MXGP Report and results: Arco 1 – Herlings perfect in Italy!
It was slow burner but a hot final moto redeemed the day with a 1-1 statement from Jeffrey Herlings to beat both title rivals straight up in style to take control of the world championship.
In race one pole man Seewer holeshot and led for a long time with Herlings, Febvre and Gajser finding themselves 2-3-4 for most of the moto with everyone close but no definitive passes made that would stick. That was until Herlings, with the race drawing to a close, made a great pass on Seewer coming into the pit straight to take the lead and a crucial win, especially with Seewer staying second and holding Febvre and Gajser off in a great ride.
Race two was what everyone waited all day for – a huge bar-banging battle between the contenders! It all started immediately out of the gate when Herlings and Gajser connected after lining up side by side leaving both just outside the top ten after turn one as Febvre made a quick move on Jacobi on lap one to take the lead. Gajser and Herlings got into the top ten relatively quickly but they were both 10 seconds behind Febvre and it looked like the Frenchman would win the GP.
But it wasn’t that simple as Glenn Coldenhoff found his pace and went with Febvre as Gajser and Herlings tore through the field to get to third and fourth. Gajser upped his pace and Herlings followed as they chipped away at the lead, soon down to five seconds the duo kept charging as Coldenhoff caught Febvre. Before long they were nose to tail, one-two-three-four, just like that and Herlings smelt blood! But so did Coldenhoff and he went passed Febvre as Herlings made the move on Gajser and suddenly everything was going off! Herlings then passed Febvre but Febvre wouldn’t give in and got the spot back only for Herlings to make the pass again and this time make it stick.
It was Gajser’s turn to hound Febvre now and they made contact with Febvre fighting hard despite not having the pace and both came together with Gajser eventually battling his way through. Herlings meanwhile had caught Coldenhoff but couldn’t get around as Gajser start closing in but then, with two laps to go, Herlings found the key to unlocking the pass and took the lead with Coldenhoff holding off a desperate Gajser for second in Glenn’s best ride of the year!
Herlings took the overall form Coldenhoff with Gajser third and Febvre off the podium in a race he needed to win and had the chance to win, this one will hurt the Frenchman.
A delighted Herlings, now with a 24 point lead, said: “It was a demanding one, the first one I had to fight but this one I had to fight even more. We got bar banging on the start then I was around 15th I think on the first lap and I see Febvre in the lead, I saw Tim just in front of me and said okay, now it’s go time. I played it smart, I kept my jokers for the last few laps and managed to win this moto. 97 GP wins I’m closing in and it was a good day for the championship as well me the gate can already drop again, I’m ready for it to drop again any second. The competition was very strong today.”
But it was a disaster for Tony Cairoli who, despite a great third place in qualifying, DNF’d both motos after crashing with ten riders finishing race one in what was a tough first GP in Italy!
| MXGP – GP Classification |
| 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 38 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 38 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 38 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 38 p.; 6. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, KAW), 24 p.; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GAS), 24 p.; 8. Tom Koch (GER, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Benoit Paturel (FRA, HON), 22 p.; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 20 p.; 11. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 19 p.; 12. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), 17 p.; 13. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 17 p.; 14. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 11 p.; 15. Henry Jacobi (GER, HON), 10 p.; 16. Brian Bogers (NED, GAS), 9 p.; 17. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 9 p.; 18. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 9 p.; 19. Dylan Wright (CAN, HON), 8 p.; 20. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 7 p.; 21. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 5 p.; 22. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, YAM), 5 p.; 23. Lorenzo Locurcio (VEN, KTM), 1 p.; 24. Josh Gilbert (GBR, HUS), 0 p.; 25. Timothée Hoarau (FRA, KAW), 0 p.; 26. Vsevolod Brylyakov (MFR, HON), 0 p.; 27. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, HON), 0 p.; 28. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 0 p.; 29. David Philippaerts (ITA, YAM), 0 p.; 30. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 0 p.; 31. Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 0 p.; |
| MXGP – World Championship Classification |
| 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 555 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 531 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 528 p.; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 457 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 419 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 411 p.; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GAS), 376 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 340 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), 250 p.; 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 239 p.; 11. Brian Bogers (NED, GAS), 218 p.; 12. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 217 p.; 13. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 203 p.; 14. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 165 p.; 15. Henry Jacobi (GER, HON), 145 p.; 16. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 120 p.; 17. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 119 p.; 18. Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 108 p.; 19. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, YAM), 103 p.; 20. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 100 p |
Tom Vialle took two race wins to win the overall and take second in the championship up Jago Geerts rode up to his potential again to take second in race one and push Vialle all the way in race two as the Belgian jshows the form we expected all year.
The first race was a procession thanks to the track crew levelling the circuit overnight then levelling a lot of it again after practice meaning no bumps and not many lines for race one. But Isaac Gifting wasn’t worried about that as he started second and rode really well all race long with only Jago Geerts passing him before the end of the moto.
Race two and Renaux who only took sixth in race one after not a great start went down in turn one and had to work his way back into the top ten, taking eighth in what was probably the worst day of his season but he was calm after that second moto crash and did well to get back inside the top ten and limit the damage.
Ruben Fernandez, after the altercation with Jed Beaton in practice, ended up on the podium ahead of Beaton with the duo going 3-4 on the day.
| MX2 – GP Classification |
| 1. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 44 p.; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 36 p.; 4. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 34 p.; 5. Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 32 p.; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 31 p.; 7. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 28 p.; 9. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 22 p.; 10. Tom Guyon (FRA, KTM), 19 p.; 11. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 19 p.; 12. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 17 p.; 13. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 16 p.; 14. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 15 p.; 15. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 14 p.; 16. Hakon Fredriksen (NOR, YAM), 12 p.; 17. Brian Hsu (HUN, KTM), 5 p.; 18. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 5 p.; 19. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 4 p.; 20. Wilson Todd (AUS, KAW), 4 p.; 21. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), 2 p.; 22. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), 2 p.; 23. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, KTM), 2 p.; 24. Jan Wagenknecht (CZE, KTM), 0 p.; 25. Gerard Congost (ESP, YAM), 0 p.; 26. Julian Vander Auwera (BEL, HUS), 0 p.; 27. Florent Lambillon (BEL, KTM), 0 p.; 28. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 0 p.; 29. Filippo Zonta (ITA, HON), 0 p.; 30. Paul Haberland (GER, HON), 0 p.; 31. Bastian Boegh Damm (DEN, KTM), 0 p.; 32. Emilio Scuteri (ITA, TM), 0 p.; 33. Giuseppe Tropepe (ITA, HUS), 0 p.; 34. Joel Rizzi (GBR, HON), 0 p.; 35. Petr Polak (CZE, YAM), 0 p.; 36. Marnique Appelt (GER, KTM), 0 p.; |
| MX2 – World Championship Classification |
| 1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 563 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 471 p.; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 467 p.; 4. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 443 p.; 5. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 429 p.; 6. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 393 p.; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 366 p.; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 362 p.; 9. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 328 p.; 10. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 245 p.; 11. Wilson Todd (AUS, KAW), 231 p.; 12. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 225 p.; 13. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, KAW), 223 p.; 14. Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 215 p.; 15. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KAW), 190 p.; 16. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 182 p.; 17. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 143 p.; 18. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 142 p.; 19. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 99 p.; 20. Bastian Boegh Damm (DEN, KTM), 97 p.; 21. Petr Polak (CZE, YAM), 54 p.; 22. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, KTM), 47 p.; 23. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 31 p.; 24. Lion Florian (GER, KTM), 29 p.; 25. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GAS), 26 p.; 26. Tom Guyon (FRA, KTM), 19 p.; 27. Jakub Teresak (CZE, KTM), 18 p.; 28. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), 17 p.; 29. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 15 p.; 30. Kevin Brumann (SUI, YAM), 14 p.; 31. Hakon Fredriksen (NOR, YAM), 12 p.; 32. Ashton Dickinson (GBR, KTM), 11 p.; 33. Taylor Hammal (GBR, KAW), 10 p.; 34. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KTM), 10 p.; 35. Giuseppe Tropepe (ITA, HUS), 7 p.; 36. Jan Wagenknecht (CZE, KTM), 7 p.; 37. Guillem Farres (ESP, GAS), 6 p.; 38. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), 6 p.; 39. Emil Weckman (FIN, HON), 6 p.; 40. Filip Olsson (SWE, HUS), 6 p.; 41. Brian Hsu (HUN, KTM), 5 p.; 42. Emilio Scuteri (ITA, TM), 4 p.; 43. Timur Petrashin (MFR, KTM), 4 p.; 44. Joel Rizzi (GBR, HON), 2 p.; 45. Gerard Congost (ESP, YAM), 2 p.; 46. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), 2 p.; 47. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), 2 p.; 48. Noah Ludwig (GER, KTM), 1 p.; 49. Anton Nordström Graaf (SWE, YAM), 1 p.; |
Words: Jonathan McCready
Image: InFront Moto Racing
