The 2018 FIM Motocross World Championship pitches camp at Agueda this weekend for the MXGP of Portugal with Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) looking to keep the momentum rolling after his double win at the fourth round in Italy on Sunday.
Tied on points with his team-mate and defending champion Tony Cairoli after three rounds, the 23-year-old Dutchman finally got his starts dialled last time out in Pietramurata and broke clear to open up a 10-point lead.
In his rookie MXGP season last year Herlings tied on points with Cairoli at Agueda but the Italian’s second race win earned him the overall decision on a tie-break. This season – if he can maintain his new-found lightning-fast starts – then Herlings has to start a firm favourite.
Belgian Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki) picked up the pace in Italy to take second overall and should be in contention for his fourth podium finish of the season. You also can’t discount the French pairing of Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Gautier Paulin (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) who currently sit fourth and fifth in the points table or Slovenian Tim Gajser (Team HRC) who’s improved at every round since his comeback from injury.
The hard-packed circuit with its distinctive red soil, numerous changes in elevation and big jumps is flat-out fast when it’s dry but can become a heavily-rutted, almost impassable mud hole in the wet and heavy rain is forecast for race day.
Mud is a great leveller and could open the door for a surprise winner as we saw in Indonesia in 2017 when Scottish star Shaun Simpson (Wilvo Yamaha) won. Leading Brit Simpson heads to Portugal looking to put in two solid races and it’s hoped a battered and bruised Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) will back in action after he withdrew from racing in Italy but Tommy Searle (Bike It DRT Kawasaki) is confirmed as a non-starter as he continues his recovery from a broken collarbone sustained at round two.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme Irwin (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) completes the UK contingent in MXGP and will be looking for two solid scores as he continues to find his feet in his debut season in the premier class.
Despite faltering in Italy where bad starts and crashes dropped him down the order, Latvia’s Pauls Jonass (Red Bull KTM) still holds a 28-point lead in MX2 but his Spanish team-mate Jorge Prado finally ended the defending champion’s six-race win-streak in the opening moto in Pietramurata.
Prado has to be considered a contender for the overall. His slender stature gives him a great power-to-weight ratio out of the gate and he’s growing in confidence in every race since dropping a bunch of points at the series opener in Argentina.
Denmark’s Thomas Kjer Olsen (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) lost second place in the championship after a crash-fuelled final moto in Italy and will be looking to make amends and his American team-mate Thomas Covington, who won that second race, will head to Portugal having proved he can do the business.
Brits Ben Watson (Kemea Yamaha) and Conrad Mewse (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) sit fourth and fifth in the title race and Adam Sterry F&H Kawasaki) is 15th but all three need to start stringing two good races together.
Agueda also hosts the second rounds of the EMX250 and WMX championships.
British hopes in EMX250 currently rest with 2012 champion Mel Pocock (REVO Husqvarna UK) and his team-mate Martin Barr who hold third and fourth. We saw at the opening round in Spain that both have the speed to take race wins but, again, they need two solid scores to stay in contention. Steven Clarke (Carglass Honda) won the title in 2014 and currently sits sixth.
In the women’s class Northern Ireland’s Natalie Kane (Honda) is seventh.