On the first full lap, “The Bullet” was able to shoot past Febvre along a fast rhythm section, then tucked to the inside line on the next corner to move into second past Vialle! It was a lap reminiscent of his performance in Portugal and it looked like we were in for a Coenen versus Herlings showdown again!
Behind them, Jonass had settled nicely into fifth, but Renaux was dealing with the attentions of his teammate Gajser, who weaved one way, then the other, in his attempts to get past the Frenchman! The third Honda HRC Petronas of Ruben Fernandez held eighth ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo.
Coenen set about building his lead with a series of fast laps, but Vialle, under pressure from Febvre for third, suffered a heavy fall through a left-right sequence of corners, and had to retire from the race with a damaged motorcycle! Everybody moved up a position, but the fast circuit was proving to be difficult to pass on, and Gajser couldn’t make a move on his teammate Renaux, as the Monster Energy Yamaha men finished fifth and sixth despite a late final effort from the Slovenian. Fernandez took seventh in front of home hero Vlaanderen, with Adamo ninth ahead of the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver.
Up front, the crowd got into it as Herlings closed to within two seconds of Coenen, setting the Acerbis Fastest Lap on lap 13, before getting on the gas a touch too early on a slick landing from a jump, sliding to the floor on lap 14! He was able to pick it up quickly enough to keep second position, but Coenen was happy to cruise to the race win from there, with the factory Kawasaki pairing of Febvre and Jonass taking third and fourth behind Herlings. It was the Latvian’s equal best Sunday race result for the factory Kawasaki squad, and his best for over a calendar year.
Although marginally beaten to the Fox Holeshot Award by Vialle in race two, Coenen was right at the front again as Adamo held third from Febvre and a loudly-cheered Vlaanderen into the second corner! Herlings was again chasing from around eighth, as Coenen carved past Vialle to take the lead at the bottom of the circuit. Adamo had slipped back to seventh, as Herlings fought his way into fourth ahead of Vlaanderen and Gajser. Jonass, Fernandez, and Oliver rounded out the top ten by the end of the first full lap.
Coenen again sprinted away, as Febvre and Herlings closed on Vialle, and it all changed between the trio, with nine world titles between them, on lap five!