SASHA COENEN – THE WAITING GAME

While Red Bull KTM factory rider Sasha Coenen has been in the shadows of his twin brother Lucas in 2023 and also riding in the wheel tracks of teammates Andrea Adamo and Liam Everts, all three who have Grand Prix victories to their names, you just get the feeling it won’t be too long before the KTM Coenen starts getting on the podium and eventually gets himself a Grand Prix victory.

Moving to the MX2 class has been tough for Sasha, as he tries to man-handle the powerful 250 machine. Having started the season with an injury, it was in Portugal that Coenen made his first MX2 result, finishing in 14th place overall.

He quickly scored a top ten result in Spain with 9th overall and while he has often finished around the top ten on many occasions, his seventh-place overall in Czech Republic and then again in the last round in Finland has rocketed him into 13th place in the series points. The Finnish result had some minor issues, but he is really starting to shine.

“Saturday went quite well,” S.Coenen said. “I was not pushing and had a good flow. I messed-up the start of the first race and it felt like I was in last place. It was a hard fight to come back to 7th but then my front brake was a bit damaged and seemed to be sticking; that affected the last ten minutes, but we could keep going and 9th was OK. I almost had the holeshot in the second race, so that was much better, and I made a couple of mistakes on the first lap. I lost some positions and I also think that cost me the win. My riding was quite OK today so for that I’m happy and we’ll see what we can do in Sweden.”

The Grand Prix before Finland, at the toughest motocross track in the world, Lommel, was a hard day as he finished 16th overall and really struggled, despite feeling great early on in the weekend.

“I was having fun on the Saturday and made a good start in the RAM Qualifying Race but then I had a tip over and was hit and that hurt my legs. I could still come back to 12th though. It was a wet start to Sunday and a tip-over in the first race meant it was a bit tough to come back through again. 10th was a good ride considering the pain I had. Another crash in the start of the second race was a disaster because another rider hit me again! Wow, it was tough. I tried as hard as I could but that big one big ended my day because I was sore all over. It was a bit too risky. The track was really technical and very rough.”

So now, onto Sweden and hopefully this talented young Belgian can regroup and end the season as many of the media, fans and teams inside the Grand Prix paddock expected. Known as a fighter and technically very good, it is just a matter of time before he reaches the same heights as his twin brother.

Photo Credit: Juan Pablo Acevedo