MXGP: Herlings Holds Off Seewer for Second Win in a Row

The MXGP World Championship was back in action at Faenza for the MXGP of Italy, and Jeffrey Herlings was looking to double up on moto wins for the day after being victorious in the first race.

It was Jorge Prado who took the holeshot and the early lead. In fact, the race took on a similar look to the first outing, with the three Red Bull KTMs at the front.

However, having been passed by Jeremy Seewer in the second turn, Antonio Cairoli made a mistake on the exit of the third turn and dropped back to seventh. 

Cairoli started to make progress after 10 minutes, picking off Tim Gajser for fifth place before setting about passing Gautier Paulin for fifth. However, the Frenchman made Cairoli’s job easier, catching his foot on a bank in the right hander before the step-down. 

Cairoli then set after the front three. Progress was slow for the Italian, but it was being made, and after Romain Febvre cleared Gajser the Italian seemed to be pushed on as he seemed to be by Seewer at the end of the first moto. 

Also helping the pack close up was the slowing pace of Jorge Prado, who seemed to be struggling for endurance again in the final five minutes. Eventually, with three minutes to go, the top five were almost completely together and, as in race one, on lap 13 Herlings took the lead from Prado. Soon after, Seewer found his way through, too, but not before Herlings had created a small advantage for himself. 

But it was not enough of an advantage for Herlings to be comfortable, and Seewer kept him honest until the end, even if he was not able to fashion an opportunity for himself to take the lead, meaning Herlings took his second win of the day and the overall with it, extending his lead in the championship to 60 points. 

A repeat of his second place in race one in the second outing confirmed a second place in the overall for Jeremy Seewer, as a second third place of the day confirmed third in the overall for Cairoli. On paper, a 1-1-, 2-2, 3-3 scorecard for each of the podium finishers makes the competition seem dull in MXGP this year, but that could not be further from the truth. With three minutes to go there were five riders with a chance of finishing on the podium or even fighting for the win. The sport is incredibly close this year, and even if the championship battle is not as close as it could be, the on-track fights are fierce every time the premier class riders go out on track. 

Romain Febvre finished the second race in fourth place, picking off Prado towards the end as the Spaniard tired. It was enough for fourth overall for the Frenchman who was much stronger in the second moto. 

Prado also lost out late on to Tim Gajser, who finished fifth for sixth overall, whilst Prado finished sixth for fifth overall. 

Having led so many laps over the course of the two races, it would be understandable if Prado felt disappointed, but the reality is that fitness will come for the #61, and it is easier for a Grand Prix rider to find than speed – there is no doubt that Prado has the speed. 

Seventh place in the second moto went to Mitch Evans, who went 9-7 for eighth overall, whilst Glenn Coldenhoff went 7-8 for seventh overall. Behind Coldenhoff in the second race was Arminas Jasikonis, going 10-9 for 10th overall, and beating Alessandro Lupino in the second race, the Italian rounding out the top 10 to ta ke 14th overall. 

Gautier Paulin’s recovery after his crash brought him back to 11th which was enough for ninth overall. Jeremy van Horebeek was behind Paulin in 12th, and the Dutchman finished ahead of Jordi Tixier, Henri Jacobi and Michele Cervellin who completed the top 15. 

Over the finish jump in 16th was Clement Desalle who clearly did not gel with the hard, undulating Monte Coralli circuit today as well as he did in 2012 when he finished on the overall podium. The Belgian was ahead of Ivo Monticelli, Dylan Walsh, Pascal Rauchenecker and Calvin Vlaanderen who completed the top 20.