MXGP Amid Injuries and Courage: A Turbulent Foxhills for Gajser, Forato, and the Coenen Twins

Physical problems for some of the Motocross World Championship protagonists, between MXGP and MX2: from forced retirements to heroic efforts, here’s how it went.

The “damage report” is not missing: the Motocross World Championship resumed at Foxhills, in Great Britain, for another triple back-to-back round, but we have a few notable names who ran into physical issues, some managing to push through and others forced to withdraw. The latter is the case of MXGP rider Alberto Forato who, in addition to his previous health problem, has now suffered a shoulder injury, while in the first case we point to Sacha Coenen, who gritted his teeth but couldn’t hold onto the MX2 lead. Not only that, his twin Lucas Coenen didn’t have it easy either, and Tim Gajser had trouble with plastic shards in an eye... A hectic weekend in the United Kingdom, here’s what happened.

That’s what happened to the Yamaha MXGP standard-bearer during the timed practice sessions before the qualifying race. It seems some small stones inadvertently “flicked up” by another rider broke his goggles, along with plastic splinters. One could say luckily so—without the goggles, the stones would have hit his eyes directly, causing serious trouble... “The doctors had to anesthetize my eye to remove them, so I raced with very limited visibility,” Gajser recounted on social media, attached to the photo you see below. He took 5th place in Saturday’s qualifying race, then finished 2nd in Race 1 and 3rd in Race 2, ending 3rd overall at the British GP. Limited damage and a few points gained, given leader Lucas Coenen’s issues.

Nothing seems to go right for the Fantic MXGP rider. We already told you about the lung virus that hit him recently, and now a heavy blow has arrived. Sixth place in timed practice, which boded well for the British weekend, was followed by a nasty crash at the start of the qualifying moto at Foxhills. The outlook immediately looked bleak: Alberto Forato complained of pain in his left scapula and a fracture was feared; the return to Belgium for all necessary checks unfortunately confirmed the lesion. He underwent successful surgery on Sunday afternoon, but recovery will clearly not be immediate: the Venetian rider will be sidelined for “the upcoming MXGP World Championship rounds,” as Fantic confirmed in the post-GP statement. He will definitely miss both Loket and Lommel, the events of the next two weekends, and then it will be step by step, depending on recovery.

Let’s move to the MX2 class. Sacha Coenen had a really tough week: just last weekend he dominated the 250 class in AMA Motocross at Southwick, but the bitter side was a fracture to his right shoulder following a bad crash. Early last week the young Belgian underwent surgery, a lightning-fast recovery (so to speak), and there he was just a few days later on track from free practice in Great Britain: he finished 8th overall, surrendering the world lead to Guillem Farres (Triumph), but Coenen still limited the damage. “I didn’t know what to expect or if I’d be able to race, but we did it and it didn’t go that badly,” said the KTM rider.

Unlike his twin, Lucas Coenen had been involved in two heavy crashes in the U.S. 450 class but without major consequences, also because he sat out the second moto as a precaution. However, from the double zero there, it turned into a double zero in the World Championship: it all started with a collision with Maxime Renaux in the qualifying race, in which the Belgian points leader suffered an issue with his left leg. He gritted his teeth and lined up regularly at the start of both Sunday races, but had to retire early in both. Unlike his brother, Lucas Coenen remains the overall class leader, albeit with a clearly smaller margin. “There’s not much to say, we’ll try again at Loket,” was the comment.

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