Lucas Coenen might just be the fastest man on the planet right now after he went head-to-head with Jeffrey Herlings in the deep Riola sand and came out on top both times!
Coenen caught and passsed Herlings in race one to pull away to the win but Herlings was up for it in race two and kept Coenen in sign and within six seconds until the last ten minutes with third place 40 seconds back!
Herlings seemed to finally relent as Coenen got the gap to 12 seconds but then he went down and suddenly Herlings was back within striking distance and probably wishing he hadn’t eased off! At one point a resurgent Herlings got alongside Coenen but couldn’t quite make the pass as the two sand masters put on a clinic in the final few laps in a lesson in pure determination to win.
Coenen held on to make it a perfect day and maintain a 14 point lead over Herlings in the championship – if Herlings had found away past it would have been down to eight points!
An exhasted but happy Coenen said: “Yeah, we know the Bullet, (Herlings) but I made a gap and then I think he kind of relaxed and then somehow I was finding a better flow and like it (sand) grabs you so quick so I went on my ear and then didn’t breathe!
“I saw 84, I knew he was on my back and I said, ‘I can’t lose this one, I need to win it.’ I made a statement in the sand, so I’m so pumped! Thanks to the team, we worked really hard, I didn’t feel good at all in the warm-up so we made it happen and I’m so happy to win.:
It’s looking like Herlings v Coenen for the title with Vialle still lurking in the shadows but, right now, even Jeffrey Herlings is looking for a tiny bit more pace to beat Lucas Coenen for this title as the 18 year old sensation shows the world that he just might be in the conversation as the fastest rider in the world right now.
What a performance!
