Herlings Delivers Another Master Class at Dutch Championships
OutdoorHub 03.18.12
Red Bull KTM rider Jeffrey Herlings was on the top of his game again on Sunday in the deep sand at the third round of the Dutch Championship in Heerde, overcoming difficult conditions to win both MX2 motos by a substantial margin.
KTM factory teammate Jeremy van Horebeek was second in the first moto and recovered from a crash to finish fifth in the second moto.
Herlings was already in form in the morning qualifying and was the fastest by three seconds from van Horebeek to set himself up well for the afternoon races on his favorite sandy surface. Conditions started to deteriorate in the first moto when rain made the track very heavy and restricted the riders’ vision. Jeffrey had gone out in normal goggles with no tear-offs and admitted he had difficulty seeing. “There was fog on the inside and mud on the outside so I really couldn’t see much at all,” he said.
Then in the second moto, Jeffrey was third going into the first corner when Jeremy van Horebeek went down right in front of him. “I had to slow right down so I didn’t hit him then I was back at about fifteenth place. But I got back in the race and started to close the gap and in the end I was able to take another win.” Despite the problems early in the race the Dutch teenager still finished one minute 38 seconds ahead of the second placed Joel Roelants. Van Horebeek recovered well to finish in fifth place in the second race.
Next week the riders will tackle the fourth round of the championship at Mill, a track that Herlings knows well as it is only 10 minutes from where he lives. He has been training hard in preparation for the opening GP in Valkenswaard on Easter Monday and is very motivated to tackle the challenges of the 2012 World Championships.
The third member of the Red Bull KTM factory trio, Jordi Tixier of France, is now back in training after his viral infection but did not race in Round 3 of the Dutch Championship. The MX2 factory team are using the national competition as part of their preparation for the World Championship series. Their MX1 team colleague Tony Cairoli is racing in the Italian National Championships but there was no round scheduled this week.
Results first moto
- Jeffrey Herlings, Netherlands, KTM
- Jeremy van Horebeek, Belgium, KTM
- Joel Roelants, Belgium, Kawasaki
- Christophe Charlier, France, Yamaha
- Michael Kras, Netherlands
Results second moto
- Jeffrey Herlings, Netherlands, KTM
- Joel Roelants, Belgium, Kawasaki
- Glenn Coldenhoff, Netherlands, KTM
- Jake Nichols, Britain, KTM
- Jeremy van Horebeek, Belgium KTM
