KEGUMS (Latvia) 8 June 2025 – The tough, sandy, Zelta Zirgs Motocenter near the town of Kegums served up another classic day of MXGP racing for the eleventh round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships, the MXGP of Latvia!

Morning rain gave way to sunny skies for the afternoon’s Grand Prix action, with a little shower between the blocks of racing, but the moisture made its impact as the soft terrain got particularly heavy during the thirty-plus minute races, testing stamina and skill to the maximum!

In MXGP, the undisputed King of Kegums, Jeffrey Herlings, took his ninth overall victory at this venue, making it three years in a row that he has left here with the winner’s silverware!  It completed a perfect weekend for the Dutchman, although he was chased all the way by his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing contender Lucas Coenen.  The Belgian made progress in his pursuit of Romain Febvre, although the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Championship leader salvaged the day with yet another podium in third overall.

The MX2 class was once more wildly unpredictable, but at last in 2025 the speed of Sacha Coenen paid off to take his first Grand Prix victory of the season for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, although a last lap crash for his teammate Simon Längenfelder cost the German the overall win. Simon still retook the red plate in Latvia with second overall ahead of Kay de Wolf, who won the second race for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.

As always, the Latvian sand saw its fair share of thrills and spills, and the tough circuit brought some truly hardcore Motocross action to keep the purists happy!  

Saturday’s Qualifying Race winner Herlings continued his dominance straight from the morning warm-up, seven-tenths of a second faster than Febvre, while Glenn Coldenhoff was third quickest for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.

The battle was on immediately for the lead between the factory KTM big guns, and it was Coenen who scored his eighth Fox Holeshot Award of the season by squeezing Herlings into the first turn. This briefly allowed Febvre into second, but “The Bullet” blasted through some deep sand to somehow go back around the Frenchman in the third corner, before Coenen made a small mistake outside of the next turn, losing traction and enabling the Dutch master to double-jump past the Belgian youngster. It was a vital move, as was an almost simultaneous pass from Brian Bogers, firing his Fantic Factory Racing MXGP machine to the inside of Febvre to grab third position before the start of the first full lap!

Herlings tried to break away at the front, and the chase was on! Febvre, however, was simply unable to make a move on Bogers, and the Dutchman’s countryman and teammate Glenn Coldenhoff, after starting fifth, got close to the battle as the series leader’s efforts were constantly thwarted!

Behind the leading five, Ruben Fernandez was holding sixth for Honda HRC, while MRT Racing Team Beta’s Ben Watson made his best start of the year to run solid in seventh! The third Fantic Factory Racing MXGP rider Andrea Bonacorsi started eighth ahead of KTM Kosak Racing’s Roan van de Moosdijk and Calvin Vlaanderen on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP machine.

Try as he might, Febvre could not get past Bogers, who was riding as a true sand specialist should, and ultimately the Frenchman dropped his machine in the second corner after the finish line, dropping him to seventh behind Watson on lap eleven!  Two laps later, the two top Fantic riders encountered the stricken TEM JP253 KTM Racing rider Jan Pancar in the track after the finish line jump, and as Bogers went to the outside, the chasing Coldenhoff went to the inside, taking third from his teammate in the process!

Further round the lap, Febvre got back past Watson, and Bonacorsi also nipped past the Beta rider to claim seventh at the flag. Fernandez then pulled a stunning pass by jumping long in front of the fans to get the better of Bogers.  This left the Dutchman in front of Febvre again, and to his eternal frustration, the Kawasaki man still could not pass him, and he had to settle for sixth. 

Behind Bonacorsi and Watson, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Jago Geerts made a charge in the closing laps to pass Vlaanderen, then Van de Moosdijk to claim ninth at the finish.

Coenen, who had set the fastest lap of the race on lap two in pursuit of Herlings, got to within a second of “The Bullet”, and nearly took the lead when the Dutchman missed an inside rut on a deep left-hander! Ultimately Herlings held on for a 1.3 second margin of victory over Coenen, with Coldenhoff third but 56 seconds behind them! Fernandez and Bogers rounded out the top five.  Herlings’ 16th race victory at Kegums lifted him up to ninth in the Championship ahead of Jeremy Seewer, who finished 16th for the Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team.

Despite a small rain shower at the end of the first race, the sun had come out to dry the track and make it considerably faster in the second race. Once again, Coenen got the jump into turn one over Herlings, but this time “The Bullet” worked his magic immediately, carving across the front of his younger stablemate to lead into the second corner and immediately make the break away from the front.

Coenen managed to hold Febvre at bay, who in turn had to fight off the attentions of Bonacorsi, with Fernandez and Geerts completing the top six at the end of the first full lap.

Maxime Renaux had taken a much better start than race one, when he had to battle for just a 13th place finish for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and he had Coldenhoff and his teammate Vlaanderen behind him, while the crowd made some noise for Mairis Pumpurs, who repeated his Qualifying Race start to run in the top ten again for the Motosports Racing Team!

Fernandez made a blistering pass around the outside of Bonacorsi for fourth on lap two, then Geerts also moved past the Italian through the same section two laps later.  The Belgian, winner of three MX2 GPs around Kegums, was on a charge that took him past Fernandez for fourth on lap seven!  Bonacorsi was able to get back past the Spaniard on lap 11, putting Geerts, Bonacorsi, and Fernandez in positions three to six until the flag, although Renaux looked to have got past the Honda man over a jump, but clipped his rear wheel instead and hit the ground, losing seventh to Coldenhoff.  Vlaanderen came home in ninth, and Brent van Doninck crossed the line in tenth, only to lose five positions for a post-race noise test on his JM Racing Honda. 

Bogers had a worse start this time and finished 13th to place ninth overall ahead of Vlaanderen, while Ben Watson, also with a poor second race start, fought to 11th before being promoted by Van Doninck’s penalty, and collected his best overall finish yet for Beta in eighth. Bonacorsi claimed seventh overall, Geerts sixth, and Fernandez fifth on the return from his early exit at the German GP.

Febvre got close to Coenen for second at around the halfway point, but the Belgian proved equal to the task of keeping his title rival behind him, and the red plate holder had to console himself with just pipping Coldenhoff for the podium by a single point!  Lucas was second overall for the fourth GP in a row, putting him just 26 points behind Febvre in the Championship.

There was no catching the King of Kegums, however, as Jeffrey Herlings completed his perfect 1-1-1 weekend to take GP win #109, his ninth win at the Zelta Zirgs Motocenter, equalling his best record at any single circuit, as he has also won nine GPs at the Dutch venue of Valkenswaard.  How many more can Herlings add to his tally this season? It’s going to make for some thrilling racing to find out!

Jeffrey Herlings: “Let’s repeat it nine more times, eh? If only it were that simple! I’m really thankful for the win. Lucas pushed hard in both races, so credit to him as well, those guys are riding really strong. I’m happy to come out on top and looking forward to the next race. We’ll try to keep the momentum going, but it won’t be easy because everyone’s improving. We just keep doing our best, thank you!”

Lucas Coenen: “It was a good weekend. Two solid races, 2-2 for second overall, and good championship points. In the second race, I had a decent start but Jeffrey got by me and I struggled to find my flow. The track was tricky and I made a few mistakes. Still, there are positives, we’ve got another podium, we know what to work on, and we’ll keep building from here.”

Romain Febvre: “Tough weekend. In the first race I was running fourth and fighting for third, but the track was tough. I got too close, clipped a rear wheel and went down. That cost me a lot. Second race was better, I was up front, battling with the lead group. I gave it everything but just couldn’t make the pass. We’ll regroup and come back stronger at the next one in the UK.”

Main Photo: Jeffrey Herlings

Bottom Photos: 1. Lucas Coenen; 2. Romain Febvre

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:30.575; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.347; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:58.497; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:01.759; 5. Brian Bogers (NED, Fantic), +1:05.021; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:10.698; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +1:13.979; 8. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +1:15.743; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +1:18.049; 10. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), +1:23.439

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:55.202; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:02.542; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:13.464; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:49.887; 5. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:58.684; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:01.361; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +1:03.627; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:13.864; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +1:21.903; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +1:35.561

MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 35 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 34 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 33 p.; 6. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 30 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 30 p.; 8. Ben Watson (GBR, BET), 24 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 24 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 22 p

MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 530 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 504 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 362 p.; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 347 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 338 p.; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 300 p.; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 284 p.; 9. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 279 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 253 p.

MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Kawasaki, 536 points; 2. KTM, 533 p.; 3. Honda, 504 p.; 4. Yamaha, 454 p.; 5. Fantic, 409 p.; 6. Ducati, 315 p.; 7. Beta, 197 p.; 8. Husqvarna, 51 p.; 9. Triumph, 5 p