Race One: Lucas Coenen put on an immaculate display showing just how good he is in sandy conditions. He didn’t waste much time getting to the front passing Glenn Coldenhoff on the first lap and then never looked back.
Coldenhoff will be delighted with second over Andrea Bonacorsi who had a strong ride – a great race for Fantic.
Meanwhile, it was all going on with Romain Febvre after a bad start and not being able to find his flow. The French rider then had a crash so could only come back to fifth behind the impressive Calvin Vlaanderen.
Ruben Fernandez had been running in fourth before dropping back to sixth – he nearly passed Febvre at the finish line!
Alberto Forato rode great for seventh ahead of Brian Bogers and Brent van Doninck.
Ben Watson was solid in twelfth with Adam Sterry fourteenth.
Race Two: Coenen was at the front and looking superb yet again but then he crashed. He did pick it back up in first but Vlaanderen passed him and Febvre was right there. For the first time all day, Febvre had a glimmer of hope of catching Coenen.
However, after a few laps to regroup, Coenen found his pace again to pass Vlaanderen and dominate. Febvre was able to pass Vlaanderen to finish second but couldn’t close on Coenen.
Brent van Doninck had a superb ride on his JM Honda to bring home fourth – he was loving the conditions.
There was chaos on the first lap after Fernandez and Coldenhoff came together which meant they had to come through the pack. Coldenhoff made two late passes on Geerts and Forato to get a brilliant fifth but sadly for him it wasn’t good enough for a podium – he needed one more pass.
Vlaanderen had a solid day to get back on the box for the first time this year – progress!
There’s now only 15 points to split Febvre and Coenen – the championship battle is well and truly on.
Race One:
Race Two:
Overall:
Updated Championship standings:
