19 year old Lucas Coenen had a stellar AMA debut taking second overall behind the genius Jett Lawrence to underline the generational talent and speed he has shown in MXGP. And it maybe give an indication that he might be the guy most likely to give Jett at least a little competition in America, the Belgian also beat the heavily hyped Haiden Deegan first time out rubber stamping why he is at the elite level on either sand of the pond.
Lucas said: “I mean, today was a good day. We had a new track on elevation, so it was kind of hard on Friday. Luckily, we had two sessions to figure it out a little bit”.
“But every time I went out, I felt that the track was pretty tricky, like some ruts and then some corners were really loose. So I guess like what’s more about a feeling to find it. It was a fun day of racing”.
“Honestly, I didn’t have any expectations because I just wanted to learn and enjoy. All the GP guys were telling me, come over, you’ve got to show our level. I was like, no, if you want to come over, just come over and race, you know what I mean? I feel like Jett and Hunter are on another level and it’s been nice to see also. I guess it’s going to be nice racing if we can come more and just enjoy the good racing like today. It was fun, even though I didn’t have much battles with them but it was nice”.
On how the US bike differed from the MXGP bike Lucas commented:
“Honestly, I just trusted the team so much that I just went on. And every day, like the two days of testing, I feel better. So I just went out there. I was just telling the team, what do you think? It’s the best for me. Just make that one and I just tried to figure out how to get better on the track.
Did he prefer the one day format? “Honestly, it’s nice the one day program because I was a bit lost in the break when it was really short. So honestly, it was a bit like it goes fast between Moto 1 and Moto 2. But no, I liked how it was. The track was fun, but tricky to go quick. So no, it was a good thing”.
“They were kind of stressed over in Europe because coming over when you’re leading MXGP is kind of a risk. But I feel with the team here, they made it good. We were in good hands, you know? So I didn’t have any expectations like I said. So I was just learning every time, I got 2-2. Moto 1, they both crashed, so I got second like that. Even though I was pushing from the back, so that was a nice thing. Moto 2, I got second. I was pleased with that, so it was a fun day of racing”.
