Interview: Geoff Meyer – Images: Ray Archer
Champions are made from winning titles, but legends are made from a little more than just that. Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings has been to hell and back with injuries and bad luck. Like the true champion he is he came back to the opening GP of the 2015 season and pulled off a 1-1 result for yet another GP victory.
Herlings had spent just a couple of weeks on the bike before Qatar and despite not having the same speed as in past years he did enough to take home the red plate. We caught up with Herlings and asked him about his injury problems and also his victory.
Jeffrey, can you explain how you felt after such a difficult period in your career?
The last 18 months have been so mentally tough, but we kept fighting and now we are up and running. I am way calmer now as a racer, because I don’t want to be in the hospital again. I got first in practice and then first in qualification, so we will see how it goes. We came from a long way away. I mean first time in my career I had so much bad luck, you know went through a lot of things and so many thing that we didn’t talk about. Two and a half weeks ago I rode the bike and I wasn’t sure how I would be here. Such a short time on the bike, so many surgeries and we are just so happy to be here and be healthy, that feels great.
Just a quick question about the MXGP class and all the hype. What is your opinion in the whole Villopoto versus Cairoli thing?
I am busy with my own class, but MXGP is so amazing. I mean Villopoto versus Cairoli is really hyped up. I couldn’t wait to see the first MXGP race in Qatar. When you have such a great rider like Villopoto and having the two fastest riders on the planet racing against each other that is pretty special. I mean we all know about Antonio, but Ryan coming over here as the top AMA guy, we never get that so for sure it’s special. I don’t mind the MX2 class being under the radar.
Jeffrey showed a lot of emotion after his 1-1 in Qatar. Check out his post-race video below to see it.
You had a tough time with Dylan Ferrandis this weekend didn’t you?
Dylan (Ferrandis) was riding really well, but I didn’t want to blow myself out and I knew I had to do two 35 minute moto’s. I thought I needed to back off at one point, and let Dylan go, and he did a double jump and I didn’t see that coming and he passed me and then pulled away. I kept riding my own pace then closed the gap and overtook him. Again second moto we both had a good jump at the gate, I got to the front and just controlled the race. The last laps I got pretty emotional.
You were very emotional after you second moto win and scoring the GP victory. Tell us what brought that on?
I have been in hospital a lot and so much bad luck and I didn’t expect to win and I was training and struggling with my leg. Finally have some luck and I’ve had like 43 GP wins or something but this one was special, not special because I was riding well, because I wasn’t riding that great.
How did you pull up with your body after the weekend?
It is sore already, we hardly had time to do two times 25 minute moto’s to prepare for Qatar, and after my first practice I woke up the next day and felt like a train had ridden over me. I was so stiff, but we did some riding in Spain, hard pack and easy tracks. I will go home and ride a lot, I have only been riding for a couple of week, but between Qatar and Thailand there will be a lot of 20 minute moto’s going down.
What did you think of the circuit? Obviously some MX2 guys crashed pretty hard in that step-up section.
A lot of people did that step-up thing. I didn’t jump it, some people did. I mean after all my injuries I just rolled it. Sure the track was tough, I had three good starts and didn’t take too many chances. It is a little difficult to pass here, but some tracks are ok. For one rider the track is good for one rider the track is bad, but this is the track and you just have to adapt.
