The MXGP of Great Britain returned to Foxhill in spectacular fashion as thousands of fans packed the iconic Wiltshire circuit to welcome the FIM Motocross World Championship back to one of the sport’s most famous venues for the first time in 26 years.
Feature Image courtesy of Dave Rich
The historic venue more than lived up to expectations, producing two days of outstanding racing, with Jeffrey Herlings claiming a dominant MXGP victory and Guillem Farres continuing his remarkable run of form in MX2. Behind them, both championship battles took a dramatic turn as injuries to Lucas Coenen and Sacha Coenen left the title races looking very different heading into next weekend’s visit to Loket.
MXGP
Jeffrey Herlings completed a flawless weekend to secure his sixth Grand Prix victory with Honda HRC Petronas, taking both race wins and both Fox Holeshot Awards in a commanding display at Foxhill.
Tim Gajser had shown his pace by topping Sunday morning warm-up, but it was Herlings who grabbed the holeshot in Race One ahead of Gajser and Tom Vialle before quickly settling into his rhythm at the front.
Behind the leaders, Lucas Coenen’s difficult weekend continued. Starting from the outside of the gate after his qualifying race problems, the championship leader struggled from the opening laps before pulling into the pits in visible discomfort, ending his race early.
At the front, Gajser shadowed Herlings throughout but couldn’t find a way past, while Romain Febvre inherited third after Vialle suffered a heavy crash late in the race that dropped the Frenchman down the order.
Ruben Fernandez fought back to fourth ahead of Andrea Adamo, while Jan Pancar, Jeremy Seewer, Kevin Horgmo, Maxime Renaux and Oriol Oliver completed the top ten with British rider Taylor Hammal having a stunning ride in 11th, only missing out on getting in the top ten by making a small mistake which allowed Oliver through. Another British racer, Ben Watson, was just behind Hammal in 12th.
Race Two followed a similar pattern as Herlings claimed another Fox Holeshot and immediately came under pressure from Gajser and Febvre.
Coenen bravely lined up again despite his injury but his race lasted only four laps before he was forced to retire for a second time.
The leading trio remained locked together for much of the moto before Gajser tipped over midway through the race, allowing Febvre through into second. Despite the pressure, Herlings remained composed to complete a perfect 1-1 scorecard and claim his 118th career Grand Prix victory.
Febvre’s pair of second-place finishes secured second overall, while Gajser’s consistency earned him a welcome return to the podium in third after several difficult rounds.
Fernandez and Adamo again completed the top five overall.
Watson would go down on lap one in a big pile-up with two riders, with the Dirt Store Triumph rider showing great sportsmanship to lift the machine off one of the other riders who had hit the deck. He then set about reeling in the competition and fought back to 16th, which gave him a solid 13th overall.
Unfortunately, Hammal crashed, resulting in a DNF. Despite this, his 11th in moto one still put him 17th overall, a great result for a rider who works full-time riding on a pretty much a stock bike.
Chambers Racing KTM’s Adam Sterry pitched in with two solid motos, going 20-17 for 20th overall, while South African MXGB rider Tristan Purdon scored the first World Championship points for the SevenSeven2 Ride Kawasaki team with 18th in moto 2 for 22nd overall. Apico Honda’s Tom Grimshaw also notched his first-ever MXGP points with 20th in race 2.
The result dramatically reshuffled the championship, with Herlings moving to within 11 points of Lucas Coenen after the Belgian’s injury-hit weekend.
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.”
Quotes by Infront Moto Racing
Overall Results
Standings
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.;
MX2
Guillem Farres continued his sensational mid-season form by securing a third consecutive Grand Prix victory as the Triumph Racing rider completed another perfect Sunday at Foxhill.
Having topped warm-up, Farres made life easy for himself by grabbing the holeshot in Race One ahead of Liam Everts and Simon Längenfelder.
The Spaniard came under sustained pressure from Längenfelder during the middle stages of the race, with the pair producing one of the highlights of the day as they swapped lines and traded attacks in front of the packed Foxhill crowd. Farres eventually responded to edge clear and claim another race victory.
Behind them, Everts held off Camden McLellan for third, with Janis Reisulis completing the top five.
Championship leader Sacha Coenen endured a difficult opening race after crashing and eventually recovering to tenth, limiting the damage despite riding through the pain of a collarbone injury.
Race Two saw Längenfelder grab the holeshot, but the German’s advantage disappeared after a small mistake handed the lead straight to Farres.
From there, the Triumph rider never looked back.
Längenfelder settled into second, while McLellan worked his way forward before benefitting from a late mistake by Everts to secure third in the race and on the overall podium.
Coenen battled through the pain barrier to finish fifth, but it wasn’t enough to retain the championship lead as Farres’ perfect 1-1 day moved the Spaniard into the red plate by 11 points.
Farres has now won seven of the last eight Sunday motos and heads to Loket as the rider carrying all the momentum in the MX2 title race.
From the British perspective, it was Dirt Store Triumph’s Billy Askew who was to make the best starts in both motos, landing a career-best 12th in the first race just ahead of fellow Brit Joe Brookes in 13th and Ben Mustoe in 14th. Charlie Richmond and Ollie Colmer also got in among the points in 17th & 20th respectively.
Falls for Askew and Brookes in moto 2 hampered their results, and it was Mustoe who would lead the charge for the Brits with a strong 13th, with Askew ending up 17th, Richmond 18th and Brookes 19th. Colmer would have a nasty fall which saw him DNF the moto, so we wish him all the best.
In the final standings, Mustoe was top of the tree in 12th, Askew was 14th, Brookes was 16th, Richmond was 18th, and Colmer was 22nd.
Also battling in amongst it but not in the points in the stacked class were Freddie Bartlett, who came 23rd in moto 2, Joel Rizzi, who went 25-24 while British MX2 Championship Red Plate holder Charlie Heyman took a fall on one of the big hills and finished 26th in moto one, but didn’t come to the start for the second race.
Canada Heights MXGB winner Gyan Doensen finished 23rd in the first moto then 15th in the second for 19th overall.
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 Längenfelder: “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 Sacha too, he fought really hard out there. Great for Guillem, and really happy. Thank you.”
Quotes by Infront Moto Racing
Overall Results
Standings
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.
