The second location of the Motocross World Championship was Valkenswaard, Netherlands. In the MX2 class both races were dominated by the young Jefferey Herlings (KTM) of the Netherlands. He finished with a massive 37.4 second advantage over teammate Ken Roczen in the first race, and an 11 second margin in the second one.
Jeffrey couldn’t hide his satisfaction: “I’m very happy, I felt very comfortable on the bike and today I was the fastest guy out there on the track. And I’m pretty satisfied that I came away with two wins and it’s also good for the championship. Now I’m only eight points behind my teammate Kenny.” Meanwhile, Ken’s only satisfied by winning: “I did expect a bit more today but Jeffrey was going really fast and it was okay, also for the championship points.”
KTM riders also dominated the tricky, deep sands in the MX1 class. Tony Cairoli and Max Nagl were both riding 350 SX-Fs equipped with Akrapovič exhausts and occupied the podium after both races. In first moto Tony was fastest with Max third; in the second race Max won and Tony finished just behind him.
Tony Cairoli was happy with his result after injuring his knee in Bulgaria: “I am happy that this is the third time I have won in MX1 here but I did struggle a bit today. Normally this track is a lot of fun to ride but today I tried to be more careful with my injured knee and I tried not to put it on the ground so much. Today we could also close the gap in the championship points and I hope it’s not too long before we get the red plate back again.”
Max Nagl feels great on his new bike (in 2010 he rode a 450 SX-F), but as he said, he hadn’t been so confident in first race: “Then in the second heat I changed my strategy. I was leading after about 15 minutes so I was able to find my rhythm and find some nice lines on the track. That makes it easier.”
After two GP rounds, Nagl is second and only 5 points behind the leader, and Cairoli is fourth in the overall standings. The next race will be held on 15 May in the United States.
Photo: Archer R.