Jeffrey Herlings showed why he is still one of the fastest men in the planet by coming through the top ten of a stacked MXGP field twice to win the Italian Grand Prix at Arco in memorable fashion.
Moto one was an especially epic ride with Herlings outside the top ten and charging all moto, catching race leader, Febvre, from 15 seconds back with 15 minutes to go, and then passing Febvre with two laps to go for a memorable win.
Herlings had to do a similar things coming from just inside the top ten to second, enough to secure the overall win with Gajser just upping the pace enough to keep Herlings behind him in the last couple of laps.
Herlings said: “I think I showed I had the speed all weekend. Even though I was in traffic I put down the fastest lap time. First moto, I came from about 15th to first, the second moto, tenth to second. Just couldn’t manage to pass Tim, he is always good at this track so it is no shame. The track didn’t allow me to get past him and he had good lines. I amost went through all my tear-offs passing the other guys .So I just couldn’t find a way. I felt like I could go faster, but I just couldn’t find the spots. I was pushing in in the last lap and he was not making a mistake.So he did a great job.
“I found a good flow and had some good lines in both races and even though it is a small track, I had to be creative. I just had a really good flow that was being two, three seconds faster than anyone else. And a little bit same in the second moto. But then you know, once you get to the top three top four, it gets quite difficult to pass, especially when you have like top riders as the guys next to me, you know, you don’t pass them so easily, especially on a tiny track like this.
“But I think, yeah, I’ve got quite good fitness, I work hard for that every single day. So yeah, if I would ever have the starts from Tom or from Prado, I would have had so many more wins! But that’s the only negative thing. But I can say that about my career, like injuries and starts have not always been so great. But at least now I have a great bike.So it’s not about the bike. I think we have all the best or one of the best bikes. So I need to make myself better.”
And Dutch rider believes his Honda helps him out on tracks like Arco: “I’ve been on KTM for a long time. And I felt like the bike helped me quite a bit on this track.To me, that was not just because I’m not on the rider, but I truly believe the bike was a bit better this weekend, because I was also on the KTM always a bit, you know, this wasn’t the easiest track for me. So we definitely gain on that.
“And I feel like I’m just super motivated, like everybody’s like, ‘Oh, why are you still doing this?’ You’re 17th year, but hey, man, I just, I still love it! And I still have so much passion for it. And then if I get a win, I just get so hyped up. And it makes me train even harder the next week, you know, and if I get beat, it depends on how I get beat.Like if I got beat in Sardinia, I got beat because I wasn’t the fastest guy and they beat me straight up. And then I’m all fine with it. Sometimes you’re a bit unlucky when you get beat or whatever.
“But it’s going to be a difficult year because it’s also Tim and Romain. There’s so many guys who can be in between, you know, even if we have a small off day, and you finish P 10, like all the guys in front of you, the other nine are still probably GP winners or World Champions. The class is so stacked right now, I think it’s really good for the sport. It’s good for the for for the TV. It’s good for everyone, because it will bring a lot of people watching.
“Back in the days, like also when I was winning with over a minute or Tony, it was quite boring to watch and people always want to see some rivalry .And maybe the way Haiden Deegan is on rivalries is a bit too much for the European side, but you know, that’s what people want to see and yeah, that’s what makes people come to racing.”
Watch his brilliant ride in moto one below:
