Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) raced to maximum points at today’s MXGP of Trentino in Pietramurata – round four of the FIM Motocross World Championship – and in the process dished out a devastating double defeat to his team-mate and defending champion Tony Cairoli who failed to capitalise on his home advantage.
The Dutchman, locked together on points with the Italian nine-time world champ heading into Trentino, has struggled with his starts so far this season but he had them dialled on the rocky, technical track which featured numerous changes in elevation.
“I’m so grateful this weekend,” said Herlings. “The track was really tough to pass on so to pull it together now was pretty amazing. To come into the lion’s den and beat him at his home ground is pretty special – it’s an emotional win and I’m very thankful to everyone helping me out.”
After taking the holeshot in race one from France’s Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha) the result was a forgone conclusion as Herlings set the pace at the front while Cairoli started fifth behind Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Tim Gajser (Team HRC).
Desalle capitalised on a mistake from Febvre to move into second on the opening lap and the Belgian still had Herlings in sight after 10 minutes but the gap to Cairoli in fifth was already stretched out to 17 seconds.
Halfway through the 30-minute plus two lap race Herlings was still only one-and-a-half seconds ahead of Desalle as Cairoli honed in on Gajser before sticking a pass on the 2016 world champion in a corner crowded with the Slovenian’s travelling army of fans.
By this point he was too far adrift of Febvre to challenge for third while at the front Herlings clicked it up a gear to motor clear to win by five-and-a-half seconds.
Cairoli holeshot race two – his sixth from eight starts – but with Herlings on his shoulder the writing was on the wall and the younger man had clearly got inside the veteran’s head. Expecting Herlings to go wide and rail the berm through a right-hand turn, Cairoli looked over the wrong shoulder as he went to block and was ambushed by his rival who kept it tight and fired up the inside to take the lead.
Glenn Coldenhoff (Red Bull KTM) held an initial third but after 10 minutes Desalle swept by the Dutchman and five minutes later Herlings, who had maintained a one-and-a-half second advantage over Cairoli, began to pick up the pace around the numerous off-camber turns.
At the flag he was 20 seconds clear of Cairoli who was a further 11 seconds ahead of Desalle whose 2-3 card gave him second overall over the home hero’s 4-2. More importantly, heading into next weekend’s MXGP of Portugal the 23-year-old has the red series leader’s plate and enjoys a 10-point advantage.
Febvre finished the day in fourth overall after ending race two in seventh with Coldenhoff’s fourth in the final race combined with his seventh in race one good enough for fifth.
It was a tough day for UK hopes with Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – still beaten up from his Redsand crash a fortnight earlier – electing not to race leaving Shaun Simpson (Wilvo Yamaha) and Graeme Irwin (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) as our sole representatives in the premier class.
Simpson started the opening moto well and finished 11th but crashed in the opening turn of race two and couldn’t add to his score for 15th overall while Irwin failed to pick up any points in the opener with 21st before adding two to his total with 19th second time out to finish the day 22nd.
MXGP Trentino race two
1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 34:31.212 19 0:00.000 0:00.000 1:46.273 11 56.2
2 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 34:51.397 19 0:20.185 0:20.185 1:46.986 4 55.8
3 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 35:02.264 19 0:31.052 0:10.867 1:47.378 6 55.6
4 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 35:06.919 19 0:35.707 0:04.655 1:48.390 4 55.1
5 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Husqvarna 35:09.849 19 0:38.637 0:02.930 1:48.613 4 55
6 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 35:10.748 19 0:39.536 0:00.899 1:48.947 4 54.8
7 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 35:11.674 19 0:40.462 0:00.926 1:48.801 4 54.9
8 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 35:35.952 19 1:04.740 0:24.278 1:48.825 4 54.9
9 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MFR Suzuki 35:39.850 19 1:08.638 0:03.898 1:49.482 4 54.5
10 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Yamaha 35:40.838 19 1:09.626 0:00.988 1:48.767 3 54.9
11 141 Desprey, Maxime FRA FFM Kawasaki 35:42.185 19 1:10.973 0:01.347 1:48.709 4 54.9
12 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM KTM 35:43.301 19 1:12.089 0:01.116 1:48.693 4 54.9
13 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA FMI Kawasaki 35:48.709 19 1:17.497 0:05.408 1:49.109 4 54.7
14 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 35:53.776 19 1:22.564 0:05.067 1:49.916 6 54.3
15 33 Lieber, Julien BEL FMB Kawasaki 36:15.606 19 1:44.394 0:21.830 1:51.009 6 53.8
16 9 de Dycker, Ken BEL FMB KTM 34:32.588 18 1 lap 1 lap 1:51.270 7 53.7
17 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF Husqvarna 34:34.759 18 1 lap 0:02.171 1:52.431 12 53.1
18 920 Valentin, Ander ESP RFME Husqvarna 34:40.369 18 1 lap 0:05.610 1:53.041 3 52.8
19 55 Irwin, Graeme GBR MCUI KTM 34:57.292 18 1 lap 0:16.923 1:52.349 5 53.1
20 17 Butron, Jose ESP RFME KTM 35:01.146 18 1 lap 0:03.854 1:52.686 11 53
21 831 Wysocki, Tomasz POL PZM KTM 35:04.294 18 1 lap 0:03.148 1:53.183 4 52.7
22 62 Gercar, Klemen SLO AMZS Husqvarna 35:06.311 18 1 lap 0:02.017 1:52.572 4 53
23 152 Petrov, Petar BUL BMF Honda 35:15.196 18 1 lap 0:08.885 1:53.408 10 52.6
24 878 Pezzuto, Stefano ITA FMI Yamaha 35:31.146 18 1 lap 0:15.950 1:54.165 7 52.3
25 471 Tarasov, Volodymyr UKR FMU KTM 35:32.744 18 1 lap 0:01.598 1:53.701 5 52.5
26 85 Ekerold, Stefan GER DMSB KTM 35:52.259 18 1 lap 0:19.515 1:54.673 4 52.1
27 83 Renkens, Nathan BEL FMB Honda 35:55.691 18 1 lap 0:03.432 1:55.090 8 51.9
28 120 Zecchina, Simone ITA FMI Yamaha 36:05.578 18 1 lap 0:09.887 1:54.413 5 52.2
29 179 Poli, Joaquin ARG CAMOD Honda 36:09.542 18 1 lap 0:03.964 1:55.336 3 51.8
30 16 Recchia, Nicola ITA FMI Yamaha 36:14.061 18 1 lap 0:04.519 1:55.181 6 51.8
31 31 Crnkovic, Luka CRO HMS Honda 36:25.455 18 1 lap 0:11.394 1:56.592 7 51.2
32 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU Yamaha 36:56.845 18 1 lap 0:31.390 1:51.802 7 53.4
33 622 Di Marziantonio, Gianluca ITA FMI KTM 35:25.532 17 2 laps 1 lap 1:57.947 7 50.6
34 74 Muratori, Francesco ITA FMI KTM 36:01.097 17 2 laps 0:35.565 1:58.015 4 50.6
35 27 Jasikonis, Arminas LTU LMSF Honda 19:00.519 10 9 laps 7 laps 1:50.849 4 53.9
36 128 Monticelli, Ivo ITA FMI Yamaha 15:48.827 8 11 laps 2 laps 1:53.720 7 52.5
37 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB TM 8:16.696 4 15 laps 4 laps 1:54.624 3 52.1
38 15 Bonini, Davide ITA FMI KTM 0:16.921 0 19 laps 4 laps 0:00.000 0
MXGP Trentino race one
1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 34:45.091 19 0:00.000 0:00.000 1:47.542 5 55.5
2 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 34:50.719 19 0:05.628 0:05.628 1:47.422 5 55.6
3 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 34:57.928 19 0:12.837 0:07.209 1:47.816 5 55.4
4 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 35:12.372 19 0:27.281 0:14.444 1:47.726 8 55.4
5 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 35:16.568 19 0:31.477 0:04.196 1:48.536 3 55
6 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Husqvarna 35:27.948 19 0:42.857 0:11.380 1:49.501 4 54.5
7 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 35:31.848 19 0:46.757 0:03.900 1:50.110 10 54.2
8 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Yamaha 35:33.324 19 0:48.233 0:01.476 1:49.607 11 54.5
9 33 Lieber, Julien BEL FMB Kawasaki 35:40.201 19 0:55.110 0:06.877 1:49.977 6 54.3
10 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 35:41.140 19 0:56.049 0:00.939 1:50.358 7 54.1
11 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU Yamaha 35:50.701 19 1:05.610 0:09.561 1:50.240 6 54.2
12 141 Desprey, Maxime FRA FFM Kawasaki 35:51.913 19 1:06.822 0:01.212 1:50.218 6 54.2
13 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB TM 35:52.164 19 1:07.073 0:00.251 1:50.030 4 54.3
14 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA FMI Kawasaki 35:54.632 19 1:09.541 0:02.468 1:50.110 6 54.2
15 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MFR Suzuki 35:59.446 19 1:14.355 0:04.814 1:49.764 5 54.4
16 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF Husqvarna 36:04.699 19 1:19.608 0:05.253 1:50.445 9 54.1
17 27 Jasikonis, Arminas LTU LMSF Honda 36:05.638 19 1:20.547 0:00.939 1:50.046 9 54.3
18 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 36:06.499 19 1:21.408 0:00.861 1:51.385 5 53.6
19 128 Monticelli, Ivo ITA FMI Yamaha 36:22.966 19 1:37.875 0:16.467 1:51.290 7 53.6
20 152 Petrov, Petar BUL BMF Honda 36:34.009 19 1:48.918 0:11.043 1:52.321 6 53.2
21 55 Irwin, Graeme GBR MCUI KTM 36:38.129 19 1:53.038 0:04.120 1:52.022 5 53.3
22 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM KTM 34:38.044 18 1 lap 1 lap 1:50.067 5 54.2
23 878 Pezzuto, Stefano ITA FMI Yamaha 34:46.413 18 1 lap 0:08.369 1:52.653 5 53
24 17 Butron, Jose ESP RFME KTM 34:48.658 18 1 lap 0:02.245 1:52.650 6 53
25 920 Valentin, Ander ESP RFME Husqvarna 34:53.136 18 1 lap 0:04.478 1:53.573 16 52.6
26 831 Wysocki, Tomasz POL PZM KTM 35:14.039 18 1 lap 0:20.903 1:54.164 8 52.3
27 62 Gercar, Klemen SLO AMZS Husqvarna 35:22.377 18 1 lap 0:08.338 1:55.085 5 51.9
28 120 Zecchina, Simone ITA FMI Yamaha 35:31.024 18 1 lap 0:08.647 1:54.851 6 52
29 15 Bonini, Davide ITA FMI KTM 35:37.388 18 1 lap 0:06.364 1:53.736 4 52.5
30 85 Ekerold, Stefan GER DMSB KTM 35:44.659 18 1 lap 0:07.271 1:54.991 4 51.9
31 179 Poli, Joaquin ARG CAMOD Honda 35:45.466 18 1 lap 0:00.807 1:54.241 5 52.3
32 471 Tarasov, Volodymyr UKR FMU KTM 36:03.035 18 1 lap 0:17.569 1:55.996 16 51.5
33 16 Recchia, Nicola ITA FMI Yamaha 36:23.737 18 1 lap 0:20.702 1:55.127 6 51.9
34 31 Crnkovic, Luka CRO HMS Honda 36:45.784 18 1 lap 0:22.047 1:57.114 4 51
35 74 Muratori, Francesco ITA FMI KTM 36:14.742 17 2 laps 1 lap 1:57.554 4 50.8
36 83 Renkens, Nathan BEL FMB Honda 26:33.183 13 6 laps 4 laps 1:56.913 4 51.1
37 622 Di Marziantonio, Gianluca ITA FMI KTM 14:51.221 7 12 laps 6 laps 2:00.064 4 49.7
38 9 de Dycker, Ken BEL FMB KTM 0:15.912 0 19 laps 7 laps 0:00.000
