Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) finally produced a good start which he comfortably converted into a clear win in today’s qualification race at the MXGP of Trentino in Pietramurata.

The Dutchman started second behind his team-mate and defending MXGP champion Tony Cairoli. After a brief exchange of ignorance with the Italian – Cairoli squeezed him out in turn two only for Herlings to take the lead after returning the compliment in turn three – he then checked out to win by almost 23 seconds.

With the 20-minute plus two lap race determining the all-important gate choice for tomorrow’s two championship motos, Herlings has given himself every chance to break the deadlock with Cairoli who he’s currently tied on points with at the top of the standings.

“I almost got first into the turn but I was second and got past Tony first lap straight away,” said Herlings. “Man, if I could get those starts on an average basis I would be so happy but we keep working and you see it’s already getting better and better so hopefully tomorrow we can do that two times again but it will be difficult. The field is strong so we keep charging, keep trying to get better and work on those starts.”

Cheered on by his home fans, Cairoli stayed a safe second to come home seven seconds ahead of Belgian Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki) with Gautier Paulin (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) from France and Holland’s Glenn Coldenhoff (Red Bull KTM) rounding out the top five.

Former champ Tim Gajser (Team HRC) went down at the first turn but fought back from 38th to cross the line looking strong in 17th.

Best Brit was Shaun Simpson (Wilvo Yamaha) who came through to 12th after holding 17th on the opening lap but an off-form Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), still appearing to be suffering the after-effects of his warm-up crash in Spain a fortnight ago, never really got going and faded to 24th.

By contrast, Graeme Irwin (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) – buoyed on by his Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship round win last weekend – recovered from the same incident that claimed Gajser to fight his way up to 22nd at the flag.

MXGP Trentino qualifying race

1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 23:43.859 13 0:00.000 0:00.000 1:47.715 11 55.4

2 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 24:06.636 13 0:22.777 0:22.777 1:47.585 3 55.5
3 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 24:13.615 13 0:29.756 0:06.979 1:49.051 3 54.8
4 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Husqvarna 24:16.324 13 0:32.465 0:02.709 1:49.339 4 54.6
5 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 24:22.667 13 0:38.808 0:06.343 1:49.768 5 54.4
6 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 24:24.732 13 0:40.873 0:02.065 1:49.730 4 54.4
7 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 24:31.746 13 0:47.887 0:07.014 1:49.371 7 54.6
8 141 Desprey, Maxime FRA FFM Kawasaki 24:33.185 13 0:49.326 0:01.439 1:50.758 4 53.9
9 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Yamaha 24:33.820 13 0:49.961 0:00.635 1:50.340 4 54.1
10 33 Lieber, Julien BEL FMB Kawasaki 24:41.122 13 0:57.263 0:07.302 1:50.838 4 53.9
11 27 Jasikonis, Arminas LTU LMSF Honda 24:42.015 13 0:58.156 0:00.893 1:50.897 6 53.8
12 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU Yamaha 24:45.044 13 1:01.185 0:03.029 1:51.638 4 53.5
13 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM KTM 24:49.809 13 1:05.950 0:04.765 1:51.443 4 53.6
14 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MFR Suzuki 24:56.429 13 1:12.570 0:06.620 1:52.039 5 53.3
15 77 Lupino, Alessandro ITA FMI Kawasaki 24:57.065 13 1:13.206 0:00.636 1:51.001 6 53.8
16 9 de Dycker, Ken BEL FMB KTM 25:07.182 13 1:23.323 0:10.117 1:52.139 7 53.2
17 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 25:08.369 13 1:24.510 0:01.187 1:51.534 6 53.5
18 17 Butron, Jose ESP RFME KTM 25:15.787 13 1:31.928 0:07.418 1:53.396 6 52.7
19 152 Petrov, Petar BUL BMF Honda 25:17.073 13 1:33.214 0:01.286 1:53.520 6 52.6
20 878 Pezzuto, Stefano ITA FMI Yamaha 25:21.619 13 1:37.760 0:04.546 1:53.669 4 52.5
21 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB TM 25:22.646 13 1:38.787 0:01.027 1:53.088 3 52.8
22 55 Irwin, Graeme GBR MCUI KTM 25:23.325 13 1:39.466 0:00.679 1:52.537 10 53.1
23 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF Husqvarna 25:31.507 13 1:47.648 0:08.182 1:52.736 13 53
24 99 Anstie, Max GBR ACU Husqvarna 25:44.711 13 2:00.852 0:13.204 1:53.317 7 52.7
25 831 Wysocki, Tomasz POL PZM KTM 23:45.962 12 1 lap 1 lap 1:55.174 5 51.8
26 920 Valentin, Ander ESP RFME Husqvarna 23:52.769 12 1 lap 0:06.807 1:54.924 4 51.9
27 62 Gercar, Klemen SLO AMZS Husqvarna 23:55.297 12 1 lap 0:02.528 1:55.245 4 51.8
28 15 Bonini, Davide ITA FMI KTM 24:02.851 12 1 lap 0:07.554 1:55.430 6 51.7
29 85 Ekerold, Stefan GER DMSB KTM 24:19.081 12 1 lap 0:16.230 1:56.650 6 51.2
30 471 Tarasov, Volodymyr UKR FMU KTM 24:21.663 12 1 lap 0:02.582 1:56.834 4 51.1
31 16 Recchia, Nicola ITA FMI Yamaha 24:27.078 12 1 lap 0:05.415 1:57.578 8 50.8
32 120 Zecchina, Simone ITA FMI Yamaha 24:28.112 12 1 lap 0:01.034 1:55.965 3 51.5
33 128 Monticelli, Ivo ITA FMI Yamaha 24:28.813 12 1 lap 0:00.701 1:53.047 3 52.8
34 83 Renkens, Nathan BEL FMB Honda 24:43.341 12 1 lap 0:14.528 1:58.068 6 50.6
35 31 Crnkovic, Luka CRO HMS Honda 24:50.882 12 1 lap 0:07.541 1:59.021 6 50.2
36 74 Muratori, Francesco ITA FMI KTM 25:12.266 12 1 lap 0:21.384 1:58.781 3 50.3
37 179 Poli, Joaquin ARG CAMOD Honda 25:30.323 12 1 lap 0:18.057 1:57.650 5 50.7
38 622 Di Marziantonio, Gianluca ITA FMI KTM 24:36.986 7 6 laps 5 laps 1:59.075 2 50.1
39 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 6:11.606 3 10 laps 4 laps 1:54.322 3 52.2