A wet and muddy Agueda circuit staged round five of the 2024 MXGP season and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing celebrated a second consecutive MX2 victory as Liam Everts rode to a skillful 1-1 scorecard with the KTM 250 SX-F. In the MXGP class Jeffrey Herlings owned the second moto for his first checkered flag of the campaign.
The first of three consecutive fixtures of MXGP began with round five and a visit to the sweeping layout and distinctive red soil of Agueda; the staple venue for the world championship’s stop in Portugal for the last two decades. Heavy rainfall ensured that the course was rough, rutty, muddy, treacherous and created slick and technical riding conditions that were heavy for both rider and machine.
On Saturday, winner of the previous MX2 Grand Prix, Liam Everts, took a commanding Pole Position after winning the RAM Qualification Heat. Teammates Andrea Adamo and Sacha Coenen were 11th and 14 while Jeffrey Herlings was a promising 2nd in the MXGP race for the same pick in the start gate for Sunday’s motos.
Raceday was again wet and despite the circuit’s brave efforts to conserve the track, more torrential showers created a very different motocross environment and introduced a high degree of ‘lottery’ into proceedings. In MXGP, Herlings battled for the lead with Tim Gajser in the opening laps and was halted in his progress inside the last ten minutes of the 30 minutes+2 lap distance by a technical issue. In the second race the Dutchman was determined to recover world championship points and took a confident and mistake-free win.
Liam Everts judged the mire to tremendous effect. The Belgian made the most of his first gatepicks to lead from the front. Even a small mistake in the second moto was not enough to derail his quest for a second overall success and he moves up to 3rd in the world championship standings as a consequence. Andrea Adamo fought through the slime to register 6th and 7th place finishes for a respective top five result as Sacha Coenen grabbed an 8th in the first moto but only took a 20th in the second to be 16th for the day.
Portugal was a memorable weekend for the KTM Academy structure. SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk excelled again on Saturday for the initial outing in the EMX250 European Championship. The series entered round three of eleven at Agueda and Valk took his first victory of 2024 with the KTM 250 SX-F through the ooze for what was his third top three moto result on the bounce. On Sunday the Dutchman repeated the achievement and raised his maiden overall trophy. In the EMX125 division, KTM’s Gyan Doensen walked the top step of the podium with the KTM 125 SX courtesy of a brilliant 2-1 classification in the tricky conditions on both Saturday and Sunday. The Dutch teenager is now 2nd in the championship standings.
From Portugal to Spain for round six and then north to St Jean D’Angely for the Grand Prix of France on May 18-19. The Grand Prix of Galicia will inaugurate the circuit of Lugo next weekend.
Jeffrey Herlings, DNF and 1st for 9th overall in MXGP: “In drier conditions on Saturday I showed I had the speed. The first moto was a shame. I was closing in for the lead and I think I could have made a pass but we ended up with zero points. I led all the way in the second, so it’s a pity we only go home with one win. It could have easily been a GP victory today. Spain next and my goal is to be back on the podium there. A win would be amazing…but we’ll aim for the top three. I’m just over 50 points down at the moment, but we’ve had our bad luck and we’re still not that far away and there are 15 races to go. A lot ahead.”
Liam Everts, 1st and 1st for 1st overall in MX1: “These are the kinds of weekends you dream of. Everything goes so well and you are just in the zone, just your focus, your bike and the track. These days don’t come often. You win a championship on tough days but this was a good one! I know tougher ones will come but this was something special.”
Andrea Adamo, 6th and 7th for 5th overall in MX2: “We didn’t start the weekend in the best way or have the best qualifying race and in those kinds of motos the start position counts for a lot. Today was a situation where you could gain a lot but also lose a lot! We did neither and were pretty solid. It’s not the result we are working towards…but we didn’t make big costly mistakes. It was good to come back to P7 in the second moto. I’m looking forward to Spain now and hopefully better weather because this weekend was crazy!”
Sacha Coenen, 8th and 20th for 16th overall in MX2: “Not the weekend I wanted. I had a really bad start in the first moto and tried to push but made mistakes a crashed a lot! Second moto was the same and I was flooded at the start. I built up my speed and got quite fast. I was having fun until two tip-offs and then it was done. I had to come in and change goggles and after another crash on the finish line jump that was it. We’ll look to the next one.”
Results MXGP Portugal 2024
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT) Honda, 2-2
2. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 3-4
3. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda, 1-10
9. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, DNF-1
13. Jorge Prado (ESP), GASGAS, 15-12
17. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA), Husqvarna 17-14
Standings MXGP 2024 after 5 of 20 rounds
1. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda, 252 points
2. Jorge Prado (ESP), GASGAS, 238
3. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 220
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 198
5. Pauls Jonass (LAT), Honda, 192
Results MX2 Portugal 2024
1. Liam Everts (BEL), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1-1
2. Rick Elzinga (NED), Yamaha, 4-2
3. Thibault Benistant (FRA), Yamaha, 5-4
4. Kay de Wolf (NED) Husqvarna 3-9
5. Andrea Adamo (ITA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 6-7
9. Simon Laegenfelder (GER), GASGAS, 2-DNF
10. Lucas Coenen (BEL) Husqvarna, 16-8
16. Sacha Coenen (BEL) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 8-20
Standings MX2 2024 after 5 of 20 rounds
1. Kay de Wolf (NED) Husqvarna, 246 points
2. Simon Laegenfelder (GER), GASGAS, 216
3. Liam Everts (BEL), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 188
5. Lucas Coenen (BEL) Husqvarna, 171
6. Andrea Adamo (ITA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 168
10. Sacha Coenen (BEL) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 104