MXGP: Jeffrey Herlings triumphs in Trentino

Jeffrey Herlings wins the Trentino GP and closes in on the championship leader.

MXGP: Jeffrey Herlings conquers Trentino

The Honda rider, who started Race 1 some 15 seconds behind, managed to overtake his title rivals and win the race, before almost repeating the feat in Race 2, finishing a whisker behind in second place, but still claiming the GP and moving to within just four points of the top of the Championship. After finishing ninth in Saturday’s qualifying, the Dutchman did not have the best starting position, which prevented him from tackling the tight first corner with the leading group. Number 84 therefore opted for the more difficult strategy, using creative lines and maintaining his momentum on the twisty Pietramurata circuit. At one point, whilst chasing the leading trio, he was four seconds faster than them, before overtaking them with equal ease and returning to victory. The second race looked set to be a carbon copy, but the time available to him to catch the leader had run out, forcing him to settle for second place, yet still securing overall victory and significantly reducing the gap in the Championship. Below are the rider’s comments.

Jeffrey Herlings:

“I need to work on my starts, but otherwise my pace was really good all weekend. I moved up from 15th to 1st in the first race and from 10th to 2nd in the second, here