Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings extended his lead in the MXGP championship, and is now 23 points ahead of defending champion Antonio Cairoli. The three times World Motocross Champion finished second on Tuesday’s special weekday MXGP in Russia but could have easily claimed victory with a little luck.

His 3-1 result was his worst result at this level in a long time—the last round in 2017 he also went 3-1 but got the GP win—and that is saying something about how well he is riding at the moment.

Now heading into the next round in Latvia, Herlings will be looking at scoring that 72nd GP win and to move closer to his fourth world title. David Bulmer—our guy at the GP—spoke to “The Bullet”.

 

Can you explain your race for me?

Everyone knows how I got here, but once I got to the track I felt good. Good in timed practice, won the qualifying heat, took three good starts and that is important for me. Getting more control. The first moto we got third and that messed up our overall but to come back and get the holeshot in the second moto, I rode good and no mistakes. Tracks like this are not my favorite. I grew up in the sand and didn’t see a hard-pack until I was like 12 or 13. It’s one of the toughest tracks on the calendar—its like concrete. I am happy to go to Latvia in two weeks. It is one of my favorite tracks and I always enjoy going there. We did good for the championship and it’s still a long championship. 13 or 14 races to go, but we did good things for that and I am excited for the next one. I also want to congratulation Clement [Desalle]. He was the first guy to get between Tony and me, and he did a good job.

The speeds between the #25, #84 and #222 were tight in Russia.

You didn’t win, but it was still a great GP for you?

We improved here compared to last year, but we are still missing the win! It was a couple of important results for the championship and we gained more points. I couldn’t really find my rhythm in the first moto and couldn’t get by Tony and Desalle but made the holeshot and checked out in the second. 1-3-1 for the weekend is not bad at all. To be World Champion in this class you really need to be consistent so I am always looking to the podium. I think we have done a good job with that so far, and I’ve been in the top three every single moto.

 

Monday was complicated. Can you talk me through what happened?

I was meant to be early at the track. Normally I fly in Friday evening, but this time I was coming Friday morning. I had bad luck, because I lost my bags. We had a stop in Vienna to get to the local airport. The bags ended up at the wrong airport, and I had to fly there to get them because they wouldn’t send the bags unless I saw them. I had to pick them up myself so I flew there at like 10am then we drove to the race track and just made it for timed practice. I didn’t want to go out in free practice riding in somebody else’s gear. I won the qualification race, so it wasn’t too bad.

 

A lot of people feel the riders have too much track time, but did you feel like you missed something not riding the first practice?

I didn’t need it, but at this track it’s hard pack and slick and not my favorite. I was awake since 5am, and we had a long day, traveling all day. I was just knackered and then five hours in the car on Saturday and waiting for the bags, so I was just really tired. All the other guys had a good nights sleep and were all fired up and I was so tired out on the track. I did warm up and it was timed practice.

Jeffrey gets up on the pegs to force traction and use that traction to pull the holeshot in moto 2.

Because it insn’t your favorite track, and it is hard to pass, did you think about not winning, but just minimizing the mistakes and get whatever was possible?

I felt like this track is good for the start. Even if you qualify tenth, its still ok. Like Latvia, if you are not on the inside gate, it is already difficult to get into the first corner. I think the start in Russia was neutral and I didn’t want to stress myself.

 

Clement was quick. Tim Gasjer was quick, and Romain Febvre was quick. Did you expect this track would make them closer to you and Tony?

100%, but not just as this track. All three guys are talented and gifted. It was just a matter of time. Tony and I can’t always be one and two, so it was just a matter of time. From my point ,the main guy is Tony—Tim isn’t in the championship contention—and Romain [Febvre] is fourth of fifth but 70 or 80 points behind, so at this moment I just look at Tony, but we have a lot of races and anything can happen.

Photos by: Ray Archer

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.