Herlings and De Wolf on top at Lommel

2024 FIM Motocross World Championship
Round 14 – MXGP of Flanders
Stedelijk Motorcrossterrein Lommel

The MXGP of Flanders turned up the heat at the Stedelijk Motocrossterrain Lommel circuit and in the MXGP class it was expected to be a battle of the sand masters Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings. With incredible riding, Herlings delivered a knockout punch to record a perfect 1-1 day, make a statement about his speed in the soft stuff, and close in on the World Championship lead.

A similar battle was expected in MX2, but in two highly eventful races that saw most riders fall at one point or another, it was Championship leader Kay de Wolf who claimed his sixth GP win of the season and extended his advantage in the World Championship over his teammate Lucas Coenen.

MXGP – Qualifying Race

The psychological warfare between the two men bidding for the “King of Sand” title, Prado and Herlings, continued in morning Warm-up as RAM Qualifying Race winner Prado was only just bested by the Dutchman, although the 0.130 second difference told Jeffrey that Jorge would be right there in the races!

MXGP – Top 20 Qualifying Race Results

MXGP Race One

It looked like Prado was the one putting his marker down at the start of the race, with a scorching pace from a typical Fox Holeshot that nobody could match. Jeremy Seewer and Calvin Vlaanderen put themselves between Prado and Herlings initially, red plate holder Tim Gajser started sixth and looked a little off the pace, being briefly passed by the Fantic’s Brian Bogers.

Vlaanderen soon pounced on Seewer, and Herlings went through as well before the end of the first full lap, then “The Bullet” moved into second at the end of lap two. Looking up the track, he had about five seconds to make up, but Prado put the hammer down to extend the distance between him and the Dutchman.

On lap four there were ten seconds between each of the leading four riders, as Romain Febvre caught his teammate Seewer, and made a pass that forced the Swiss rider to run wide and allow Gajser through, putting the two ex-Champions into fourth and fifth, where they would stay to the flag.

As if the 15-minute mark was his signal to go, Herlings started to close the gap to Prado, but then disaster struck in front of the packed gallery of fans as he collided with a lapped rider and hit the floor. With Prado still on a good pace, and the gap up to 17 seconds after Herlings remounted, the battle looked like it would never materialise.

What followed was one of the greatest recoveries from adversity in Motocross history, as somehow “The Bullet” started to claw back the lead, putting in the fastest lap of the entire race on lap 12 of 16, taking a five-second chunk out of Prado’s advantage. Carving through lapped riders, he caught the Spaniard less than a lap later, nailed a double-dune section that few had perfected all day, and flew into the lead before anyone could believe what they were seeing.

Barely relenting his speed in the final laps, Herlings himself pulled out a ten-second lead in the last three laps to claim yet another famous victory in his already incredible career.

Behind Prado was a lonely Vlaanderen, who put in another sterling ride for third. Glenn Coldenhoff was sixth, another Dutchman on a great late charge, followed by Kevin Horgmo who backed up Saturday’s good result with seventh. Vlaanderen’s teammate Andrea Bonacorsi claimed eighth ahead of Bogers and Seewer.

MXGP Race One Results

MXGP Race Two

Unfazed by the pace of Herlings towards the end of race one, Prado went for the same tactic again in race two, the one that has served him so well in recent years, taking yet another Fox Holeshot Award, his 14th of the year, and scampering away at the head of the field. Herlings did well to come out of turn two in fourth place behind the Kawasaki men, with Febvre passing Seewer for second into turn three.

After putting a pass on Seewer before the end of the first lap, Herlings had Febvre fall from second place and leave him a clear path to the leader. This time it was a simple eight-second gap that he had to haul in, but with a couple of rare errors from Prado as he struggled to find his line in a right-hand corner, “The Bullet” once more pounced and led from the halfway point onwards.

Behind them, Gajser had moved forward in the first full lap to reach fourth place and benefit from Febvre’s tip-over. The two former Champions fought hard, but the Frenchman, after many attempts, eventually took over third on lap twelve – a move that put him back onto the podium for the first time since his injury in France, and helped out the leading two by taking points away from the red plate holder.

Meanwhile, Vlaanderen was having a nightmare with two crashes that left him in twelfth at the finish, while Seewer held off a late charge from Coldenhoff. The Dutchman had crashed in the RAM Qualifying Race and had to fight from poor starts all day, thoroughly deserving his hard-fought fifth overall, helped by Horgmo running wide in the later laps with a slight throttle issue.

JM Racing Honda’s local man Brent van Doninck took a solid eighth ahead of Bonacorsi and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing star Mattia Guadagnini.

Out front, Herlings cruised on the last lap but still won by over ten seconds from Prado, executing his game plan of maintaining a solid pace throughout the race and still having enough left to overhaul Prado’s initial burst of speed. It brings “The Bullet” to totals of 106 Grand Prix victories and 202 GP race wins.

MXGP Race Two Results

MXGP Overall

Herlings took a perfect 50-points from Prado on 44-points, Romain Febvre (38) holding off Gajser (34) for third. Coldenhoff rounded out the top five on 30-points and was followed by Vlaanderen, Horgmo, Seewer, Bonacorsi and Koch to complete the top-10.

The result brings Herlings to within 14 points of current runner-up Prado, and 38 points behind Gajser at the top of the field as they head to the MXGP of Sweden in two weeks’ time. With six rounds to go, any one of the top three could still take the title.

Vlaanderen sits fourth on a distant 507 points and Seewer fifth on 479, but have a decent gap on seventh-placed Coldenhoff and Febvre on 419-points and 405-points respectively. Even more distantly, Horgmo, Jonass and Guillod round out the top-10.

Jeffrey Herlings – P1

“It’s been a really good weekend. First moto I was trying to overtake the same guy a couple of times and ended-up hitting him and banging my knee. That meant I had to warm-it-up and take it a big easy at the start of the second moto. Jorge [Prado] has been really strong at the start of races so I had to make a rhythm and try not to blow up. I passed him and made a little gap and then managed it. Every point counts, and I fought for every one today. It’s a fun track and I obviously I’m strong in the sand. I was beaten in Sardinia but I’ve been getting better and better and riding more like my old self. I’m looking forward to the next one and then soon my home GP.”

Jorge Prado – P2

“It has been a great weekend overall. Yesterday, I won the qualifying, and today, I secured two second places. My speed was good all day, but I knew ‘The Bullet’ [Herlings] was coming, so I focused on maintaining a fast and consistent pace. I did my best to beat him, but honestly, he was faster today. I’m very happy with my second place. We reduced the gap in the championship, which was the goal, so that’s super positive as we head to Sweden in two weeks!”

Romain Febvre – P3

“Just before I got injured we had made some changes to the settings on the bike for the hardpack, but we had no chance to test them in sand until this week and I just couldn’t find my flow yesterday, so we made the conscious decision to return to our settings from the start of the season for today and it worked well. I got punched in the first turn in race one and had to come from far back for fourth, then in the second race I got a really good start but crashed just after the finish line on the second lap. I thought it would be tough after that but I immediately found the flow again and wasn’t exhausted; even Jorge was not far away. I’m really happy to be back on the box after five weeks out; I did everything I could except riding whilst I was out injured, but when you jump back on the bike it is so physically demanding just to find the flow. And it is so much easier when you are not fighting the bike because you don’t land in all of the holes.”

Calvin Vlaanderen – P6

“This weekend was going really well until Race Two. In the first race, everything went to plan and I had a good start, kept the top two in sight and felt like I rode well for third. Then in Race Two, I tangled with someone in the first turn and then crashed at the end of lap one. I was coming through the pack well, re-passing riders I’d already passed, but then crashed again. This one bent my bars and moved my clutch lever down, and I crashed again not long after. By then I was way down the field, but I did what I could to score some points and finished up 12th. A tough weekend in the end, and now it’s on to Sweden.”

Jeremy Seewer – P8

“To finish fifth in the second moto is where I should be in the sand; I made a podium here in the past but I can’t expect to match those real sand riders. I got two super starts and we kept adjusting the bike settings all weekend; perhaps I could have stayed sixth in the first moto too but I just didn’t feel safe riding that pace at the end so I had to back it off. I’m not tired even now after the second moto even though the track was so rough. The track was strange this weekend with no rhythm; normally you can surf over the bumps but this year it was on-off all the time.”

Andrea Bonacorsi – P9

“I’d say it was quite a good weekend. This was my first MXGP at Lommel and everyone knows it’s the toughest race on the calendar, but I was looking forward to it. I didn’t have a great start in Race One but came through well to finish eighth. My start in Race Two was much better, around fifth, and I was able to pass Jeremy Seewer quickly. But then I began to get cramps and it made the race pretty difficult. With every GP, I keep learning so the experience was tough but also rewarding and now we look forward to Sweden for the next one.”

Mattia Guadagnini – P13

“What can I say – that was a tough weekend. Lommel for sure is one of the most difficult weekends of the championship – but even though I was trying my best, I was making it even more difficult for myself. On Saturday I had a crash during free practice – and I hurt my thumb. Then after that I was just trying to make the best of it. I had a good start but then crashed during the first lap. I was stuck under the bike and I burned my leg – it took a lot of time to get up and going again. But I only got up to 20th. On both of Sunday’s motos I made good starts but again came into difficulties. On the first moto I crashed on the second corner, but fought my way back to 16th from last. The second moto was better – I made a good start and tried to work on my flow and riding; in the end I finished 10th, which was better. For Sweden I’m aiming to stay out of trouble and race two solid motos!”

MXGP Round Overall

MXGP Championship Points – Top 20

MX2 – Qualifying Race

As in MXGP, the second-placed rider from Saturday’s RAM Qualifying Race switched the order around in the Warm-up, as Lucas Coenen out-paced Kay de Wolf by exactly nine-tenths of a second, with Liam Everts also showing good speed in third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.

MX2 – Qualifying Race Results

MX2 Race One

Race one began, as many have this year, with a Fox Holeshot Award for Sacha Coenen, although his brother Lucas was right with him during the first lap, and Team HRC rookie Ferruccio Zanchi was showing great pace in third.

De Wolf took a couple of attempts to get past the young Italian, but with Lucas unable to get past Sacha, the tall Dutchman cruised up to his teammate’s rear wheel and skipped past in a long right-hand corner. On lap two, Lucas made the first of several mistakes on the day, and De Wolf ripped past Sacha with sheer pace through the unending depth of the sand.

Another Dutchman, Rick Elzinga, was riding well for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, but Sacha’s teammate Everts was also on the move. On a frantic lap six, De Wolf fell from the lead, handing it back to Sacha, as Everts slotted past Zanchi for third.

However, on the next lap, Everts went down around the same corner that claimed De Wolf, the red plate holder took the lead back, and then Lucas was back up to third behind Zanchi.

It all changed again on lap eight, as Lucas hit the ground for the second time, leaving Elzinga in third ahead of charging Monster Energy Triumph Racing star Camden McLellan. The South African battled through the race with his teammate Mikkel Haarup, and they both benefitted from another crash for Everts and a last lap heartbreaker for the previously rock solid Zanchi.

Elzinga had already moved up to second by that point to match his best race result of the year, and McLellan held his teammate back to claim third and fourth for the Triumph team.

Amazingly, Lucas recovered to fifth ahead of Everts and Zanchi at the finish, with the top ten being completed by Simon Laengenfelder in eighth, Karlis Reisulis taking ninth, and Sacha Coenen eventually in tenth.

MX2 Race One Results

MX2 Race Two

The diminutive Belgian took his 14th Fox Holeshot Award in race two, making it a clean 50% strike rate for the 2024 season. Yamaha men Reisulis and Elzinga chased after him to begin with, the Dutchman passing the Latvian into the third corner as De Wolf worked past Laengenfelder into fourth.

The series leader appeared to be taking his time, patiently picking off riders to take the lead from Sacha on lap five. Lucas had already fallen and had to come into Pit Lane for fresh goggles. The home favourite had to work through the pack to get into the top ten at the close.

What was looking like an easy race for De Wolf turned out to be anything but, as a crash on lap eight put him back to third briefly, and he had to pass Sacha for the lead again on lap nine. Elzinga followed him through, putting in a great ride to make it a Dutch 1-2.

On lap eleven, the chasing duo of Everts and Laengenfelder moved forward into second and third, and they were chasing Elzinga, who had become the first Yamaha rider to lead in MX2 since the injury for Thibault Benistant, as De Wolf misjudged a sand dune to send his bike off the track and himself, in a hole, on it.

Tasting victory in his grasp for the first time since Trentino in April, Laengenfelder nailed a section of the circuit near the spectator banks, and first got past Everts for second, then taking advantage of an issue for Elzinga, who seemed to be nursing a hot motor, swept into the lead on lap 13 of 16.

De Wolf wasn’t done yet, however, as he followed Everts past Elzinga, and passed the tiring Belgian with a beautiful, feet-up move around the outside of a huge berm as the two-lap board beckoned.

A first corner crash had limited Zanchi’s race to a twelfth-place finish, leaving him out of podium contention, and Lucas Coenen got up to eighth on the final lap, passing McLellan who took ninth ahead of Jens Walvoort. Haarup had to settle for seventh, Sacha Coenen sixth, and Reisulis fifth, as Elzinga managed to nurse the bike home for fourth to cement a fine second place overall.

De Wolf had one late charge on Laengenfelder’s lead, but ran off-track with a lap to go to end his charge in second. The German’s third race win of the season was enough to put him onto the third step of the podium, but De Wolf clinched his sixth GP win of the year, the seventh of his career.

MX2 Race Two Results

MX2 Overall

It was a strong win for de Wolf in Flanders, collecting 47-points, seven clear of Rick Elzinga on 40, while Simon Laegenfelder was third on 38-points. Everts and Haarup completed the top five, followed by McLellan, Coenen.L, Reisulis, Coenen.S and Zanchi.

De Wolf’s lead is slightly extended as a result, at 683-points, to the 618 of Coenen.L, while Laegenfelder is closer to the current runner-up on 606-points. Everts and Haarup hold down fourth and fifth, on 556 and 465-points respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 are Adamo (457), Elzinga (429), Coenen.S (391), Oliver (255) and Zanchi (254).

Kay de Wolf – P1

“It was a really positive weekend overall. The thing is, that each weekend we are trying to get as many points as possible, and preserve our position at the top of the championship. Sometimes that doesn’t mean winning every single moto. I have to be critical also because the second moto wasn’t good enough – I made too many mistakes, which shouldn’t have happened – so I will for sure be working on that. I’m happy to finally win Lommel – I can’t thank the team enough, I think the timing is really great too. Having everyone here, just two minutes from the workshop, and with the news on Friday that Husqvarna is staying. Now we look ahead to Sweden in two weeks, and will keep pushing!”

Rick Elzinga – P2

“The last month or so has been really difficult for me on the mental side of things, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back up on the podium. The whole time, the team has believed in me, so I have to thank them for everything and it’s a team effort for sure. I was leading for a bit in Race Two but we had a small technical issue with the bike. I’ll be taking the positives from this weekend into the remaining rounds of the season and I feel fit and confident that I can finish off the season strong.”

Simon Laengenfelder – P3

“I’m really happy with the result in the second moto. We faced some challenges with the suspension settings throughout the weekend, but I think we nailed it for the final moto. It was great to show that I can win in the sand, especially without prior experience at Lommel. I’ve always enjoyed riding in the sand, but proving I can win here is fantastic! A win is always a great feeling, so let’s build on this momentum moving forward.”

Liam Everts – P6

“I was feeling very good in the Quali race and came back to P5. Two crashes in the first moto – not ideal – but my riding was good. I started around 4th in the second moto and took the race in a different way; a lot easier. I wanted to see what would happen and I knew there would be some crashes. I tried to do my thing and stay upright. I was maybe a bit too conservative and led for half a lap before finishing P3 which wasn’t good enough for the podium. I’m very disappointed to have messed-up that first race. We’ll move on.”

Lucas Coenen – P7

“It was definitely a challenging home race weekend, but Lommel always tests your limits. Despite some setbacks, we managed to push through. Every race is a lesson, and I’m determined to take what I’ve learned here to improve and come back even stronger for the next round in Sweden. A big thankyou to the team and fans for making it another huge MX weekend in Belgium!”

Karlis Reisulis – P8

“This weekend was really positive, although in the first race I couldn’t quite find my rhythm. But then in Race Two, I had a really good start and battled around third and fourth for quite a while. However, when I was pushing to move back into third, I had a small crash. I was able to finish fifth though, so I’m really pleased about that and I’m really happy about the whole weekend.”

Sacha Coenen – P9

“We tried to work on the setting this weekend but couldn’t get the feeling we wanted. I crashed out of the lead in the first moto and that was a bummer. 10th was not good at all. I stayed quite safe in the second moto and rode clean and did my laps. With four to go I crashed in the same place as the first moto! Difficult to end the weekend like this and especially my home GP. We need to look forward and to Sweden.”

Ferruccio Zanchi – P10

“I was so close to my first race podium finish with a third in that first moto, but unfortunately Lommel caught up with me and I crashed on the last lap. It was disappointing to only finish seventh in the end, but to ride for a lot of the race in second place, I have to be happy with my riding. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the second corner of the second race and that left me last, and although I got up to 12th, it was a lot of effort and a tough race. Like has happened before, I think my riding is better than my results show, so my aim is to fix that.”

MX2 Round Overall

MX2 Championship Standings