Jeffrey Herling's celebrates his second MX2 World Championship.
Monday 05 August: Outstanding performance from the Dutch Bullet, Jeffrey Herlings this season. Race report and video.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey
Herlings has written once again his name not only in the Dutch Motocross
History, but also in the History of the sport. The young Dutch rider
from Geldrop has obtained his second FIM MX2 World Title at the age of
eighteen and he becomes the best ever Dutch rider with the same number
of World Titles as John Van Den Berk, but Herlings has already obtained
30 overall victories - 21 more than the former World Champion – and he
still has a long and promising career ahead of him.
"Everything is going soo fast … three years ago I took part in my first
Grand Prix and now I have already won 30 Grand Prix, two MX2 World
Titles and I’ve been on the podium so many times … it is an amazing
feeling, but maybe only when I’ll be older I’ll realise what I have
accomplished.”
Among the 22.000 people that travelled to Loket this weekend, there were
a lot of Herlings’ best friends, relatives and fans who have travelled
to the Czech Republic to support him on such special day. Besides, two
of the main TV Dutch broadcasters came also onsite to obtain special
coverage, as well as loads of Dutch specialist and non-specialist media
that did not want to miss any moment.
"It’s amazing to have all the fans, friends, national and international
media around me because it is good for me, for my team and for the
sport. It has been a crazy weekend with so many fans and close people
around me who came to support me; we are not in Holland but it kind of
feel like it, without them I would have feel very lonely.”
This second MX2 World Title seems like it has been an easy one for
Jeffrey Herlings, but the Dutch rider has had many ups and downs during
the whole season, suffering heavy crashes in the qualifying heats and
during his training sessions. However, Herlings has managed to win every
single Grand Prix, he has won twenty-six out of the twenty-eight heats –
he was the second best MX2 rider in the Super Final in Brazil and third
in the first race in Sweden – he has obtained seventh pole positions
and there are still three Grand Prix to go until the end of the season.
Jeffrey was very happy to obtain his second FIM MX2 World Title and he
explained that he was also very happy for his team and sponsors who
supported him during the whole season. However, he also explained that
it felt completely different from last year’s:
"It is totally different; last year I had to work really hard to win the
Title because Tommy (Searle) was really good and I really had to fight
hard. I had a lot of ups and downs, so it was a very emotional Title the
one of last year. This season it was easier after winning all the Grand
Prix, I missed only two race victories, but I must say that the
competition was very strong, as there are also very good riders this
year in the MX2 class.”
In fact, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings will not take it
easy from now onwards, as he still wants to fulfil one of his main
goals of the season, which is winning every single Grand Prix.
"I hope to win the last three MX2 Grand Prix and set another record, as
nobody in the History has won all the Grand Prix. I’m also ready for the
Motocross of Nations at Teutschenthal where I will have the opportunity
to race against the Americans and of course also with Tony (Cairoli).”
With this MX2 World Title, Jeffrey Herlings has contributed again to
KTM’s win streak in the MX2 class and the manufacturer has now
celebrated six FIM MX2 world titles in a row since Tyla Rattray was
victorious in 2008.
This is a birds' eye view of Jeffrey Herlings taking his second FIM MX2 World Championship.