Photo Credits: Infront Moto Racing
The wait is over. Lommel is here and Saturday already gave us a plenty to look forward to Sunday’s main races. Also rain before the race didn’t really help to ease the conditions for the riders. The track was rough and riders were ready for the challenge.
MXGP
Already the start was a bit of a surprise as no factory rider took the Fox Holeshot, as we might expect. This time it was Isak Gifting. A Swede on a JK Yamaha who had a great GP last weekend in Czechia, when he and Jan Pancar were dancing together with the factory riders, especially through first race.
Yamaha’s Jago Geerts and Calvin Vlaanderen folowed which made a leading Yamaha trio, with a Fantic duo of Glenn Coldenhoff and Brian Bogers completing the top five.
The championship rivals Romain Febvre and Lucas Coenen, who came into this round separated by only 10 points didn’t have a good start, Lucas started around 7th place, Romain 10th.
But they didn’t intend to stop there.
Lucas knew he was ahead of Romain and he wasn’t going to let that slip away. He didn’t waste any time and went on a charge. By the end of the first lap, he was already fifth with a pass on Bogers.
Coenen didn’t stop there.
He continued and made rushed past Glenn Coldenhoff and soon after also Jago Geerts. He set his sights on the leading duo of Isak Gifting and Calvin Vlaanderen.
His pace was fast, soon he caught and passed Vlaanderen and in lap 7, he passed Isak Gifting for the lead.
Romain Febvre was taking notes in the back and was doing just the same thing. He couldn’t afford to lose too many points to Lucas as the championship battle intensifies.
His pace was similar to Lucas’s, also passing everyone in front of him, but always being a couple of seconds behind him.
Vlaanderen took the second place from Gifting and soon after both were passed by the championship leader Romain Febvre who took over the second place.
Febvre did have a faster pace than Coenen in the last laps and did close the gap to around 3 seconds, but luckily for Coenen the race was over on time and he took the Saturday’s qualifying win over his rival Romain Febvre in second. The championship contenders are now separated by only 9 points, heading onto the Sunday’s races.
Vlaanderen and Gifting took the third and fourth place. This was Isak Gifting’s best ever result in MXGP Qualifying races. Glenn Coldenhoff took the fifth.
MX2
Before this weekend we were all wondering one question: Will Kay de Wolf deliver in Lommel, a terrain which can resemble his sand mastery. And he did give us a show.
However the Fox Holeshot was taken by local hero, RedBull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen, with Andrea Adamo and David Braceras right behind him.
Kay de Wolf didn’t have a perfect start only around 7th place, but it only took a little moment until he was in 4th place, 3rd by the end of the first lap.
Coenen started aggressive and made a 4-second gap towards the rest of the field by the end of the first lap.
De Wolf got himself into 2nd place in lap 4, but was at the moment 10 seconds behind Coenen.
Coenen soon after said “hello” to the dutch sand. When he picked himself up and continued the race, De Wolf was only 3,5 seconds behind and by the end of that lap, they were together. Coenen couldn’t face the pressure of De Wolf as he made the mistake and launched himself off the track, behind the Alpinestars banners, didn’t crash but soon after, he again said “hello” to the dutch sand. Afterwards he would crash 2 more times and would eventually finish 7th.
De Wolf continued and came out victorious, almost 5 seconds ahead of Andrea Adamo, who was mostly unbothered on second for most of the race.
The battle for third was between championship leader Simon Lägenfelder and Camden McLellan. Lägenfelder was riding on third as he made a move on McLellan earlier on, but the battle was happening all through the race. It was something to watch, and eventually McLellan finally made a move, to put himself to third.
Fifth place belonged to Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant, who had a nice solid start and solid ride throughout the race without major mistakes.
The battle continues on Sunday. The unforgiving Lommel.
Will Febvre rebound and snatch the win from the local hero? Will Kay de Wolf continue his triumph and take the 60 points from the weekend?