Jeffrey Herlings of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team has clinched his 74th GP victory. He did so by winning two exciting heats of the British GP at Matterley Basin.

Jeffrey showed early intent by posting the fastest times in Saturday’s training sessions. He had some trouble initially in the qualifying heat and finished second after heaving passed Tim Gajser and Glenn Coldenhoff.

The first race on Sunday yielded plenty of action. Antonio Cairoli held the lead for a long time until Herlings managed to close the gap. Herlings made the pass, but Cairoli immediately struck back when Jeffrey experienced problems with a dragging front brake. With the second attempt, the riders’ trajectories intersected and Cairoli crashed, allowing Jeffrey an easy win.

“It was not my intention to make Cairoli crash,” Herlings said. “We went into the corner together and touched, and it was a pure racing incident.”

In the second race, Jeffrey waited till the very end to strike. He worked his way up to second, and slowly reeled in Cairoli. He made the pass on the last lap, and handled the pressure, ensuring the win.

” I did my very best, ” he said. ” I did not want to spend the whole race eating dust, and planned to pass near the end. This is my 100th podium and 74th GP victory, and that feels good of course.”

Herlings now has a 54 point lead over Cairoli in the world standings. The next GP is at St Jean d’Angely in France next weekend.

Overall MXGP Great Britain:
1 Jeffrey Herlings 50 Pnt
2 Antonio Cairoli 44 Pnt
3 Romain Febvre 36 Pnt
4 Clement Desalle 36 Pnt
5 Tim Gajser 36 Pnt

World Championship Standings MXGP:
1 Jeffrey Herlings 436 Pnt
2 Antonio Cairoli 382 Pnt
3 Clement Desalle 314 Pnt
4 Romain Febvre 291 Pnt
5 Gautier Paulin 267 Pnt

Jeffrey Herlings of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team did his world championship aspirations a lot of good at the sixth round of the series in Russia. He finished second in the GP, and has extended his lead over Antonio Cairoli to 23 points.

Despite missing the free training due to his luggage having gone missing at the airport, he quickly adjusted to the track and clocked the second fastest qualifying time. A nudge from Tim Gajser in the qualifying heat resulted in a crash for Gajser, and Herlings dropped to fourth. He bided his time, and with a few laps to go, he passed Jeremy van Horebeek to claim pole position.

Jeffrey joined the leading group off the start in race one. He focused on passing Cairoli, and was in turn passed by Clement Desalle. The battle between him and Cairoli yo-yoed, allowing Desalle to forge a gap , and Jeffrey eventually finished third.

Jeffrey left nothing to chance in the second race. He grabbed the holeshot, and from then in the result was a foregone conclusion. He won ahead of Desalle, and claimed second overall for the day.

“I’m pretty satisfied, since this is definitely not my favourite track. This and Trento are my least favourite tracks, and I did well at both. In the first heat, Cairoli and I battled, allowing Desalle to escape. In the second heat, I took the holeshot and  rode my own race. The season is still long, and I’ll be going for the win in Latvia.”

Jeffrey’s second overall for the day allowed him to increase his world championship lead over Cairoli to 23 points. He will participate in the third round of the Dutch Masters of Motocross at Mill next weekend, and at the Latvian GP the following week.

Overall Grand Prix Russia:
1 Clement Desalle 47 Pnt
2 Jeffrey Herlings 45 Pnt
3 Antonio Cairoli 38 Pnt
4 Romain Febvre 34 Pnt
5 Tim Gajser 34 Pnt

World Championship Standings MXGP:
1 Jeffrey Herlings 286 Pnt
2 Antonio Cairoli 263 Pnt
3 Clement Desalle 212 Pnt
4 Romain Febvre 203 Pnt
5 Gautier Paulin 180 Pnt

Jeffrey Herlings of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team won the Italian GP in the lion’s den. He rode a flawless two heats for full points on the day and a ten point championship lead over Antonio Cairoli.

Herlings was set on revenge after finishing second at the Spanish GP. He was convincing during qualifying, and won the qualifying race .

Herlings was at the front from early on in both races, which eased his task a lot. In the first heat he led from Clement Desalle and gradually built up a big gap.

In the second race, Antonio Cairoli had the early lead, but Herlings quickly came by. He fended off Cairoli’s attentions, and again built a handy lead to claim the second victory.

“It started well for me on Saturday with the fastest qualifying time. We’ve also been working on my starts, and this weekend it worked for me. We looked at the starts of good launchers like Cairoli, Coldenhoff and Anstie. I made it difficult for myself in earlier GP’s with bad starts. This is not my favourite track, but i still did well today. The fans of course supported Tony, but it was still fun. I am physically strong right now, and this helped me to get some distance late in the race. “

Jeffrey leads the world championship series by ten points over Cairoli after four rounds. The series continues at Agueda in Portugal next weekend.

The Dutch Motocross of Nations team consisting of Jeffrey Herlings, Glenn Coldenhoff and Brian Bogers scored a podium finish at the Motocross of Nations for the second year in succession. On a muddy track at Matterley Basin, the Dutch triumvirate finished behind the victorious French team for podium honours.

Jeffrey Herlings won the Open Class with a double victory. In the first heat, he held the early lead, but crashed, dropping him to second. He recovered to regain the lead from Romain Febvre. In the second heat, he lost the connection to the two leaders, after having struggled a while to pass Belgian Jeremy van Horebeek. He quickly closed the gap once he had passed. He managed ot pass Febvre again, but came just short of passing race leader Max Anstie. He did finish first of the Open Class bikes, claiming that individual victory. “I am not really happy. I would have loved to have taken the overall victory with the team, and also to have won the last race. My second half of the season has been very strong, and I think I have established myself as one of the fastest riders. That gives me confidence for next year.”

Brian Bogers finished fifth in the MX2 class. With a superb showing in the first heat, he finished third. In the second heat, some wheelspin off the start dropped him down the field initially. Riding with the big banger Open Class bikes, he had trouble making passes, but still managed to finish ninth. “If you had offered us the second place on Friday, I would have signed then and there,”he said. “Of course we would have loved to have won, but the French team was immensely strong and they did not make any mistakes.”

Glenn Coldenhoff had a good start in race one and was mixed in with the leading group. He dropped a few places on the slippery circuit, and finished eighth. In the second heat, he had troubles off the start, similar to teammate Brian Bogers. He recovered well and again worked his way into the top ten. A mistake late in the race dropped him to 11th, for 8th overall in the MXGP class. “I am not really happy. After having had to toss my goggles in the first heat, things got difficult. I had a bad start in race two due to wheelspin, and then I was in the midst of the pack which made it difficult. I had a difficult day, but I am very happy that our team finished on the podium again. ”

With second in the overall classification, the Dutch team had a lot to celebrate. “The riders were disappointed, but in my view they did well. Conditions were very difficult today and the French team was very strong,” coach Marcel Hartman said.

Final Nations Classification:
1 Team France 20 pnt
2 Team Holland 31 pnt
3 Team Great Britain 32 pnt