Jeffrey Herlings Interview

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings - The Flying Dutchman - controlled both Motos going 1-1 to extend his already sizable points lead.

Having won 14 of the 16 motos this year he now leads Tonus by 45 points and despite missing the Grand Prix of Brazil because of injury, is clearly the man to beat in the MX2 class.

"I am feeling good now, after all the injury problems at the start of the season. I wouldn’t say I am 100%, but closer than I was, and the riding is going well. Last weekend in France it was fun to race, because it is a nice circuit, but it wasn’t a circuit for passing and I needed good starts. It isn’t one of my favourite circuits, that’s for sure, but still a nice circuit.”

Despite riding a circuit that isn’t his favourite Herlings totally controlled the action, winning the first moto by a large margin (19 seconds) and then fighting off a challenge from Arnaud Tonus in the second moto before getting away from the rider from Switzerland and winning by nearly nine seconds.

"It was pretty good to win in France. From all the races I have raced in the last couple of years I have pretty much won everything, and it is cool to keep that undefeated thing going on. It was cool, we improved all weekend long. It is a tough track for a Dutch rider because we don’t ride tracks like this. We had good starts, three good starts and that was important, it was fun and we had a good weekend. I am proud of how we did.”

One of the things Herlings did well in France was take the starts. In both moto’s he had the lead from the opening moments of the races, which made his job a lot easier on a circuit that didn’t allow too much passing.

"Since I stopped practicing starts I get better starts. I think it was in my head, thinking about where I need to sit on the bike, do I need to lean more to the front or the back, trying to start like Butron, but then I stopped doing that and just lined up on the start and since then it’s getting better and better.”

He did however have to fight off the challenge of Tonus in the second moto and while the Kawasaki rider looked strong early Herlings was able to slowly move away from him.

"The second moto I had a good start and Arnaud was in second and pressuring me. I wasn’t riding that well, I was struggling, then after 15 minutes I got into my rhythm and got going. The watering of the track was good today.”

Now onto Maggiora, another circuit that Herlings doesn’t really enjoy, but on this current form it is going to be hard to beat the defending MX2 Champion as he runs for MX2 world title number three.