Lucas Coenens Gives Up MXGP Lead

Surrenders MXGP class red plate following zero-point score.

Previous MXGP points-leader Lucas Coenen has described his Loket race-day withdrawal as ‘tough to take’, with a compressed sciatic nerve ultimately becoming too severe to ride through the pain.

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider arrived in the Czech Republic carrying hematomas around his left hip that caused compression of the sciatic nerve. He initially lined up in Saturday’s qualification race, but was forced to exit while running fourth after six laps.

The 19-year-old then sat out Sunday’s races, while title rival Jeffrey Herlings (Honda HRC Petronas) swept the weekend with a 1-1 performance after also winning Saturday’s qualification race, transforming an 11-point deficit into a 49-point championship lead with six rounds remaining.

“Not much to say,” reflected Coenen. “I did what I could to be ready for Loket – physio, massage… But I was in pain all day. It’s tough to take. I can only hope I will feel a bit better with each day, and we can think about Lommel.”

Lucas’ brother Sacha also raced through injury at Loket, recording 7-7 moto finishes for seventh overall despite a broken collarbone sustained at Southwick. He remains in the MX2 title hunt, 33 points behind Guillem Farres (Triumph Factory Racing).

The 2026 MXGP World Championship season now heads to Belgium’s famed Lommel circuit this weekend – the home round of the Coenen twins – before a two-week break ahead of the MXGP of Sweden in mid-August.

Dubach takes on the most famous hill in world motocross

American legend and Yamaha Factory superstar Doug Dubach is back for VMXdN 2026.  Dubach is a regular at the VMXdN events, having raced at 13 of these events since its inception, and is the only racer to win three classes on one weekend when he was a member of the winning USA squad, the +50 and twin shock classes at the OG vets race formed in 2009. This year the event is in its 17th year, but this is the first one to be held at the historic and iconic Hawkstone Park GP circuit in Shropshire.

Born in 1963, Dubach began his passion for motorcycles on a Briggs and Stratton minibike. After a few years, he got an XR75 and rode it as often as he could at Saddleback Park. He started racing just before his 15th birthday. On a Yamaha YZ80, he quickly moved from 80 Novice to 80 Expert in just four months!

As a Southern California resident, he was in the hotbed of talent as the sport began to grow stateside, so he was perfectly positioned to become a star.

His pro career began in earnest at the 1982 Carlsbad National, finishing just behind Jeff Ward (Jeff was 9th; Doug was 10th). He continued racing Supercross and Nationals as a factory Yamaha rider; his greatest race was San Jose SX in 1991, where he took the win. Dubach kept racing professionally until his last one in 2001. Dissatisfied with other aftermarket companies, he started his own accessory business. His deep understanding of products, developed through his work as a magazine test rider and long-time factory test and development for Yamaha and his own DrD products, set a solid foundation for his business.

Dubach remains active in vet motocross racing and holds an unbeatable record in the World Vet Championships, with 27 titles and counting! In addition, he has always exhibited a super-positive attitude when dealing with the public, a great enthusiasm for all things moto, and is a humble family man to boot.

The buzz for the VMXdN brought to you by The Range has notched up a gear in 2026 with a change of venue to the picturesque Hawkstone Park circuit. A venue that covers all eras of MX in the UK, having been in constant use since the 50s and some of the most epic 500 GP’s over the years.

The anticipation for VMXdN Hawkstone is at an all-time high, and it’s only going to get bigger, so strap yourself in as news continues to drop in the final month leading up to the four-day motocross festival held over the annual date of the August Bank Holiday weekend, 27^th-30^th, 2026.

VMXdN is the ultimate event for MX Fans of all ages. It is most certainly the “must-see” event of the year.

If you plan to camp, be quick to secure your camping pass, be it regular or VIP (where you can watch the racing from your own awning), the promoters have rented three extra fields from the local landowners but space is still limited and selling fast, when its gone then there is no more space available – and it’s on target to sell out…. don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Saturday, Sunday, Weekend Tickets, and Camping Passes are available here 

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Tom Vialle on getting back on the podium in Loket: “I’m still learning”

Tom Vialle returned to the podium in the Czech Republic with a strong second-place finish at Loket, confirming the progress he has been making since returning from the injury he suffered at the French Grand Prix in Lacapelle-Marival.

Beyond the result itself, it was arguably one of his most complete weekends of the 2026 season so far. While Vialle claimed victory at the Swiss Grand Prix back in March, his maiden MXGP overall win came with 1-6 moto finishes under unusual circumstances, and without scoring any points in Saturday’s qualifying race. He left Frauenfeld having added 40 points to his championship tally.

At Loket, however, the Honda HRC rider delivered remarkable consistency – three strong starts, laps led, three top-three finishes and a full haul of 50 championship points.

“It was a good day for me. In fact, the whole weekend went really well at Loket, starting with the qualifying race on Saturday and then continuing into both motos on Sunday,” explained the Frenchman. “The track was demanding. As everyone knows, I hadn’t raced a GP’s for three years, and coming back here to race against riders who are incredibly fast and have several years of MXGP experience isn’t always easy.”

After being caught up in an incident at the start of the second moto in France, Vialle missed the German and Latvian Grands Prix while recovering from injury. He returned in Italy and, after a run of difficult weekends (7th at Montevarchi, 12th at Agueda, 12th at Johannesburg and 10th at Foxhill), the factory Honda rider found his rhythm again in the Czech Republic.

“I had a really good feeling throughout the whole weekend. The last two or three GP’s had been quite difficult for me. I had the pace, but a few crashes stopped me from getting the results I was capable of. So yes, I’m really happy with today and with the whole weekend at Loket. I’ve been working really hard lately. People don’t always see it, but during the week I work extremely hard every single day. Today all that hard work paid off, so I’m very happy.”

In his rookie MXGP campaign, Vialle knows every weekend is another opportunity to gain valuable experience. At Loket, the two-time MX2 World Champion also benefited from racing alongside Jeffrey Herlings, using those battles to continue refining his riding against one of the very best in the class.

“I usually get good starts, and once again this weekend I managed three excellent starts, which helped me a lot. I was able to lead Jeffrey for a few laps in both motos before he passed me. I’m still learning. It’s my first year on a 450, so riding behind Jeffrey and trying to learn something every time he passes me is really important. Some riders get passed and immediately move on, but I try to analyse everything he does – his lines, when he chooses the inside or the outside – and learn from it to improve. That’s something that’s very important to me and it’s just great to be back. The bike is continuing to improve little by little, so we’re heading in the right direction.”

With one overall victory and now two podium finishes, Tom Vialle continues to write the opening chapter of his MXGP career. Having returned to Europe after three seasons racing in the United States, the Frenchman has quickly shown he belongs among the elite of the premier class. Sitting eighth in the championship heading into the final part of the season, a place on the overall podium is now out of reach, but his focus lies elsewhere: continuing to develop in MXGP and building towards the future. This year is about learning, the next could be about challenging at the very front. Already, 2027 is beginning to come into view.

Herlings talks riding the Honda on hard-pack tracks

After his weekend of domination at Loket on the hard-pack, MXGP championship leader, Jeffrey Herlings, spoke about how good the Honda feels on conditions that were traditionally not his strong point!

The HRC Honda man said: “This bike really, it’s just, like I’ve been mentioning, it just sticks onto the ground, and the track is really slippery, there’s not many lines, but it’s still technical. You can pass actually quite good, I think, because that was actually good when you have tracks that you can really go left, right, and make changes. So, actually, the track prep was actually quite good, I think.

“But, yeah, the bike just sticks to the ground, and I can just really do what I want to do with it, and like I said, the KTM was a great bike once again., don’t get me wrong, but these tracks, riding the Honda is something pretty incredible, and yeah, for me, it was a better bike on this surface.”

Heading into the Lommel, Herlings feels he has a better set-up than at the start of the season: “We’re in a very good spot. I feel really good. I’m physically fit. The starts go better. We have a great set-up. The set-up, compared to the beginning of the year in the sand, to now, we have definitely improved, because in the beginning, we were still fighting for the right set-up, but doing the Dutch races with great competition with riders such as Romain, we had a chance to try things, and I think in the sand now, I can also try to fight for the victory.”

“Obviously, in all the other sand races, I was more or less second best after Lucas, but I had nothing for him. So I don’t know if he’s going to be back next weekend, but if so, I don’t expect him to be as good and as fit as he was in the beginning of the year with his injuries. So I definitely think we have a chance to also win in the sand.

Herlings is looking more and more the dominant rider he used to be with every win on the Honda as his confidence in the machine keeps rising. The question is can anyone else not named Lucas Coenen match his pace for the rest of the year? 

2026 MXGP of Czech Republic

Washougal, Round 8

Jett Talks Footpegs

Jett Lawrence on his new footpeg design and Deegan’s first turn crash at Millville

Jett Lawrence gave some interesting insight into how his new longer footpeg helps with his ankle outdoors- but only on certain sections of the track in the latest Jaxxon podcast as the brothers look back in their day at Millville. 

On his new footpeg design, Jett says it helps but only in certain situations!  “My foot can’t flex enough in certain positions. It doesn’t flex enough to actually put weight on it, and then where I am putting weight on my heel, where the peg actually does help, I’m pretty far back off the bike to use that.

 

“So like In like sand like the sand rollers at Milville,  I could use it there, but like landing off jumps, not really. I can only use it in certain areas which helps it a little bit obviously throughout the 30 minutes for sure. But I still can’t use it as much so i’d like too.”

Jett also revealed that the doctor said a regular person with his injury would only be just starting to walk after 8 months! 

Jett said on the first turn crash that saw Deegan go down: “There was a saying Ayrton Senna said when you stop going for that gap then you’re no longer a racer. So yeah, there was a gap. I was trying to go for it and I got the gap.” 

On racing his brother for wins Jett admitted it is small margins! “It’s good. I’m not saying it in a cocky way, but I know that I’m hard to beat and for someone to beat me you have to be really good and the one person I’m okay with beating me is my brother.

For me it’s really cool. During the week, years before, we would be training and it would be the same lap times but during the race weekend I would be able to find that little bit where now we don’t have that little bit on each other. It’s like who has the better lines during the moto. It’s cool, you don’t have it very much in other sports. I’m happy because he is finally getting what he’s put so much work into doing. Do I want to beat him? Yeah, but at the same time I can’t be completely disappointed (if he wins).”

Jett Lawrence on Crashing

Even the great Jett Lawrence crashes sometimes but lately it’s been more than the odd occasion. With Jett crashing at RedBud, Southwick and then three times at Millville and it meant a conversation with his dad and team to diagnose the issue!

Jett explained the situation in the press conference: “We spoke about it with my dad afterwards and the team. And I think it’s throughout the day I am building more and more because during the weeks I’m not riding much because I am trying to save my ankle as much as I can. I think for a little bit it was okay but now,  when we are changing settings,  it’s not knowing the bike as well. And then when we get to the race weekend, the first qualifying you are obviously trying to send it on a track you haven’t rode since the previous year. So, you are trying to ride yourself in, but obviously get a good lap in.

“And I think I was just not thinking of the soil in the first one. I leaned over to kind of jump across to the inside rut, and I wasn’t looking at the rut, I was looking up ahead. And it just was all slop and it slowed my momentum down and pushed the front end. I gave my head a good wack, you know. Wacked the front of my head and tweaked my neck pretty bad. And the second one was just a weird one. Today was a lot of a hard base into a sand berm and when I landed the rear went in and the front kind of hit bottom.

“The first (moto) one ,  I just didn’t have it for HJ. I picked the smarter route and said ‘Alright, he can have this one.’ And I changed a few things on the suspension, and it felt better for the second one. I was like, ‘Okay I feel good, I feel like Superman.’ Hunter was in front of me and I’m like, ‘You’re not getting it this time!’ I was able to pass him, felt good, I had good lines. I just went through that section, and I have been struggling a little bit with the bike I think it’s the new style I have created almost with my foot and kind of being, sometimes a little, almost forward. And most of my weight is there, and I think it put just a little bit too much weight and it pressured the front end going into that soft stuff and it was enough just carve it and then flick me over. I was okay, I got very lucky out of that thing. And then I looked like I got hit by a shotgun because the bike got me in the back of my knee and it collapsed me. So, not ideal, it was a bummer, but I just got to be thankful I’m okay after a rough weekend.”

“I think I just need to suck it up during the week because, I need the time during the week because being familiar with your bike and being with it is a big thing. And I think that’s why, today especially why I crashed a lot because I can’t really get into the positions I want to to begin with, and then I’m not ready for them as much. Because when I ride during the week I am not pushing hard. We just need to get some ride time and be careful of my foot and just make it to the weekend. That’s the biggest thing. And I think a little bit each week is kind of taken its toll on me. So, I just need to get back and get to, a little bit closer to the regular schedule I normally do.”

Jett also spoke about his anger at Red Bud despite winning the first moto, explaining it was a few factors that played into his outburst of frustration in front of the cameras that reminded everyone just hiw badly he wanted to win!

“I was just really frustrated,” explained Jett. “because normally those conditions at RedBud I love. Normally those are my conditions where I would really show my technique, and I could find my way around a track that’s normally so difficult very easily. So, I think I had a spoonful of reality of what it’s normally like and I didn’t like it very much. I was pissed off because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do on the track. Obviously after that I kind of lost my cool and during the week I was still bummed because I was not able to do what I wanted to do. I know what is needed to win a championship and I know what I need to do to get that Jett Lawrence that everyone knows, but I physically can’t right now because of my ankle and the limitation I have.

After RedBud Jett even got in touch with the doctor who did his surgery to make sure everything was okay! “I got X-rays and I got to meet up with the doctor who did my surgery and I got a step by step, basically where the screws are he put in, everything like that. And obviously asked him a bunch of questions about what I am going through. And he gave me some good hope, he just said, ‘Be patient with it, it’s going to get better.’ I asked him, ‘What I’m doing right now is that good?’ He’s like, ‘In the doctor’s world, no! You shouldn’t be racing. But it’s going to be pretty hard to convince you not to race.’ He’s happy with it because I have done a good job of keeping it from being really badly hurt. 

“But also, just the day to day of is is probably another reason why I lost my crap at RedBud is, since December 19th I’ve been in pain every single day. Waking up, going to the bathroom when I first wake up, going to brush my teeth, getting food, going to the truck, just having constant pain with walking. So, I think those months and days and days, it kind of takes a toll on you a little bit. So, I think I was allowed to lose my crap a little bit at that stage but obviously got to tune it back a little bit.”

He might be smooth and incredibly fast but don’t dismiss just how tough and gritty Jett Lawrence is too. He can deal with pain just like any of the toughest riders in the sport and still find a way to win when things aren’t perfect.

McGrath on what Deegan needs to improve on to win

Jeremy McGrath gave some interesting and wise insight into his belief in Haiden Deegan but also what he needs to do to get on terms consistently with the Lawerence brothers – improve his technique!

Speaking on the Fast Friends Podcast, the King of Supercross who had the best technique in his era, said: “But I’m not afraid to lose because that’s humility. And if you have humility and you look at yourself as a human, you don’t win all the time. You have to take the good ones when you can and accept the bad ones sometimes and that’s the way it is. That’s life in general. 

“You know, you can see that with Haiden Deegan, he hates the lose. You can tell. He pushes hard because he hates the loose and that’s something you can’t teach somebody. You know, he’s going to have to learn a little bit of technique now because he has everything physically, he has it mentally, he has all the stuff, but his skill -set is not quite as good as theirs right now. 

“He’s got to change a few things. He’s got to be willing to have some humility and change a little bit.  You’re not going to get there riding the way normally, right? He won’t be able to keep up. His style, which is a good style, but his style is more like a Tomac and not like smooth and efficient like those guys.

“He’s got some humility in there and he’s got to accept that he’s got to just switch his style up a little bit. He can do it. There’s no doubt. There’s no doubt he can do it.”