Jeffrey Herlings Contains Damage At GP Of Garda
Jeffrey Herlings of the Red Bull KTM Factory team managed to contain the damage during the 16th round of the MXGP world championships at Arco di Trento in Italy. In the first race, Herlings, could not get into his rhythm, and had to be content with third place. In the second heat, he was fighting for the lead, but two hard crashes dropped him to tenth. He had to scramble his way back to a hard-fought fourth place. Herlings has dropped to third in the world championship standings but is only three points adrift of the series leader.
“Where can I start,” an exasperated Herlings commented. “The day started well, but it was all downhill from there. I had a good start in the first race, but could not find my rhythm. I was fourth at one stage, and lost a lot of time in passing Jorge Prado. By the time I got by, Febvre and Seewer were long gone already. Third place was still ok under the circumstances. ”
Herlings continued: “In the second race, I wanted to go for the win, I got to second, and thought this would be my race. I wanted to launch an attack on Tim Gajser when I crossed the finish jump, but the bike jerked and I crashed hard. It was my own fault, and the bike was quite bent, which made riding difficult. I was catching Febvre again, when my hand came off the handlebar on the downhill section. That was a hard crash, and the bike was even more damaged. I knew I had to do something special from there on. I had dropped to tenth, and had to keep attacking, because every point matters at this stage. I am three points behind now, and the outcome of the season is in my own hands. I have not made it easy on myself, and the last two GP’s have been challenging, but everything is still possible. I wish to thank Tony for assisting me. Only the greatest champions do something like that. He demonstrated without doubt today how loyal he is towards KTM, and he had really helped me to score two extra points. Only a real team player would do that. Jorge as well, since I had to pass him three times during the race. We did this as a team, and I want to thank them for that.”
The penultimate round of the MXGP series will take place at Mantova this coming Sunday.
Results MXGP Garda 2021
1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI), Yamaha (1-2)
2. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda (4-1)
3. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki (2-3)
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (3-4)
5. Tony Cairoli (ITA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (5-5)
6. Jorge Prado (ESP), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (7-6)
Championship Standings MXGP:
1. Romain Febvre 614 points
2. Tim Gajser 613
3. Jeffrey Herlings 611
4. Jorge Prado 502
5. Jeremy Seewer 498
6. Tony Cairoli 496
