The 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships starts the final quarter of the season this weekend with round 16, the MXGP of Sweden, which sees a return to the Glimminge Motorstadion venue on the outskirts of the town of Uddevalla, roughly 100km north of Sweden’s second-largest city, Gothenburg!

The Uddevalla circuit is one of the oldest active Grand Prix venues on the calendar with a history dating back to the 1950s, in the days when Swedish riders were so dominant, they took eight of the first nine World Championship titles! This will be the 27th GP event held at Uddevalla, which has been on the schedule for all but three seasons since 2001.

The first World Championship level Grand Prix held here was back in 1958, when future double World Champion Sten Lundin won for his home fans, even riding a Swedish Monark machine to enhance the patriotic fervour!

After wins in 1961 by another Swedish legend, Bill Nilsson, and in 1977 by Soviet star Vladimir Kavinov, the venue had a long time away from GP Motocross until Stefan Everts won for Kawasaki in 1994. Everts still jointly holds the record of six GP wins here alongside Antonio Cairoli, who won between 2007 and 2014. This is one record that is not under threat this year, as the most successful active rider here is current Aruba.it Ducati MX Team pilot, Jeremy Seewer, with overall victories in 2017, 2022, and 2023. It’s the only venue where the Swiss veteran has won more than one GP.

The battle at the top of the MXGP World Championship continues to be tight as Romain Febvre still holds the red plate for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, but his advantage is now just nine points ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star Lucas Coenen, who took his third straight GP win at Lommel last time out! Febvre was fourth overall here last year in MXGP, and won this event in his title year of 2015, but Coenen won both Sunday races in MX2 last year around the Glimminge Motorstadion track, so he has reason to expect another good result this time!

MXGP sees a welcome return to action for last year’s Qualifying Race winner Tim Gajser, who has been on the side lines for Honda HRC since his crash at the MXGP of Switzerland. Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP will also welcome back Pauls Jonass to the line-up this weekend. However, most of the fans will be cheering for Isak Gifting, who took an early lead in the GP last year for JK Racing Yamaha and will surely be fired up after a recent run of good results, including top six overall finishes in each of the last two GPs! Anton Gole, Alvin Ostlund, and Albin Gerhardsson will also line up in their home country, although sadly Leopold Ambjörnsson is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

The reigning World Champion in MX2, Kay de Wolf, moved back up to second in the series after the last round at Lommel, where he scored a perfect weekend for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing. This puts him on 666 points, the number of the beast indeed! He is still 38 points behind red plate holder Simon Längenfelder, and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team leader will be coming to Sweden in confident mood after finishing on the podium here in each of the last three years, including the overall win in 2023.

Filip Olsson has been the only Swedish points scorer in MX2 this season, and he will be out for more success in front of his home fans on the Young Motion powered by Resa squad!

The EMX250 European Championship resumes this weekend for its 11th round of 13, after over a month off since the last round in Finland. Team VHR VRT Yamaha Official pilot Janis Reisulis continues with the red plate, enjoying a 28-point advantage over Hungarian Noel Zanocz, although the JM Racing Honda rider has some momentum behind him following his overall victory at the KymiRing. Venum BUD Racing Kawasaki’s Spaniard Francisco Garcia is 40 points back from Zanocz, but his win at Matterley Basin showed that he can be strong on this weekend’s hardpack surface.

Also at Uddevalla, for the first time in Scandinavia, will be the 2025 YZ bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup Superfinale, with a single race each for 65cc, 85cc, and 125cc riders across the weekend. The young riders will be racing for Yamaha support in 2026, while the 125cc class holds the prize of a ride with a Supported Yamaha team in the 2026 EMX125 Championship!

The MXGP of Sweden is home to some of the most passionate fans in world Motocross, who create a fantastic atmosphere from the cliffs surrounding the circuit. An underrated jewel of an event, expect Uddevalla to deliver more thrilling racing and crazy noise to kickstart the final quarter of the season!

Romain Febvre continues with the red plate on his factory Kawasaki, as he has done since the eighth round at Lugo in Spain over four months ago. Febvre has been on the podium three times here before, and like fellow former World Champions Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings, he has had more other podium finishes in Sweden than GP victories. It is the sort of track where the Champions seem to collect points rather than push for the ultimate prize. However, the situation might force the Frenchman to pull out all the stops for his first victory here since 2015.

For his part, Lucas Coenen has pushed over the edge at Uddevalla before, with a massive crash in practice in 2023 ruling him out of the weekend’s action. However, as he chased after the title in 2024, he was a decisive double winner on Sunday, and he also won a race here in EMX250 three years ago. With just nine points separating the pair at the top, it could be an enthralling contest, as they seem to be closer to each other’s pace on harder surfaces in 2025.

Glenn Coldenhoff looks more secure for his place in the series than anyone else in the standings, with a 67-point gap over the next rider as he lies third for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP. The Dutchman won the 2019 MXGP of Sweden here and followed that up with third in 2022, but his results over the last two years have been less impressive. Ruben Fernandez is the next rider in the table in fourth, but the Honda HRC rider missed this round last year, and only took eighth overall in 2023. Is it time for some redemption on the sort of surface he usually excels on?

Calvin Vlaanderen took his second podium of the season at Lommel, and in fifth place is now only 29 behind Fernandez as the top man again for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP. Fifth at last year’s event, he actually took a race win here in MX2 back in 2019, on his way to second overall. Behind him is another tall competitor, top Italian Andrea Bonacorsi for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, and while his hardpack form hasn’t been the best this year, he took second here in EMX250 just two years ago, and could do with a good result as contract negotiations get finalised for 2026!

Maxime Renaux is next for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, but the rider who took a race win at Uddevalla in 2022 might be looking over his shoulder, as Jeffrey Herlings is back on the gas for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and only 24 behind the Frenchman, although neither rider would have been hoping for seventh in the standings when they started the season. Jeffrey hasn’t won at Uddevalla since his MX2 days in 2013 & ’14, with third last year being his only Swedish podium in the premiere class.

The most successful active rider at Uddevalla, Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Jeremy Seewer, got knocked back to ninth in the series after Lommel, but with an MX2 win here in 2017, plus back-to-back MXGP victories in 2022 and ’23, he has to have some hope for a third Ducati podium of the year.

Returning from injury, Tim Gajser will be looking to race himself back into fitness to start building for 2026, but the Slovenian has won two GPs here in the past and taken four other podium finishes, so with a good start he might also be a factor. Pauls Jonass climbed the podium here both during his MX2 title year and his rookie MXGP season in 2019, so he will feel good to be back on track at a venue he knows well. It’s hoped also that Jago Geerts will be able to race for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP after his big crash at Lommel, and he won the MX2 GP here in 2022.

If Isak Gifting can repeat his feats of last year, when he led from turn two in race one to set the crowd alight, then the noise will be deafening from the flare-waving Viking fans! His starts at Lommel were good with a Holeshot in the Qualifying Race, so maybe the JK Racing Yamaha favourite has something in store for us all this weekend!

For sure the MXGP division, hanging by a thread at the top, is going to throw up some exciting racing in Scandinavia! Do not miss it!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 734 Points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 725 Pts; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 534 Pts; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 467 Pts; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM) 436 Pts; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 405 Pts; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 387 Pts; 8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 353 Pts; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 331 Pts; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 Pts.

The pendulum of momentum in the MX2 class again swung back towards Kay de Wolf with a stunning perfect weekend at Lommel, but Simon Längenfelder still holds a handsome 38-point lead as they head back to some hardpack at Uddevalla!

Längenfelder has taken a trophy from the podium in each of the last three GPs here, with third last year, the overall win in 2023, and third in 2022. He even took second overall in EMX125 here back in 2019! In contrast, De Wolf’s best GP race here was fourth in race two last year, but he did win the Qualifying Race, so there is hope for the Dutchman who has his home GP just seven days on from the Swedish round!

Andrea Adamo sits third in points now for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, just 11 behind De Wolf, and with two podium finishes and a race win at this track in the last two years, he certainly will hope to strike back at his title rivals before the sand of Arnhem.

Sacha Coenen somehow survived multiple crashes to claim a podium at Lommel, and the young Belgian has been more consistent in 2025, which is why he sits fourth in the standings for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Outside the top ten last year in Sweden, however, his best was sixth in 2023 around the rocky cliffs of Uddevalla.

Thibault Benistant moved up to fifth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, but he hasn’t raced here for two years, and was only seventh overall back in 2022. Camden McLellan took that position here last year for Monster Energy Triumph Racing, and now up to sixth in the Championship, the South African must start to show some form on hardpack if he is to advance further.

The chasing pack of Honda HRC’s Valerio Lata, McLellan’s teammate Guillem Farres, Van Venrooy KTM’s Cas Valk, and the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 rookie Mathis Valin could all prove to be potent contenders on the rock-hard surface, so you can truly expect some fireworks to stir up the atmosphere at Uddevalla!

The pressure is on for the top three title chasers, and the latest developments in this enthralling Championship chase is right here ahead of us! Get yourself tuned in!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 704 Points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 666 Pts; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 655 Pts; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 559 Pts; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 513 Pts; 6. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 467 Pts; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 Pts; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 348 Pts; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 324 Pts; 10. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 314 Pts.

Don’t miss your chance to watch the MXGP of Sweden this weekend. Get your tickets HERE!

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY: 07:30 EMX250 Group 1 Free practice, 08:00 EMX250 Group 2 Free practice, 08:30 bLU cRU 125 Free practice/Timed Practice, 09:10 bLU cRU 85 Free practice/Timed Practice, 09:50 bLU cRU 65 Free practice/Timed Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 12:20 EMX250 Group 1 Qualifying practice, 13:00 EMX250 Group 2 Qualifying practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:05 bLU cRU 65 Race, 15:45 EMX250 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY: 08:50 bLU cRU 125 Race, 09:50 bLU cRU 85 Race, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.

Ben Rumbold/MXGP story Pascal Haudiquert image