The 12th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship was held at Matterley Basin for the MXGP of Great Britain, June 22. A gloomy English day created a slick track surface, which still produced a great day of racing in the MXGP and MX2 divisions. Both championship leaders, Romain Febvre and Simon Laengenfelder, claimed their respective overall wins to further strengthen their hold on the series points lead.
MXGP
Lucas Coenen kicked things off with a holeshot in the first moto of the MXGP class. The 450 rookie led early on but fell on lap two and handed the top spot over to Glenn Coldenhoff. Coenen remounted in second but was later passed by his Red Bull KTM teammate Jeffrey Herlings during the middle of the moto. Coldenhoff continued to lead as the two KTMs pushed their way to the front, with Herlings eventually falling out of second and giving the spot back to Coenen. The Belgian rider then closed back in on the final laps, but Coldenhoff held on for the win, giving Fantic its first-ever moto victory. Coenen was a close second, with points leader Romain Febvre rounding out the podium.
Febvre bounced back with a critical holeshot in race two, his fourth of the year. With gusty winds in the forecast, many of the riders were cautious over the large uphill jumps that make up the Matterley circuit. Still, the Kawasaki rider controlled the final race of the day from start to finish, leading all 17 laps en route to the win. His 3-1 results on the day earned him the overall win and see him hold control of the championship lead, 32 points clear of Coenen in second place. HRC Honda’s Ruben Fernandez finished second in race two, with Coenen taking the final spot on the box and second overall. Herlings and Coldenhoff battled for the entire second moto, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Coldenhoff’s win in race one helped give him third overall.
Notably, Antonio Cairoli lined up for the weekend with the Aruba.it Ducati team and finished seventh overall with 7-8 scores.
“It’s been a good weekend,” Febvre said. “In the first race, I didn’t get the start. I came close to the front at some point, but in the end, they had a little bit more pace and I had to fight hard to come back. So I finished third. But in the second race, I pulled the holeshot and that changed my life. I could ride free, take my own lines, and make a gap. Fernandez was coming back at the end, he was quite strong, but I won the overall. So yeah, it’s been a good weekend.”
MX2
An exciting first race of the MX2 division kicked off the day’s racing with three KTMs all at the front of the field. Andrea Adamo led early on but was quickly overtaken by Oriol Oliver on lap one. The Spanish rider, Oliver, broke away with the lead and looked to be in control of the race until he hit a slick spot in the rollers and crashed out of the top spot. He remounted and crossed the line third, which proved to be his career-best finish. Oliver’s crash put Sacha Coenen into the lead with points leader Simon Laengenfelder closing in after a sixth-place start. As the laps wore on, Laengenfelder’s pace was clearly on another level, and he passed Sacha Coenen for the lead in the second half of the race. He cruised to victory, with Sacha Coenen and Oliver rounding out the podium.
Laengenfelder made his championship intent clear with a big holeshot in race two. The German rider went untouched for another moto win, leading all 16 laps to the checkered flag. His dominant ride earned him a larger gap in the championship, now 52 points over his KTM teammate, Adamo.
“It went perfect,” said Laengenfelder. “It was a great weekend. Especially coming back in that first race from sixth to first, that was a great feeling. And backing it up in the second race is awesome. Now we have two weekends of break, so I think we have time to recover and then start the last push.”
Liam Everts finished second in race two and earned second overall with 6-2 scores. Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant crossed the line third, but third overall belonged to Sacha Coenen, who finished 2-6 on the day.
It was another tough day for the defending champion, Kay de Wolf, as the Husqvarna rider finished outside the top five in both motos. His 7-8 finishes gave him 10th overall, as he lost more valuable points in the championship. He’s third in the standings, 70 down from Laengenfelder.
“It was definitely one of those tougher weekends,” said de Wolf. “Crashing in practice and then again in qualifying meant I was on the back foot right from the start, but I gave it everything in both motos. I wasn’t able to fight right at the front, but we still took points and limited the damage.”
The series sees a two-week break before continuing at the new Iitti-Kymi Ring venue in Finland for round 13, July 13.CN
VIDEO | 2025 MX2 & MXGP Highlights
2025 FIM MXGP Round 12 Results
MXGP (Top 5)
- Romain Febvre (Kaw) 3-1
- Lucas Coenen (KTM) 2-3
- Glenn Coldenhoff (Fan) 1-5
- Ruben Fernandez (Hon) 5-2
- Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 4-4
MX2 (Top 5)
- Simon Laengenfelder (KTM) 1-1
- Liam Everts (Hus) 6-2
- Sacha Coenen (KTM) 2-6
- Guillem Farres (Tri) 5-5
- Oriol Oliver (KTM) 3-10
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