Jeffrey Herlings produced an incredible ride at Lommel to come back from a crash to gain 16 seconds on Jorge Prado and take the win in the last ten minutes of the race! It was a performance that left his team boss Harry Norton describing Herlings as an animal! After wnning race two we caught up with the Bullet to discuss his day, his chances of the title and the upcoming MXoN! You can read or watch the interview below.
Jeffrey Herlings, I have no words really, especially after that first moto! The only question I have to start with is, are you human? That was unbelievable!
Yeah, the first moto, I had to come from deep because obviously when I went down, I was like, yeah, I touched the lap rider. I mean, he did his own race and he just wasn’t aware of how fast I was coming in and I was just putting in the charge to Jorge. I was just closing in the gap from 10 to 8 to 6. I was actually, yeah, I was coming really close and yeah, he didn’t see me and then I hit my leg. I hit my leg quite bad. After that, I was like 20 seconds down more or less and I had to put on full charge, so yeah!
Did you think you could win at that point? Because I thought, I don’t think so, and then next thing, these laps, you were doing the fastest laps of the race. Lap 12, I think you’ve done the fastest one. I know you said in the press conference that that was easy, but I mean, no one else can do it!
Nah, but I’ve grown up on the sand. I’m used to racing the sand, so yeah, I had to. If I wanted to go 1-1, I had to, so there was no other option and you just had to send it!
Was that fun for you to ride like that? Because that was almost like Jeffrey of 2018. Did you, even last week, did you feel like extra confidence that when I really go for it, I’ve got the speed now to beat these guys?
Yeah, yeah. I feel like I got the speed now to run with them. At the beginning of the year, I was always like, oh, I don’t have the speed of Tim. I don’t have the speed of Jorge, especially from his opening laps, his time practice laps. They were so impressive, so I didn’t have the speed and now I feel like, okay, I’m coming closer and I maybe on some days have the speed. Actually, the last four or five races, I constantly had the speed to run with them, so yeah, that’s really nice, but like I said, I really respect Jorge. I respect him. They’re two very strong riders with very less weak points and a lot of strong points, so to beat them, it’s difficult and yeah, they’re just top-of-the-bill riders.
Jeffrey Herlings making Lommel look easy in practice…it isn't. pic.twitter.com/Uj5zEnRXEa
— Gate Drop MX (@GateDropMx) July 27, 2024
Jorge’s sprint speed, even in the sand, was really, really quick, but because of your raw speed now, are you able to be a wee bit more patient those first 10 minutes?
Yeah, I was. I knew he was going to try to sprint away because I knew, well, I knew…I thought… that I would be fitter on the end of the motos and it’s what it’s been showing today. But yeah, like I said, also in his time practice, often he just does one lap, bam, puts in a very fast lap time, so he’s very explosive, very intense. I think once he goes to the U.S. next year, I think that will extremely help him because it’s short, it’s aggressive, it’s short motos, supercross and stuff, so I think for U.S., yeah, it’s perfect for him.
Is it harder to battle Jorge one-on-one because he’s basically a teammate trying to win the championship than Tim or does that not really enter your head? I know you ride pretty clean anyway.
Yeah, I always try to ride clean. I think Jorge is a very clever guy. I mean, both of them are smart, hey, don’t get me wrong,. But like when you don’t pass Jorge, for example, and you have a spot, you have to do it straight away because if he knows you’re coming, he will never make the same mistake again, almost, and with Tim, he’s a… I wouldn’t say he’s definitely not stupid because he’s a top guy as well, but I think to pass Jorge is more difficult than to pass Tim and sometimes, yeah, I think they both raise me fair, I raise them fair and I respect both of them as much, yeah, equal, so, but yeah, I like to battle both of them.
Is this championship on now in your mind because of the speed you have, the points are within range, obviously depends on what happens with China, but are you starting to think you’ve a wee bit of hope here for this title?
Well, my hope until round seven, eight, my hope was completely gone. I was like if I can get top three, that’s going to be the next, but right now, yeah, there is still possibilities. But, you know, it’s would have, should have, could have, if I didn’t have that DNF, I would have been very close right now, but I’m still around, I don’t know exactly, but around 40 points, I think, behind Tim. So, for me, Tim is looking the best because he has a couple of hard tracks coming up, his starts have improved, he’s, for me, if I would choose anyone, I think Gajser is the main guy, and he has a lot of heart and desire, but, yeah, we’ll see. I mean, we got Arnhem coming and I’ll work hard on the hard pack tracks and, yeah, we’ll see. You know, I’m the underdog right now, nobody expects me to win a championship anymore, so, if I would do, great, I don’t expect it for myself and I just do my best.
Stefan Everts talked years ago about he couldn’t handle the amount of training and riding that you do. Ben Townley talked about your work ethic, Joel Smets too, but you’re still riding a lot, I heard Lewis’s interview about it, you’re still saying you’re riding a lot during the week, how is your body still able to take all that and do you still love riding to be able to do that?
Just because I love racing, I love riding and I enjoy doing it and, obviously, I had quite some time, I had some free time in between due to injuries, not because I want that free time, just like, trying to do an entire year off to get both of my feet basically done and get them in good shape again and, obviously, got some injuries throughout the year, so, often I got a bit of a break and, but still, even now, I’ve been running races since the beginning of February, I would say, middle of February and I really enjoy doing it and my body still feels good, I’m almost getting 30, but still, I feel sometime like 18! Also today, like, I feel good now, so, we’ll see.
The Motocross of Nations coming up, your level the last month or so is starting to get me ready for the AMA boys to come over and, obviously, Prado and guys just classic that track in February, are you thinking towards that at all or just focus on GPs at the minute?
Right now, I’m not really looking at the Nations, I just try to focus on the GPs for now and just look race by race. Yeah, obviously, Nations is going to be exciting, it’s a beautiful track, it’s a beautiful event, hopefully Jett and those guys will be coming, Team US hopefully sends a good team and then, hopefully, we just have a good race.
I’m a massive Jett Lawrence fan, I believe what he can do on a bike is, like, category of Jorge Prado, very technical, very smooth, very good and I think he has everything what a rider needs, basically, because, for sure, like, I’m also talented, but I don’t have the pure technique and the pure talent like Jorge or like Jett. So to see Jett, it’s going to be amazing and to race with him and battle with him would be amazing, I mean, if I can stay with him at least, so…
Well, maybe now!
We’ll never know, we’ll see that while we’re racing.
Do you have any contact with Chase? I know you’re both, kind of, looking for starts and you’re both riding KTM’s but as AMA/GP, do you ever, like, text or talk about, share information or anything like that?
Maybe internally within KTM, maybe they do, I don’t know, but I haven’t, no, I haven’t spoken to him personally about it.
No problem, brilliant job, thank you.
