Lucas Coenen – Teenager in A Hurry

16-year-old Belgian Lucas Coenen sure isn’t wasting any time in his progress through the MX2 ranks. The Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing Team rider has already picked up a race win and has been consistently racing up front, with the much more experienced MX2 riders. While he also has a habit of putting a poor result next to a great result, the fact he already has a race win and consistently puts solid finishes together is quite something for somebody so young.

Last weekend at the Kegums circuit it was again one of those strong performances that saw him finish with a second-place finish in the second race, but unfortunately, within those stunning rides, are unfortunate situations. His first race he failed to score and even failed to make a lap.

“I am happy with the speed and the way that I feel on my FC 250. We are making a lot of progress, but it would have been great to join my teammates on the podium. I learnt a lot when out front in the second race. It is just a shame about that late mistake at the end, but we will go for the podium again next weekend.”

It was at the previous round in France where Coenen got his first ever race win and added a fourth place overall. The Belgian came home with 39 points, just one point off finished second overall. It is obvious that an all-important GP win isn’t far off his agenda.

“At the MXGP of France, I knew that I had the speed after race one, but I just could not show it in that race. I was really ready for the second one and took the holeshot. I built a gap and took the win, which was just unbelievable. We have had so many ups and downs this season. I have never been as happy as when I crossed the finish at the end of the second race.”

Despite finishing second in the Saturday qualification race, in Spain Coenen struggled somewhat with just 15 points from his weekend and once again, he failed to finish a race, but did get a sixth place in the first race.

“It is frustrating to end a Grand Prix weekend like this, especially when I feel like we could have achieved so much. The first race was solid and set us up for a good overall result, but there was just nothing that I could do in race two.”

Coenen will now head to Germany and the very difficult Teutschenthal circuit. Once Germany is out of the way, it is onto Indonesia and the double header in Sumbawa-Indonesia and Lombok-Indonesia. For the teenager, it will be a great chance to put some solid races together on rather unknown tracks for the majority of MX2 riders and test his skills under the hot and draining Indonesian sun.

Photo Credit: Husqvarna