Jeffrey Herlings | Modest Expectations For MXGP Return

INSTAGRAM | @jeffrey_herlings84

2019 MXGP OF RUSSIA | COMPLETE COVERAGE

After months of anticipation and even discussions of a summer spent in America that ultimately did not come to be, Jeffrey Herlings is set to line up for his first race of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross World Championship this weekend at the 2019 MXGP of Russia. The last five months have been a difficult time for the defending MXGP champion, as he suffered a complex foot injury during preseason testing in Spain that required surgery and a lengthy recovery, which sidelined him for the first seven rounds of the international series. Three weeks ago Herlings was cleared to resume riding and last week lined up for a round of the Dutch Masters series in the Netherlands and a stop of the ADAC MX Masters series in Austria, two events that helped him gauge his speed ahead of a return to the international championship.

Positive and negative points can be drawn from Herlings’ participation at the Dutch and Austrian events. During the morning qualifying session in Rhenen on Thursday (it was a national holiday in Holland) he logged the fastest single lap time of the class, which was almost two full seconds faster than anyone else in the field, and claimed the win in Moto One. The lack of recent riding seemed to catch up with him in Moto Two, though, and the fourth-place result (behind Romain Febvre, Arminas Jasikonis, and Pauls Jonass) put him third overall on the day. A similar outcome occurred on Sunday in Möggers, as Herlings was second-quickest to Jeremy Seewer in the morning qualifying laps (Herlings was roughly a half-second slower), and then went 2-2 in the motos for second place overall while Seewer swept the day and claimed the win. A positive point was that Herlings had the fastest lap of the second moto, but like at Rhenen, stated that his lack of recent riding led to a tight feeling on the bike and a general lack of pace.

Which leads us to the upcoming race in Russia, where the eighth round of the series will take place on a hard pack track near the coast of the Black Sea. In Red Bull KTM’s Wednesday announcement that Herlings would line up, both the rider and Team Manager Dirk Gruebel made it clear that their intentions were to get through the weekend without issue and will use it as a chance to ease into the series. “I’ll be going to Russia with a different mindset to usual. It will be the first of three races in a row and those will be important weeks to build-up race-rhythm for the rest of the season. I did two national events and my speed was there but I was struggling with the normal things you get on the way back from injury: arm-pump and running with other riders again,” explained Herlings. “I’ll do my best of course and I’ll be happy with something between 5-10 but we have to keep realistic.”

Gruebel echoed that feeling by saying, “It almost goes without saying that we cannot wait to have Jeffrey back as part of the team and to be full strength for the first time this season. We’ll have to take it easy in Russia and let him just find his speed and place back in the MXGP pack. The rest of the guys have almost half a season of racing under their belt so Jeffrey is going to need to find his bearings and then try to improve and keep patient. It feels like a long time since his unfortunate injury at the beginning of the year but I’m sure many MXGP fans will be interested to see him battling for top positions again.”

After the Russian round is out of the way, the series shifts to the sandier track of Zelta Zirgs in Latvia and that is where Herlings feels he could be further up the running order.