Winners
Wednesday 16 July: Red Bull KTM factory riders Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings are not letting up on their competition as they both strive to become Motocross World Champions in 2014. Geoff Meyer writes for Youthstream.
For Jeffrey Herlings the injury to CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy rider Arnaud
Tonus a few weeks ago, and poor form of the other Red Bull KTM Factory
rider Jordi Tixier in the early part of the season has meant his third
MX2 world championship could be wrapped up as early as Loket in two
weeks time.
"I am really excited for Loket now,” Herlings said. "I won the
championship there last year and hopefully I can wrap it up there. It
was a dream to win it at Lommel, it feels like my home GP because it’s
just an hour from my house, but it would be cool to wrap it up in two
weeks, hopefully, number three.”
As for the Hyvinkää circuit being too rough, it was never an issue
for Herlings despite many riders feeling the circuit was tricky and
really rough. Herlings enjoyed the whole experience and his 1-1 results
showed that.
"I am from Holland, so it wasn’t so tough, when you are from Italy
it’s a different story. When you grow up on these types of tracks it
isn’t difficult, we always had tracks like this and I felt it was pretty
flat and I wish it was more bumpy, but it was a good weekend.”
While Herlings might not have had too much trouble with the circuit,
his older and more experienced Red Bull KTM team-mate Antonio Cairoli
found the circuit one of the toughest this season.
"I think this track was one of the toughest we have had up until
now,” Cairoli said. "Really bumpy and technical. For me it was nice to
get the holeshot and I didn’t have to chase anyone. I have been working
on my starts and it’s working well.”
While Cairoli might not be wrapping up the MXGP title in Loket, it is
looking likely he will be crowned MXGP world champion as early as
Lommel in Belgium or in State of Goias in Brazil. His 65 point lead in
the MXGP series is more than enough for him to cruise through the Czech
Republic and Belgium rounds and then move onto Brazil for his own
celebrations.
One thing Cairoli isn’t worried about is what his rivals are doing
and he just wants to be consistent and be ready to score enough points
at each GP to end the season as the number one guy.
"I never really have a lot of pressure, the championship is getting
closer to the end and since I am healthy and I have no injuries, I have
time to make points. I am sorry for the other guys who got injured or
crashed. I always try and be there, that is important.”
So onto Loket in the Czech Republic in two weeks. A place both
red-plate holders don’t really enjoy, but will probably have something
to celebrate under the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team tent.