An exciting debut for the Coenen brothers.

NATIONAL: An extraordinary debut for the Coenen brothers

Lucas Coenen, the current MXGP leader, qualified second with a time of 2:02.201, immediately impressing on his debut at the fast and technical Colorado circuit. The 19-year-old Belgian turned that pace into a hard-fought second place in the first 450MX race, fighting his way up the field to finish just 1.4 seconds behind the winner. Another convincing second-place finish in the second race saw Coenen secure an excellent second place overall, thus completing a successful Pro Motocross debut for the talented Belgian teenager. As for Sacha, the current MX2 World Championship leader, he made his Pro Motocross debut in Colorado, qualifying second and fighting his way back to 14th place in the first race after an early crash. A holeshot in the second race allowed Coenen to find a fast and consistent rhythm at the front, securing a splendid victory. His 14-1 score saw him finish the weekend in fourth place overall, marking an encouraging debut in US competition. Below are the comments from the two riders.

Lucas Coenen:

“It was fantastic! My start wasn’t the best, but I managed to go fast into the first corner and then I had a brilliant time. I can’t thank the team enough for making this possible, and with the Roger De Coster leathers it’s fantastic: I enjoyed every lap. The second race was hectic with the lapped riders, but you know, I’m competing against the best riders in the world and it’s great fun. Now I’ll go back to racing in our MXGP championship and we’ll see when we can come back in the future.”

Sacha Coenen:

“I’m really happy to have come here [to America] – it was our dream! We made it and the second race went really well. I got a good start and the riding was perfect. I’m just a bit disappointed about the first race, but we have to accept that, and I’m really happy with the second one. Thanks to everyone, it’s a real confidence boost to know I can win a race, so I feel very confident.”