Jeffrey Herlings rounds off an impressive season.

Jeffrey Herlings wins in Australia: the champion caps off a record-breaking season with a triumph

His third place in the qualifying race marked the first time since the twelfth round that he had failed to win a session, but he quickly made up for it by winning both of today’s heats in challenging races held in hot conditions at the Darwin circuit. In the first race, Herlings followed his team-mate Tom Vialle to the finish line, before quickly taking the lead. Despite being under pressure for much of the race, he controlled the proceedings and set himself up for another overall victory should he manage to replicate that performance in the second race. However, things did not go quite so well at the first corner, where a miscalculation saw him drop back to the middle of the pack in the early stages. A series of quick overtakes saw him move into second place by the end of the first lap, behind Vialle, who claimed another holeshot, thereby securing the award for the most holeshots of the season. As the laps went by, Herlings finally managed to take the lead, securing his eighth consecutive one-two finish and proving once again that he is the best rider in this year’s MXGP World Championship. Here are the rider’s comments.

Jeffrey Herlings:

“It’s been an incredible year: I’ve won the world championship, 13 GPs, 22 races – and all this with a new team. I think this year has been more skilful than my previous title wins. In the early races, there were times when I couldn’t keep up, and I accepted that. Sometimes you have to lose to win, and I think I’ve learnt that; now I’ve reaped the benefits because this run of eight consecutive GPs is a truly fantastic way to end the championship and a great reward for me and the whole team who have worked so hard.”