Febvre Wins; Herlings Makes History

Valkenswaard; Day 2 reports

maddix park mx

Valkenswaard GP: Monday race wrap up

 
Pic: Youthstream

Great MX2 battle in race two: In the second MX2 moto a fantastic scrap developed for third position. At one stage Tonkov had seven riders lined up behind him. It was an intense battle and made for some great viewing.

Unfortunately Petar Petrov went down and Brent Van Doninck had no were to go and couldn’t avoid the Bulgarian. However, Brent rode a great race to end up in fourth as he made a move on the impressive Vlannderen.

MXGP Race Two: The second MXGP race was one of the best moto’s I have ever watched. Certainly the best moto I have witnessed since the classic MX2 Searle and Herlings battle at Matterley Basin during the 2012 season. Cairoli looked to be in control of the race from Van Horebeek for the majority of the moto but World Champion, Romain Febvre had different ideas. With two laps to go Febvre managed to get past his team mate and set about going after Cairoli.

Romain put everything on the line to get it done, he set his quickest lap of the race on lap 13! He managed to catch and pass TC on the last lap. A phenomenal performance and it really is a big statement to do that at a track Cairoli loves so much. Cairoli shaked his head going over the finish line as he must be very frustrated!   Cairoli raised his speed once he seen Febvre coming and gave it his 100% all – something we rarely see as he loves controlling races. However, his 100% just wasn’t good enough to stop Febvre, Cairoli has a lot of work to do if he wants to win another MXGP world championship as he isn’t the man to beat anymore. Not to end up on the overall podium is a pretty big deal, he needs to find something soon!

MXGP Championship race: At this stage the MXGP Championship is pretty wide open. Tim Gajser answered a lot of questions this weekend with his fantastic performance in the sand. It could have been better too if his bike didn’t stall twice during the second moto. He is a genuine contender for this championship, no dounbt about it.

Max Nagl didn’t start the fly away GP’s in great form but he looks to be slowly but surely buidling his speed back up. He could be back in with a shout.

Romain Febvre takes the red plate with him to Argentina where he will hope to hang onto it for another round.

Herlings 50th GP win:  At just 21 years old, the amazing Jeffrey Herlings now has 50 GP wins to his name equalling Joel Robert’s tally. Jeffrey couldn’t have done it at a better place either, doing it front of his home crowd. I am sure he will remember this day forever, that is now seven GP wins from seven at the venue.  On another note, if KTM want the MXGP title back this guy might be the guy to do it – they should force him up to the class for 2017.

Article: Andy McKinstry

Pic: Youthstream

Event highlights  

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Herlings wins 50th!!!

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings has won his 50th Grand Prix with another stunning performance at the Grand Prix of Europe. The Dutchman also won his seventh GP at Valkenswaard in a row, and continues to make history.

With 1-1 results the two times world MX2 champion marks onto the next GP with a huge points lead in the championship after just three rounds.

Pauls Jonass took a quick lead in the opening MX2 moto, with Herlings second, Petrov third. Herlings quickly took the lead and after three laps it was Herlings, Jonass, Petrov, Seewer, Pootjes, Paturel, Cervellin, Van doninck, van der Vist, Oslund, Justs, Vlaanderen, Watson, Zaragoza and Tonkov in 20th place.

Due to a downpour of rain around lunch time, which saturated the circuit, the MX2 riders were  as much as 20 seconds a lap slower than yesterday.

After eight laps Herlings lead was 17 seconds from Jonass, next came Petrov, Seewer, Pootjes, Paturel, Van doninck, Cervellin, Ostlund, Watson, van der Vlist, Vlaanderen, Tonkov, Just and Larranaga in 15th place.

A race of little excitement continues as Herlings lead is now 31 seconds, Jonass holds a seven second lead over third placed Petrov, and then comes Seewer, Van doninck, Pootjes, Paturel, Ostlund, Watson, Cervellin, and Tonkov.

Max Anstie was back in 17th place, and his team-mate Covington in 21st place. In the end Anstie dropped to 19th place.

It was an uneventful race which Herlings owned from Jonass and Petrov.

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings has won his 50th Grand Prix with another stunning performance at the Grand Prix of Europe. The Dutchman also won his seventh GP at Valkenswaard in a row, and continues to make history.

Second MX2 moto and Herlings took the holeshot from Tonkov, Paturel, Jonass, Zaragoza, Vlaanderen, Ostlund, Justs, Seewer, Bernardini, Petrov, Cervellin, Watson, Brylyakov, and Verhaeghe in 15th.

After one lap the lead was four seconds, and after two laps the lead was eight seconds. The gap continued to open as on the third lap it was 12 seconds. The fastest sand rider in the world was making another statement in the sand.

Anstie was again in trouble as he continued his terrible weekend, crashing again, and holding down 34th place after two laps. Convington was also struggling in 37th place. Jonass moved into second and on lap five Herlings lead was 23 seconds.

Petrov was way back after a mistake and a massive battle went on between Tonkov, Vlaanderen and Paturel, all three locked together.

Seewer made his way into third place, and after 13 laps the lead by Herlings was more than a minute. He had lapped up to 12th place with a lap remaining in the moto.

Herlings wins his 50th GP win with a lead of one minute and 19 seconds over Jonass. Third was Seewer.

Febvre wins MXGP

Defending MXGP champion Romain Febvre has won the Grand Prix of Europe with 3-1 after an incredible ride in the second moto. The Frenchman caught and passed race leader Antonio Cairoli in what was more a battle of respect than anything else.

Febvre pulled up alongside Cairoli and made an amazing pass, the Italian tried to come back but nearly crashed, eventually finishing second.

Gajser took over the lead from holeshot artist Max Nagl in the opening moto of the MXGP class. On the opening lap it was Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Bengtsson, Cairoli, Desalle, Van Horebeek, Searle, Guillod, Leok, Lupino, Charlier, Butron, 15th. Well back were Coldenhoff in 17th place, Nicholls in 21st, Townley and Strijbos 22nd and 23rd, and Simpson back in 27th after a crash.

After one lap the lead by Gajser was nearly four seconds ahead of Febvre, who held a second over Nagl. Desalle is riding well in sixth place as he tries to keep an eye on Cairoli. Strijbos moved into 16th place, Townley 19th, Nicholls 21st and Simpson 22nd.

Gajser extended his lead to five seconds on lap two, but Febre looked determined and cut it back to three seconds a lap later. Searle is up to 8th place and riding well. Top ten after three laps is Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Cairoli, Desalle, Van Horebeek, Searle, Leok, Guillod.

Strijbos moves into 13th place, Townley 16th, Simpson 17th, and Nicholls is down in 22nd.

Febvre continues to close up on Gajser and is now just two seconds off the back wheel of the HRC rider. Nagl was six seconds back, Bobryshev 12 seconds, Cairoli 20 seconds.

The Frenchman is on it as he climbed all over Gajser, Nagl is also closing in on the two front men.

Febvre made a mistake and Gajser pulled away to an eight second lead. Nagl also made the most of the mistake and Febvre and the German rider came into a tough battle together. Top ten after eight laps was Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Cairoli, Van Horebeek, Searle, Desalle, Leok, and Strijbos. Simpson was up to 13th and Townley 14th.

After 10 laps the lead by Gajser was still around eight seconds, Nagl moved past Febvre and quickly pulled away from the Frenchman who seemed to be making a lot of small mistakes.

Van Horebeek passed Cairoli who just isn’t the same rider as in previous years. Is it his condition, or is his time just up as the best of the best?

With time running out Nagl made his charge, pulling up to just three seconds from Gajser, as Febvre dropped back even more from the top two.

Strijbos was up to 8th, Simpson 11th, Townley 14th, and Nicholls 17th.

Febvre crashed on the last lap and was struggling to get going again and drops 20 seconds on Gajser.

Gajser takes the win from Nagl, Febvre, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Strijbos, Cairoli, Searle, Desalle, Simpson, Leok, Guillod, Coldenhoff, Townley and Dewulf in 15th place.

Cairoli took the holeshot of the second MXGP moto ahead of Tim Gajser, then Febvre, Bengtsson, Desalle, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Coldenhoff, Searle, Simpson, Charlier, Lupino, Strijbos, Lenoir and Nagl in 15th place.

Gajser was quickly past Cairoli in the opening lap. At the end of the opening lap Febvre stalled his bike on and was passed by Van Horebeek.

Gajser then crashed and dropped back to sixth, and Febvre repassed Van Horebeek. Gajser and Desalle were in an intense battle, both looking out of shape. Simpson is flying as he moved into seventh place behind Gajser.

Townley is back in 19th place, and Nicholls 28th. Condenhoff have moved into fourth place and Febvre is right up on Cairoli. Febvre makes a mistake and goes down, making life a little easier for Cairoli.

Simpson slide over and lost a bunch of places as he struggled to get up, dropping back to 13thplace. The top ten after three laps was Cairoli, Van Horebeek, Febvre, Coldenhoff, Gajser, Nagl, Desalle, Bobryshev, Strijbos, and Searle.

Van Horebeek wasn’t letting Cairoli get away and Febvre despite being a little away from Van Horebeek was also staying rather close.

After six laps the lead by Cairoli was one second, from both Yamaha riders who had now began to battle eachother. Fourth placed Coldenhoff was four seconds back, and Gajser rounded out the top five six seconds back.

Cairoli starts to make a little gap now between himself and Van Horebeek, and on lap eight the lead was more than two seconds.

After 14 laps it’s Cairoli and Febvre were locked together in a huge battle. Febvre looked a little wild. But made a magnificent pass on the Italian, Cairoli tried to come back, but got out of shape and nearly crashed. Febvre wins the moto and the GP.

Not a good weekend for Ben Townley. After being ill during the week and unusually low in the qualifying, it was surprising to see him on the start line.  He was 14th in Race 1 and pulled out of Race 2 after 5 laps.

Despite his state,  the New Zealander somehow found the energy to reach fourteenth in the first moto before retiring from the second. “Just to give my best today was the plan,” he said. “The illness side had gone but the energy side from being in bed for four days was on the empty mark. The little I had in the tank I used it up today. It was a shame but I have never experienced anything like it. I couldn't feel my muscles and was just absolutely ruined; I feel like I have run two marathons.”

Mewse wins EMX250

British rider Conrad Mewse has won the opening round of the EMX250 championship. The 16-year-old dominated the opposition with 1-1 scores. EMX250 Race 2 is at 6 laps. Australian Hunter Lawrence came 2nd in race 1 and was leading in race 2 when he crashed, ending up 5th and then 4th overall.  Josiah Natzke was  20th in race 2. Outside of top 20 in race 1 and in the overall.

Results:

MXGP – Race 1 – Classification

1 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 34:41.033
2 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB Husqvarna 34:46.464
3 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 35:14.476
4 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL Honda 35:28.009
5 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 35:32.330
6 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB Suzuki 35:33.238
7 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 35:33.411
8 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kawasaki 35:41.419
9 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 35:51.697
10 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 35:55.802
11 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 35:59.442
12 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS Yamaha 36:01.100
13 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 36:07.387
14 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ Suzuki 37:07.344
15 212 Dewulf, Jeffrey BEL FMB KTM 34:44.717

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 

1 1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA YAM 34:55.696
2 2 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 35:00.852
3 3 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL YAM 35:08.133
4 4 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER HUS 35:10.196
5 5 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL SUZ 35:12.949
6 6 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS HON 35:20.861
7 7 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KTM 35:23.254
8 8 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 35:34.883
9 9 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM 35:48.946
10 10 100 Searle, Tommy GBR KAW 33:36.851 15

MXGP – Overall Classification

1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM YAM 20 25 45
2 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB HUS 22 18 40
3 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 25 13 38
4 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 14 22 36
5 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB YAM 16 20 36
6 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL HON 18 15 33
7 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB SUZ 15 16 31
8 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 11 12 23
9 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 8 14 22
10 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 10 9 19
11 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU KAW 13 3 16
12 151 Kullas, Harri EST EMF KTM 4 10 14
13 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS YAM 9 5 14
14 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB KAW 12 2 14
15 23 Charlier, Christophe FRA FFM HUS 0 11 11
16 37 Krestinov, Gert EST EMF HON 0 8 8
17 19 Philippaerts, David ITA FMI YAM 0 7 7
18 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ SUZ 7 0 7

 

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Classification

1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 35:12.127
2 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF KTM 36:03.023
3 152 Petrov, Petar BUL QMMF Kawasaki 36:19.295
4 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Suzuki 36:35.175
5 172 Van doninck, Brent BEL FMB Yamaha 36:38.181
6 46 Pootjes, Davy NED KNMV KTM 36:47.597
7 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM Yamaha 36:58.805
8 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU Husqvarna 37:19.916
9 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO Yamaha 37:22.577
10 59 Tonkov, Aleksandr RUS KNMV Yamaha 35:25.225

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Classification

1 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 35:17.872
2 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF KTM 36:37.783
3 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS Suzuki 36:43.276
4 172 Van doninck, Brent BEL FMB Yamaha 36:47.551
5 10 Vlaanderen, Calvin NED KNMV KTM 36:49.596
6 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM Yamaha 36:53.359
7 747 Cervellin, Michele ITA FMI Honda 37:12.705
8 321 Bernardini, Samuele ITA FMI TM 37:17.187
9 18 Brylyakov, Vsevolod RUS MFR Kawasaki 37:21.102
10 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO Yamaha 37:30.365

MX2 Championship Points

1 84 Herlings, J. NED KTM 150
2 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT KTM 112
3 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI SUZ 112
4 59 Tonkov, A. RUS YAM 91
5 172 Van doninck, B. BEL YAM 78
6 152 Petrov, Petar BUL KAW 76
7 6 Paturel, B. FRA YAM 75
8 321 Bernardini, S. ITA TM 60
9 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE YAM 60
10 18 Brylyakov, V. RUS KAW 59
Ray Archer image

EMX250 – Race 1 – Classification

1 426 Mewse, Conrad GBR ACU Husqvarna 30:13.460
2 96 Lawrence, Hunter AUS MA Kawasaki 30:15.949
3 61 Kjer Olsen, Thomas DEN DMU Husqvarna 30:43.629
4 24 Heibye, Even NOR NMF KTM 30:46.900
5 226 Lundgren, Anton SWE SVEMO Husqvarna 31:03.470
6 5 Wouts, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 31:08.049
7 457 Sanayei, Darian USA AMA Kawasaki 31:10.780
8 644 Kouwenberg, Nick NED KNMV Honda 31:13.267
9 411 Dercourt, Nicolas FRA FFM Kawasaki 31:13.836
10 80 Bengtson, Ken SWE SVEMO Yamaha 31:21.989

EMX250 – Race 2 – Classification

1 426 Mewse, Conrad GBR ACU Husqvarna 30:38.200
2 24 Heibye, Even NOR NMF KTM 30:41.407
3 61 Kjer Olsen, Thomas DEN DMU Husqvarna 30:44.789
4 98 Vaessen, Bas NED KNMV Suzuki 30:46.635
5 96 Lawrence, Hunter AUS MA Kawasaki 30:53.992
6 5 Wouts, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 31:08.254
7 226 Lundgren, Anton SWE SVEMO Husqvarna 31:17.058
8 644 Kouwenberg, Nick NED KNMV Honda 31:35.630
9 63 Klein Kromhof, Ceriel NED KNMV Honda 31:38.450
10 297 Gole, Anton SWE SVEMO Husqvarna 31:39.613
11 80 Bengtson, Ken SWE SVEMO Yamaha 31:41.234
12 457 Sanayei, Darian USA AMA Kawasaki 31:42.485
13 147 Sihvonen, Miro FIN SML KTM 31:46.550
14 411 Dercourt, Nicolas FRA FFM Kawasaki 31:48.509
15 101 Sabulis, Karlis LAT LAMSF Yamaha 31:58.023
16 9 Van der Mierden, Sven NED KNMV Husqvarna 32:00.429
17 70 Fernandez, Ruben ESP RFME Kawasaki 32:06.203
18 472 Meier, Glen DEN DMU KTM 32:12.194
19 83 Renkens, Nathan BEL FMB KTM 32:12.896
20 33 Natzke, Josiah NZL FMB KTM 32:14.041

EMX250 – Overall Classification

1 426 Mewse, Conrad GBR ACU HUS 25 25 50
2 24 Heibye, Even NOR NMF KTM 18 22 40
3 61 Kjer Olsen, Thomas DEN DMU HUS 20 20 40
4 96 Lawrence, Hunter AUS MA KAW 22 16 38
5 5 Wouts, Kevin BEL FMB KTM 15 15 30
6 226 Lundgren, Anton SWE SVEMO HUS 16 14 30
7 644 Kouwenberg, Nick NED KNMV HON 13 13 26
8 98 Vaessen, Bas NED KNMV SUZ 7 18 25
9 457 Sanayei, Darian USA AMA KAW 14 9 23
10 80 Bengtson, Ken SWE SVEMO YAM 11 10 21

 
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