Sacha Coenen and Amandine Verstappen won this weekend
Lucas Coenen French Junior champion, Sacha vice champion
Another great weekend for team 9MM Energy Drink BUD Racing Kawasaki, who won two events on the French Championship. In Saint Jean d’Angely Amandine Verstappen won both races of the Women series, while in Villars sous Ecot Sacha and Lucas Coenen got another 1-2. It was the final round of the French Junior, and Lucas is the new champion while Sacha is runner up in the series.
Never in the long history of the French Motocross we saw two brothers fighting for the title, before this final round of the 2021 Junior. Coming to this round eleven points behind his brother, Sacha had to win to keep some chance of title while Lucas could secure top three results. But with the Coenen brothers there’s no strategy, it’s always wide open! And this weekend Sacha was the strongest, taking his revenge as his brother dominates the previous two rounds in Romagne and Magescq; with better starts Sacha got a double win, but in the first race he had to control Lucas while in the second he had no rivals. With two heat wins he scores 50 points, but as Lucas finish twice second it was not enough to reverse the situation; despite a bad start in race one and a very bad one in race two, Lucas came back twice second to secure his title. In the MX2 class Quentin Prugnières ends the series in fifth position, best rookie in the class.
In Saint Jean d’Angely Amandine Verstappen got another double win, and remains unbeaten in the French women series. Fastest in the practice session, winner of the qualifying race and later of both motos, Amandine is leading the series by 36 points before the next two rounds. She will be in action this weekend at Clastres, while Lucas, Sacha and Quentin have three weeks to prepare the European championship who will start again on October 3rd in Germany.
Lucas Coenen: “My start in the last race was really bad, but I stay confident as in the first moto I already did a strong come back after an average start. I couldn’t beat Sacha today, he was really fast on this track but second positions were enough to get the title.”
Sacha Coenen: “My first start was so-so, I was in the top ten and came back immediately third but struggle to pass the leaders as there was mainly one good line. I did a little mistake, then come back and finally pass both leaders to win the race. The second moto was easier as I got the holeshot and then had fun on the track, it was a good weekend”
Quentin Prugnières: “Unhappy with the first part of the races, especially the second one as some riders push me in the first corners. I could get a good rhythm after ten minutes, but then in the last minutes of the races I struggle physically. I was disappointed at the end of the second moto when another rider did a block pass, as I lost seven positions, and I know what I need to work on before coming back in the EMX250.”
Amandine Verstappen: “What can I say? Pole position in the timed practice period, then I won the qualifying race and both motos, it was another good weekend. Let’s go now to the two final rounds of the series!”
