Published on 17 October 2021

Report and results: Spanish MXGP – Herlings wins as Prado delights home fans!

Another day and another scintillating Grand Prix as the Spanish fans created a football like atmosphere surrounding the circuit, primarily focusing on their super hero, Jorge Prado, who made the podium and thrilled the crowd all day as Jeffrey Herlings took a hard-fought win after two frantic motos.

Prado holeshot race one and lead for half the race until Romain Febvre finally took the lead and pulled away. Gajser was the next rider on the tail of Prado, but as usual Jorge just rode his race and it was Gajser who made the mistake and crashed. He remounted just infront of Herlings who had charged after a bad start from around tenth and when Tim couldn’t make the rut in a turn and went straight on it as all Herlings needed to take third.

Herlings then closed on Prado but couldn’t get close enough on the final lap as Febvre took a brilliant win with Gajser a disappointed fourth.

Race two and it was Prado again leaving turn one in the lead, Herlings made his way from fourth to second including a pass on Gajser and nearly getting tagged in mid-air with Jonass on a sketchy first lap! Halfway into the race and Herlings was putting all kinds of pressure on Prado and and the commentator had the whole crowd chanting, ‘Jorge, Jorge’ as he did his best to keeping Herlings as bay! But eventually Herlings made a ruthless move cutting across the front wheel of Prado in the prefect pass coming into the pit lane straight out of a left handed.

Gajser then got Prado as well but he couldn’t catch Herlings despite desperately needing the points. From there all the focus was on Prado again as Cairoli caught the Spaniard, then slammed into the side of the Spanish superstar only for Prado to drift across and block Cairoli in the next turn to maintain third and second overall as the De Carli teammates clashed yet again!

Herlings took a big GP win for the championship as Prado was cheered across the line for third in the moto and second overall, this was the Marc Marquez treatment for Prado who had his name chanted again when he stepped into the podium! Absolute bedlam!

Herlings said: “It was crazy, first moto I had a good jump but got out run ( up the straight). Second moto I was around fourth or fifth first turn and I could click off riders and halfway through managed to pass Jorge for the lead. I had to worl for this one, looking forward to the end of the season, it’s going to be epic, we’ll see.”

While a grinning Prado said: “There isn’t an event with such great fans! It is amazing to have this crowd around me, they really support me. For not being 100% I did what I could, this second position tastes like gold. Thanks to everyone for their support, they were amazing today. I have been all day with a lot of pressure, just from myself I wanted that win but second was the best (I could do).”

Gajser took second for third overall (4-2) but lost more points on Herlings to go 15 back of the lead as poor Romain Febvre, after that great first moto, went down at turn three and charged from 26th all the way back to seventh but just missed the podium and lost ground to Herlings on a day it looked like he could have won the GP! Febvre is now 12 points behind the Dutchman.

What a championship this is turning out to be, this is the golden era of all golden eras and there are still five rounds left!

MXGP – GP Classification

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 45 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 40 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 39 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GAS), 31 p.; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 29 p.; 8. Benoit Paturel (FRA, HON), 25 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, GAS), 23 p.; 10. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 22 p.; 11. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 19 p.; 12. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), 18 p.; 13. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 18 p.; 14. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 14 p.; 15. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 11 p.; 16. Henry Jacobi (GER, HON), 8 p.; 17. Lorenzo Locurcio (VEN, KTM), 6 p.; 18. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 6 p.; 19. Vsevolod Brylyakov (MFR, HON), 5 p.; 20. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 4 p.; 21. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 2 p.; 22. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 2 p.; 23. Tom Koch (GER, KTM), 1 p.; 24. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 0 p.; 25. Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 0 p.; 26. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 0 p.; 27. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, HON), 0 p.; 28. Anton Nordström Graaf (SWE, YAM), 0 p.; 29. Joan Cros (ESP, KAW), 0 p.; 30. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, YAM), 0 p.;

MXGP – World Championship Classification

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 505 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 493 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 490 p.; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 440 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 419 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 373 p.; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GAS), 352 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 302 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), 233 p.; 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 220 p.; 11. Brian Bogers (NED, GAS), 209 p.; 12. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 203 p.; 13. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 197 p.; 14. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 156 p.; 15. Henry Jacobi (GER, HON), 135 p.; 16. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 120 p.; 17. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 112 p.; 18. Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 108 p.; 19. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, YAM), 98 p.; 20. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 91 p

In MX2 Maxime Renaux finally turned the tables on Tom Vialle to win his fourth GP of the season in brilliant fashion. Renaux and Vialle got out 1-2 in race one but despite Renaux being in his wheel tracks, Vialle eventually pulled away to win one again. However, race two was different story.

Vialle holeshot again but Geerts, who had a terrible race one crashing twice, finally showed his real potential to pass Vialle and then Renaux got himself into third. The front three pulled away from everyone else and eventually. Renaux made a decisive move on Vialle as the KTM rider couldn’t find his flow and couldn’t run the pace of the world championship leader. Renaux then passed Geerts in the same place to take the lead but Jago refused to give in going all out for the win on the final lap but not quite able to make the move as Renaux celebrated with a HUGE whip crossing the finish line in what was a superb ride.

A delighted Renaux said: “It was a really good moto I am really happy in, in the first moto Tom was fast and I couldn’t find a place to pace. In the second moto I could find one just before the waves, I passed Tom and Jago there so I am really happy. I feel like I am growing to to find places to pass and be intelligent. I’m super happy.”

After his altercation with Renaux in practice Jed Beaton didn’t see Renaux in either race but he rode well battling in the top five to take third overall on a good day for the Aussie….maybe both being fired up by each other helped their race pace! Guadagnini was good in race one taking third but crashed in race two (eighth) to stop his podium being possible with Rene Hofer having another strong day for fifth overall.

MX2 – GP Classification

1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 47 points; 2. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 33 p.; 5. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 30 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 30 p.; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 26 p.; 9. Wilson Todd (AUS, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 21 p.; 11. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 18 p.; 12. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 18 p.; 13. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 17 p.; 14. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 16 p.; 15. Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 13 p.; 16. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, KTM), 9 p.; 17. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 7 p.; 18. Bastian Boegh Damm (DEN, KTM), 7 p.; 19. Guillem Farres (ESP, GAS), 6 p.; 20. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GAS), 5 p.; 21. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 5 p.; 22. Petr Polak (CZE, YAM), 1 p.; 23. Samuel Nilsson (ESP, KTM), 0 p.; 24. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 0 p.; 25. Filippo Zonta (ITA, HON), 0 p.; 26. Joel Rizzi (GBR, HON), 0 p.; 27. Gerard Congost (ESP, YAM), 0 p.; 28. Julian Vander Auwera (BEL, HUS), 0 p.; 29. Gonzalo Vargas (ESP, YAM), 0 p.; 30. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KAW), 0 p.;

MX2 – World Championship Classification

1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 535 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 427 p.; 3. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 426 p.; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 417 p.; 5. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 395 p.; 6. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 364 p.; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 362 p.; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 331 p.; 9. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 292 p.; 10. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 230 p.; 11. Wilson Todd (AUS, KAW), 227 p.; 12. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, KAW), 223 p.; 13. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 209 p.; 14. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KAW), 190 p.; 15. Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 183 p.; 16. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 163 p.; 17. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 129 p.; 18. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 120 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), 45 p.; 23. Lion Florian (GER, KTM), 29 p.; 24. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GAS), 26 p.; 25. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 26 p.; 26. Jakub Teresak (CZE, KTM), 18 p.; 27. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 15 p.; 28. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), 15 p.; 29. Kevin Brumann (SUI, YAM), 14 p.; 30. Ashton Dickinson (GBR, KTM), 11 p.; 31. Taylor Hammal (GBR, KAW), 10 p.; 32. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KTM), 10 p.; 33. Giuseppe Tropepe (ITA, HUS), 7 p.; 34. Jan Wagenknecht (CZE, KTM), 7 p.; 35. Guillem Farres (ESP, GAS), 6 p.; 36. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), 6 p.; 37. Emil Weckman (FIN, HON), 6 p.; 38. Filip Olsson (SWE, HUS), 6 p.; 39. Emilio Scuteri (ITA, TM), 4 p.; 40. Timur Petrashin (MFR, KTM), 4 p.; 41. Joel Rizzi (GBR, HON), 2 p.; 42. Gerard Congost (ESP, YAM), 2 p.; 43. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), 2 p.; 44. Noah Ludwig (GER, KTM), 1 p.; 45. Anton Nordström Graaf (SWE, YAM), 1 p.;

Report: Jonathan McCready