Straight from one of the hottest European GPs in recent memory, the FIM Motocross World Championships head west to the Atlantic shoreline for the MXGP of Portugal at the Crossdromo Internacional de Águeda, a little later in the calendar than previous years, maybe in the hope of evading the seriously wet weather we have experienced in each of the last two editions of this event!

Ben Rumbold Story JP/KTM Image

Round ten marks the halfway point of the season for the GP classes, and the eighteenth time World Championship Motocross has graced the famous orange dirt of the Aveiro District, in the north-western region of the country, 75km south of the famous and popular city of Porto. Dave Strijbos was the first to win a GP here, on a Cagiva in the 1985 125cc series, while Antonio Cairoli sits level with Jeffrey Herlings as the most successful rider here, with 5 GP wins each, one ahead of Belgian legend Stefan Everts.

Still dominating the world of MXGP are the twins Lucas and Sacha Coenen, with Championship leader’s red plates on each of their Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines after achieving measured but solid results at Montevarchi. Their pursuers are far from done, however!

In MXGP, five-time World Champion Jeffrey Herlings closed the points gap slightly to 56 with his victory in Italy for Honda HRC Petronas, and he is the only active rider to have more than one GP win at Águeda, with his two premier class wins coming in 2018 & 2023, after a three-year run from 2011-13 in MX2. Lucas Coenen swept last year’s muddy affair with a perfect 1-1-1 weekend, his first such result in the MXGP category. Defending Champion Romain Febvre lies in third place for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, and he has finished second overall at each of the last three GPs at Águeda! Could he go one better this weekend?!

In MX2, Sacha Coenen has new challengers on his tail, the two race winners of Montevarchi from the Triumph Factory Racing Team, Spaniard Guillem Farres and South African Camden McLellan! Although the teenage Belgian has a points gap of 41, on this surface the riders of the black bikes will fancy their chances of hacking into his advantage!

The EMX250 European Championship reaches its three-quarters-done mark with the eighth round, and still the Venum BUD Racing Kawasaki pairing of Francisco Garcia from Spain and Jake Cannon from Australia lead the way, with the red plate holder winning 11 of the 14 races so far! Danish rider Nicolai Skovbjerg, had a rough debut weekend for SixtySeven Racing Team in Italy, but stays third in the Championship.

The EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing runs for the seventh time this season, and it is still a 1-2 in the standings for fellow Austrians and Norman KTM Factory Rookies teammates Moritz Ernecker and Ricardo Bauer, with determined Frenchman Sleny Goyer chasing in third for Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC. Fantic Factory Racing EMX duo Bertram Thorius and Gennaro Utech are close behind in fourth and fifth.

The Portuguese fans are among the hardiest in the world, and deserve a GP with great weather after enduring the rain of the past two years here, and if they get it then they could be treated to some classic racing around the popular Águeda valley!

Until last year’s utter domination in the mud, Lucas Coenen’s record at Águeda was nothing to write home about, with only a single Qualifying Race inside the top five to his name in MX2, and a podium in EMX250 in 2022. He is a different rider today, of course!

As with most regular circuits, Jeffrey Herlings has an incredible record here, and in his tenth GP at Águeda, he will be keen to surpass Cairoli’s mark of five GP wins in Portugal to stand alone at the top of yet another table! In contrast, Romain Febvre has yet to taste any kind of victory here, with second overall in each of the last three GPs in Portugal, three second places in individual races, and even four times third in Qualifying Races! It would mark a major turnaround if the Frenchman can break that duck to match the three French Kawasaki winners here, namely Gautier Paulin, Livia Lancelot, and Sebastien Pourcel.

Tim Gajser looked back to his very best with two wins out of three in Italy for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and he is joined back in the top five in the Championship by his teammate Maxime Renaux. The Slovenian missed last year’s Portuguese event through injury, but won two out of three races here in 2024, as well as achieving the perfect Sunday in 2019. Although the Frenchman has yet to experience any sort of success at Águeda, watch for the boys in blue to mount a serious challenge this weekend!

Andrea Adamo had a great home GP for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, lifting himself up to sixth in the Championship, and he enjoyed a perfect 1-1-1 weekend here in MX2 last year! Can he go so well in dry conditions on a 450? You wouldn’t bet against it! Sadly, Kay de Wolf, who took second behind Adamo last year for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, has been ruled out of the next few GPs after being injured during Time Practice at Montevarchi. We wish the talented Dutchman well in his recovery.

Honda HRC Petronas firebrand Ruben Fernandez is on virtually home territory at Águeda as he lives not far across the border, and for sure he will count on a lot of local support as the fans will go wild if he goes well, just as they did when he took his first of only two career Qualifying Race wins here in 2023. A podium finish last year was just as popular, and he could be a real threat for supremacy, or even lend assistance to his teammate Herlings! The other Honda HRC Petronas rider, Tom Vialle, returned to action last weekend and is still ninth in the Championship behind Ruben despite missing two GPs with injury. He was a winner in his last appearance at Águeda as he took 1-2 finishes to victory in 2022, on his way to that year’s MX2 world title.

Rounding out the top ten, with exactly 200 points, is Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass, one of the few men that might be doing a rain dance after he took his only career MXGP class overall win here in 2024! The Latvian has been growing in confidence in recent rounds and will hope to carry on that form in Portugal.

One other Águeda winner will line-up this weekend, which is MRT Racing Team Beta’s Jago Geerts. Winner of the 2023 MX2 GP, with a perfect 1-1-1 weekend, as well as winning two out of three races in 2022, he has finished in the top 14 in each of the last two GPs this season, and hopes to continue that progress with his new Italian steed.

The Águeda track allows the 450cc machines to be cranked almost to their full potential, and it’s breath-taking to watch the MXGP warriors at their best here. Be prepared for an awe-inspiring weekend in the MXGP class!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 449 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 393 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 347 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 329 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 305 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 281 p.; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 264 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 249 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 200 p.

Sacha Coenen quietly registered a new achievement at Montevarchi, a circuit that he made clear he was not the most comfortable on, as he took a GP win with a 2-2 scorecard for the very first time. It showed a remarkable display of patience for one so usually associated with a “win or bin” riding style, and combined with his obvious speed that could be worrying for the rest of the pack. Last year’s Portuguese round was definitely more in the “bin” department in an eventful race one, but Sacha still scored a second in race two as well as in the Qualifying Race. Have no doubts about it, he will still be extremely fast!

The Triumph Racing Factory Team are not the kind of squad to be worried, however, as both Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan look to hunt down the series leader as we reach the halfway point of the year. Neither rider has any great memories of this circuit, but will be keen to continue the momentum of their race wins in Italy!

Trying to buck the trend of recent GPs is Simon Längenfelder, as the reigning Champion went backwards in both races from achieving the Fox Holeshot each time. Finishing off the podium in the last five rounds, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing man took his first podium in Portugal last year while in the Championship fight with Kay de Wolf, and with dry weather the German might be able to re-ignite his title defence.

There’s a close battle for fifth in the series as Liam Everts re-took it for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing after Italy, and he returns to the site of his perfect 1-1-1 weekend in 2024 with just a two-point margin over Mathis Valin. The Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 rider has scored podiums in each of his EMX appearances here, and fourth in MX2 last year, so the in-form French teenager might also spring a challenge this weekend.

Seventh and eighth in the Championship is held by the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 brothers Janis Reisulis and Karlis, and the younger of the two has won on both of his previous visits to Águeda in EMX125 and EMX250. Karlis has not had such a great time, but again don’t be surprised if the final podium has a blue streak to it! The elder brother has to watch out for Valerio Lata, however, who is just three points behind in ninth for Honda HRC Petronas. An EMX250 podium in 2024 is his best, and you get the feeling that he needs to get higher up the order to salvage his season somewhat.

Rounding out the top ten is Kay Karssemakers, the top non-factory rider in the class for Dixon Racing Kawasaki, and after an EMX250 podium in 2023, he has yet to score a World Championship point at Águeda! He has been running career-high scores all year, however, so he could still be a factor!

Although there is a lack of top Portuguese riders to cheer on right now, this never seems to put off the local fans from making plenty of noise and a great atmosphere around the brilliant circuit of Águeda! Make sure you join us for the halfway points of the season, round ten of the FIM Motocross World Cha

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), 35:05.882; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.910; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:03.607; 4. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:10.818; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:36.870; 6. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:40.882; 7. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:43.234; 8. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:46.866; 9. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:50.725; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:54.818

All the photos from the MXGP of Portugal will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:
08:20 EMX125 Free Practice, 08:50 EMX250 Group 1 Free Practice, 09:20 EMX250 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:50 EMX125 Qualifying Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 12:20 EMX250 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 13:00 EMX250 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 EMX125 Race 1, 15:45 EMX250 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
09:40 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.