Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1526730
"After having such a consistent season, to have a day like today at such a crucial time is hard to take," said Gajser. "To lose the champi- onship red plate with one round left is definitely not what I wanted to happen, and now I know that with three races [final round is a doubleheader] to go, I have to win them all. It isn't an ideal situation, but I will keep fighting and give my all until the very end." MX2 Lucas Coenen is hitting his stride late in the season. The Nestaan Husqvarna rider swept the weekend again with another dominant 1-1 victory. Moto one looked easy for the Belgian as he led wire-to-wire to kick things off. Race two wasn't as easy, but he still managed to reach the front. Contact with fellow countryman Liam Everts saw Everts hit the deck, resulting in a broken C5 ver - tebra. Everts is on the mend and is expected to make a full recovery. Coenen continued forward and passed his Husqvarna teammate Kay de Wolf for the lead. Double race wins earned him maximum points on the day and he now sits second in the championship points standings, cutting the lead from 44 to 36 with one round to go. "I need to push and get every single point I can. We only have one race left now," said Coenen. "For the championship, I've got my fight on now. I want to beat him [Kay de Wolf], and just win every race. I'm doing everything I can, so let's see how things go at the final race in Spain." De Wolf still leads the MX2 Championship and finished sec - ond on the day. The Dutchman got off to a poor start in race one and climbed as far up as third at the checkers. He led most of race two but was overtaken by Coenen with only a few laps left. He earned second on the day with 3-2 finishes while still maintaining a healthy points lead going into the series finale. "I gave it everything out there today," said de Wolf. "The condi - tions were tough with the heat and the threat of the typhoon, but I'm happy with my performance overall. After taking the lead in the second moto, I made a small mistake that cost me, but I'm glad I managed to fight back and secure second." Simon Laengenfelder landed on the box again with a third in the overall classification. The German rider ran up front for most of race one, trading positions with the leaders early on. After crossing the line second, he received a six-point penalty for jumping on a yellow flag. His position held up for the overall rankings despite the points penalty. Race two saw strong consistency from the GasGas pilot as he started and finished in third. His 2-3 scores gave him third on the day. "I tried to stay consistent and fight as hard as I could in both mo - tos," said Laengenfelder. "Finishing with P2 in the first moto and P3 in the second is great and of course to get another podium feels great, and it puts me in a strong position heading into the final round." The final round of the 2024 MXGP World Motocross Cham - pionships is set to take place in southeastern Spain for the MXGP of Castilla La Mancha, round 20 of the series. CN MXGP 1. Jorge Prado (GG) 2-1 2. Romain Febvre (Kaw) 1-3 3. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 3-4 4. Ruben Fernandez (Hon) 4-6 5. Jan Pancar (KTM) 8-5 MX2 1. Lucas Coenen (Hus) 1-1 2. Kay de Wolf (Hus) 3-2 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GG) 2-3 4. Mikkel Haarup (Tri) 5-4 5. Andrea Adamo (KTM) 6-5 VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P25 Lucas Coenen made it look easy with another 1-1 sweep in MX2.