Jeffrey Herlings takes his third world title in the MX2 class
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team’s Jeffrey Herlings on Saturday night sealed the 2016 MX2 World Championship after a decisive win in the opening moto at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, USA. It was the Dutch rider’s third world title and very well deserved after recovering from a series major injuries in the immediate past seasons.
Jeffrey Herlings went on to take third in race two behind US national champion Cooper Webb, which gave the overall win to Webb. American Austin Forkner was overall third. Fastest other KTM rider was Dutch rider Calvin Vlaanderen who finished fifth with a 5-8 result.
On his way to the title, Herlings won the first twelve rounds on his KTM 250 SX-F, dropping only three possible points with a second place in the opening moto in Italy. He then sat out three rounds (Czech Republic, Lommel in Belgium and Switzerland) to heal a broken collarbone. He bounced back at the next round at home in Assen for another GP win, and on the start of race one at Charlotte he knew he only had to finish in front of closest rival Jeremy Seewer to take the title.
Herlings: “I am super, super happy, especially after everything we’ve been going through with a broken femur, a dislocated hip, two broken collarbones and almost losing my little finger. It’s number three and hopefully many more to come.” Asked to comment about racing against leading Americans, he added: “The two strongest guys from America Webb and Forkner were here. Webb is the national champion and I beat him straight up in the first race and then he beat me in the second. I think the competition is stronger in the US, but we won the championship and that’s what it’s all about.” Speaking about the final round next weekend: “I like the track at Glenn Helen and it should be better than this track. Like always, we will do our best to make it happen.”
Overall GP MX2 in the USA:
1 Cooper Webb 47 Pnt
2 Jeffrey Herlings 45 Pnt
3 Austin Forkner 42 Pnt
4 Thomas Covington 36 Pnt
5 Calvin Vlaanderen 29 Pnt
World Championship Standings MX2:
1 Jeffrey Herlings 689 Pnt
2 Jeremy Seewer 595 Pnt
3 Benoit Paturel 485 Pnt
4 Max Anstie 473 Pnt
5 Pauls Jonass 403 Pnt
