It has long been considered the toughest circuit in the motocross world, and when the MXGP and MX2 classes head to Lommel, Belgium this coming weekend you can be sure that riders will suffer around the deep sand track.

For decades Lommel has been a place that riders have to dig deep, and control their fear of the roughest and toughest circuit in the world. No more so than in 1981 and 2012 for the prestigious Motocross of Nations.

Former World Motocross Champion Danny Laporte remembers Lommel well. Back in 1981 LaPorte was part of Team USA, which won the MXoN for America, for the first time ever. Laporte knew when the team arrived at the circuit that it would be hard work, but also felt confident.

“We were training for Lommel,” Laporte said. “Roger (De Coster) said we need somebody to go 45 minutes flat out in this deep Lommel sand. So I said I will do it, and I rode hard, just pinned it and two laps before the 45 minutes I ran out of gas. So we put the gas tanks from the 500cc bikes on our bikes so we had enough gas to finish. Now had we not tried that we wouldn’t have even finished the moto’s in Lommel? That was one really tough circuit and the American riders enjoyed it that year.”

Of course it wasn’t just the 1981 MXoN that saw the circuit enjoy this huge event. Back in 2012 the MXoN returned, and it was the battle between Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings, clearly the two best sand riders in the world, that attracted all the attention.

While Cairoli went 1-1 for the individual overall, the performance of Herlings was stunning as he first won his opening moto with ease and then came back from last to nearly win his second moto.

“I was really disappointed not to win both moto’s,” Herlings said at the time. “But to fight back and nearly pass Antonio to win the second moto was a good performance. I felt that was in some ways a victory and showed who is the quickest in the sand. I love Lommel and to race the MXoN there was a high point in my career. Going to that circuit is often a big challenge, but it is one a rider from The Netherlands usually enjoys.”

Now, this weekend, Herlings returns, again coming back from injury and waiting for him are Romain Febvre with the red plate and this Lucas Coenen kid, who is just lighting up the 2025 MXGP championship.

Without Febvre and Coenen, the series has been rather average and while the top ten in the MXGP championship points isn’t bad, it sure isn’t from the Cairoli vs Prado vs Gajser vs Herlings era. What Herlings, Coenen and Febvre can do in Lommel, might show us once again, that his magical place, stuck in an industrial area, can produce racing that will make us all very happy.