Cycle News Staff | June 5, 2023
Round eight of the FIM Motocross World Championship visited the sandy circuit of Kegums for the MXGP of Latvia. Not surprisingly, two Dutchmen, Jeffery Herlings and Kay De Wolf, shined in the soft stuff as they both claimed dominant 1-1 victories.
Photos by Ray Archer
MXGP
GasGas Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado was the early leader in both races but Herlings was leader at the end of both races. The Red Bull KTM factory rider, Herlings, made it hard on himself by crashing early in moto one. He got back on and charged hard the rest of the moto, passing Prado with four laps to go.
Prado took second and Honda’s Ruben Fernandez was third.
In the second moto, Prado again led early but Kawasaki rider Romain Febvre was determined to make up for a quiet moto one.
Febvre got out in front and quickly built up a sizeable lead, but, once again, Herlings was on the move. The KTM rider slowly reeled in Febvre, passed the Belgian, and went on to take the win again and the overall victory.
“I had to work hard to get through,” Herlings said. “It was not easy at all to catch and pass Jorge and Romain, but when I went for it, I could make it happen. Romain was riding really good. I had to fight.”
Febvre finished second ahead of Prado and Fernandez.
MX2
In MX2, there were several new names battling up front along with well-known ones. Husqvarna riders Roan Van De Moosdijk and Kay De Wolf, along with Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant, fought for the win in moto one. De Wolf scrubbed his way past Benistant on lap seven to take over the lead. The two stayed close for the remainder of the race, but De Wolf held on for the race win. Points leader Andrea Adamo suffered a poor start and salvaged fifth place.
The rain began to fall in race two, as all three of the Factory Husqvarna riders got the jump. Benistant, on the other hand, found himself on the ground in turn one. After a strong showing at the French GP, Lucas Coenen put himself ahead of his Husqvarna teammates and pulled out to a 12-second lead, while the other two Husqvarnas of Van De Moosdijk and De Wolf ended up hitting the dirt.
Coenen was also a victim of a fall which handed the lead to De Wolf with just five to go.
De Wolf to cruised to victory, taking a 1-1 sweep for his first Grand Prix overall. He also now holds the red plate.
“This is amazing,” De Wolf said. “I have the red plate and finally got my first overall win as an MX2 rider. We had to wait a while for this, but we kept on fighting.” CN
Overall
MXGP
- Jeffery Herlings (KTM) 1-1
- Jorge Prado (GG) 2-3
- Romain Febvre (Kaw) 6-2
- Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam) 4-4
- Jeremy Seewer (Yam) 7-5
MX2
- Kay De Wolf (Hus) 1-1
- Roan Van De Moosdijk (Hus) 3-3
- Thibault Benistant (Yam) 2-6
- Andrea Adamo (KTM) 5-4
- Kevin Horgmo (KTM) 6-5
VIDEO | MXGP of Latvia 2023 Highlights
MXGP of Latvia
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