Relax, number 96 is at 9th place“.
It is true that Febvre should not risk too much, rather to keep riding solid and keep the advantage. But considering the pace Coenen was having, there was no time to relax.
Febvre did though pass Gajser to get himself to third place, but Coenen was comming and on lap 13, he got past Tim Gajser to put himself to 5th position.
Very soon he rushed past Andrea Bonacorsi when all of a sudden, he had his championship rival on sight. Febvre leveled-up his pace and passed Glenn Coldenhoff, but so did Coenen.
Lucas didn’t hesitate and on a straight section he jumped past Febvre. Romain could not match Lucas’s pace and had to settle for third.
Lucas tried to close in on race leader Jeffrey Herlings but it was a little too late. Jeffrey understood that Lucas was coming. He kept the pace and won race one in front of his home crowd only 3 seconds ahead of Lucas Coenen.
Hard Work For Lucas
Coenen was very lucky not to meet the Dutch sand up close already the first meters into the race two as he banged bars together with Bonacorsi right on the start straight. Luckily he stayed on two wheels, but started the race only around 15th place. That was Lucas’s 4th bad start in a row, also counting in 2 horrible starts from last grand prix in Sweden.
Febvre again was in the front. Herlings very soon took the lead from Coldenhoff, but Febvre was 3rd. Again a nice possibility to increase the gap in the championship title fight.
So, again Lucas had to work a little bit harder. Well, he was probably used by now since the first race.
And as Coenen was passing everyone ahead of him, Febvre made a mistake in a right turn, the front wheel slipped and he crashed.
Febvre tried to pick up and start the bike as fast as possible, He did it fast, but still he fell down to 10th place as this was only the second lap of the race. Interesting fact: just in front of Lucas Coenen.
The Dutch windmills were spinning into Lucas’s direction as they gave the young Belgian a great opportunity to close the gap in the championship.
Coenen brought the pace from race one and went past his rival in no time. Also no one else was on his level.
He looked fast. It was a challenge even for the camera crew to follow Lucas Coenen throughout the race as he was passing everyone in front of him.
All In On Herlings
By the end of the race, he also closed the gap to the race leader Jeffrey Herlings. Jeffrey was until then alone in the front until Lucas came along.
Lucas seemed a little faster, but this was Jeffrey’s home GP. So many Dutch fans were there, cheering for the number 84 to keep on going and not to let this one go.
Jeffrey fought hard. Lucas was attacking with all the power he has. Both changing lines in the challenging Dutch sand.
Herlings eventually managed to block all of the Coenen’s attacks and emerged victorious in front of his home crowd and took all available 60 points from the weekend.
Immediately after the finish line jump, he stopped and put his head down. He was done as he gave everything he had. Lucas pushed him to the limit.
Jeffrey even said at the end that he is very happy that the race didn’t have 2 more laps as he used all his energy to finish the race up front and he understood that Lucas however was faster that day.
Febvre however couldn’t find his rhythm and finished 8th.
The Title Fight
3 rounds to go, 180 points still available and after 17 rounds, the gap between Romain Febvre and Lucas Coenen is now 31 points.
Not a lot, but not so little as well.
In a hypothetical scenario, if Lucas would now win all the qualifying races and all the main races and Febvre would be second in all the sessions, Febvre would still win the championship by 10 points.
But as we have learned in the last GP’s. Nothing is certain and any mistake can be very costly.
Lucas may be a rookie, but he is hungry. His pace in the Dutch sand this weekend was absolutely incredible and he will give it all to clinch his first ever MXGP title.
On the other hand, Febvre is highly motivated to win his second MXGP title, 10 years after his first one. Experience surely is in his favor.
The question is only, who can keep the head calm and mind focused. Any mistake can completely diminish title hopes for any of them.
Febvre has a nice advantage at the moment, but in motocross this counts more than anywhere: It’s not over, until it’s over.
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