It only took two rounds of the Sacha Coenen Stateside experience for US fans to be cheering all around the track for the diminutive but very tough and even more determined Belgian!
Sacha has won three out of the four motos he has competed in out in America, with a couple of crashes in moto one in Colorado the only race he didn’t cross the line victorious.
But Southwick was next level! Sacha went all out on lap one to secure the lead, almost crashing a couple of times but somehow staying up before going on and smoking the field by over 30 seconds! In the second moto Sacha crashed with a 14 second lead, got up with what looks like a broken collarbone raced for another few laps and pulled AWAY from Davies to go from a two second lead to a seven second lead without goggles.
Sacha has left the podium favoring his right arm/shoulder 😳 #ProMotocross #SMX pic.twitter.com/OAOHbBTrXq
— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) July 11, 2026
What Sacha did is quite remarkable and will go down in folklore at the Wick, but unfortunately it may impact his MX2 world championship goal with the Belgian only having a 14 point lead and now a question mark if he can even race this weekend at Foxhill, England.
Sacha is so exciting to watch he even impressed Brian and Haiden Deegan and, if you think back to 1997 and a certain Ricky Carmicheal, the desire and intensity to win are pretty comparable, but Ricky managed to stop the crashing pretty quickly and from outdoors that year he only lost two championships for the rest of his career!
Sacha hasn’t stopped the crashing yet but, once he figures that out, the intensity and desire to win will make him hard to beat if he can just stay away from that edge.
In contrast, Lucas rides much more like Stefan Everts/Jett Lawrence than his brother, with incredible roll speed and a quickly maturing mind to know where the limit is, Lucas also showed his speed coming from last to 4th in 20 minutes at Southwick until a scary crash that may have been more on his bike than him. With good starts, he was certainly going to be right in the mix with the Lawrence brothers for the win.
The brothers have put the US on notice for 2027 and have already established a fan base but the Sacha Coenen experience have given him thousands of fans Stateside already – America love to see the effort and desire and Sacha demonstrates that every single time he is on the bike.
To underline the impact they have had Stateside, Jason Thomas revealed on the Racer X race review show that while the boys are in FLY gear this year, the gear company race to sign them for 2027 has already outbid what FLY can afford given they are already paying big bucks for Cooper Webb, but they would have loved to keep the Belgian brothers!
Davies grabs the holeshot to start our day at Southwick, but it’s Sacha Coenen who launches into the lead! 🤯 #ProMotocross #SMX pic.twitter.com/Tbveaz22yX
— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) July 11, 2026
Sacha has so much determination to win, nothing else matters and as a consequence, fans can’t help but become emotionally involved in every near miss, crash or win.
The Sacha experience reached new levels at Southwick and his fanbase has reached a new level as well! Now everyone in America understands why MXGP fans have a lot of heart stopping, head-shaking moments in every MX2 Grand Prix.
But you simply cannot help but admire the determination to win!
