The 18th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship took place at the Afyon Motor Sport Center for the MXGP of Turkiye, September 6-7. Hard-packed conditions challenged the riders as the season entered its final stretch. Two teammates on the Red Bull KTM squad, Jeffrey Herlings and Simon Laengenfelder, both used second-moto victories to secure their overall wins.
MXGP
Herlings notched his 50th MXGP win in Turkiye. Despite the completely opposite track conditions from round 17 in the Netherlands, the Dutchman looked comfortable on the hard soil as he looked to maintain his momentum from winning at the previous round. Herlings slotted into second during race one and followed his KTM teammate, Lucas Coenen, to the line.
Herlings stalked Romain Febvre closely for the first half of race two. A pass came on lap nine as Herlings cut inside the current points leader. From there, he held the advantage and used 2-1 finishes to claim the day’s overall win.
“It was really good, better than I could expect,” Herlings said. “We’re quite high [in elevation] here, so we had to change some things on the bike, but it was all positive.”
Lucas Coenen gained small but crucial ground in the championship by finishing second on the day. The MXGP rookie led from start to finish in the opening moto, claiming the holeshot and the race win to start the day. Mistakes in the early stages of race two cut his work out for him as Herlings and Febvre got away at the front of the field. By the final lap, Coenen caught up to Febvre’s rear wheel but couldn’t get close enough to make a pass stick. Still, 1-3 results put him second overall and 26 points back in the championship.
Febvre is still in control of the championship with third overall. With two rounds left, Febvre still leads the points by 26.
“The second race was better,” Febvre said. “We made a change a little too late for the first race, but it worked in the second one. I was leading, then Jeffrey passed me. I tried to stay with him, and in the last laps, Lucas came hard to try and pass me, but I managed to finish second. Didn’t lose too many points, so that’s pretty good.”
MX2
The MX2 division is still up for grabs with only two rounds left. Sacha Coenen holeshot race one, and the Belgian rider took a start-to-finish win.
The two championship contenders, Kay de Wolf and Simon Laengenfelder, battled it out for the final two spots on the podium. De Wolf managed to keep Laengenfelder at bay, and the duo finished second and third, respectively.
Sacha Coenen again started up front in race two, with Guillem Farres and Laengenfelder close behind. Farres quickly took the lead, while Laengenfelder passed his teammate, Sacha Coenen, for second place. The two front-runners pulled away during the first half of the race, with Laengenfelder taking over the top spot at the halfway point. With Laengenfelder out front, de Wolf knew it was time to make his move, and the reigning number one started his charge toward the front. In the final laps, Laengenfelder and de Wolf battled neck and neck. Laengenfelder held on for the win, finishing 3-1. De Wolf’s pair of seconds gave him the edge for second overall, while Sacha Coenen finished third. Laengenfelder still leads the points by 12 over de Wolf.
“It wasn’t easy; I really had to fight hard,” said Laengenfelder. “After a couple of bad weekends, I’m super happy with this result. I wish I’d had my heart-rate monitor on in this moto, because I think I went over 200 for sure.”CN
2025 MXGP of Turkiye Video Highlights
2025 FIM MXGP Round 18 Results
MXGP (Top 5)
- Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 2-1
- Lucas Coenen (KTM) 1-3
- Romain Febvre (Kaw) 3-2
- Tim Gajser (Hon) 4-4
- Ruben Fernandez (Hon) 5-5
MX2 (Top 5)
- Simon Laengenfelder (KTM) 3-1
- Kay de Wolf (Hus) 2-2
- Sacha Coenen (KTM) 1-4
- Guillem Farres (Tri) 6-3
- Mathis Valin (Kaw) 4-6
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