Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1019648
IN THE WIND P28 HERLINGS, PRADO PAD POINTS LEAD IN BULGARIA T he FIM Motocross World Championship's 17th round took place Sunday, August 25-26, on the hillsides of Sevlievo for the 2018 MXGP of Bulgaria. With three rounds remaining in the championship, Red Bull KTM Fac- tory Racing's Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado extended their cur- rent points leads with overall wins in MXGP and MX2, respectively. Herlings again was untouchable in the MXGP class. Once he got around Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) after just the first couple of turns, that was all he wrote, as Herlings stretched out his lead almost every lap. The Dutchman would take the checkered flag leading the way 15.942 seconds ahead of Gajser, who was well clear of third- place Clement Desalle (Kawasaki), and Romain Febvre (Yam). Gautier Paulin (Husqvarna) rounded out the top five. Even defending champ Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM), eighth in the first moto, couldn't do anything about his teammate Herlings. Cairoli grabbed the holeshot in the second moto but even he couldn't make it a full lap before Herlings shot past him into the lead. Herlings sprinted away and took the win 14-plus seconds ahead of Cairoli. It was Herlings 12 th double-moto win of the year and 14 th of the season. Gajser was third in the moto, which combined with his first-moto second-place have him second overall on the day. Desalle was fourth in the moto, which gave the Belgian third overall and a spot on the podium. Febvre was fifth in the moto for fifth overall. Cairoli claimed fourth overall with 8-2 moto scores. Herlings has a comfortable 73-point lead in the championship over Cairoli with two rounds to go. In MX2, Prado extended his championship lead over his Red Bull KTM teammate Pauls Jonass by a couple of points, despite Jonass taking the first-moto win. In the second moto, Jonass suffered a nasty crash while running in second and chasing Prado. Prado went on to win the moto, while Jonass recovered for third. Prado (2-1) and Jonass (1-3) ended up going 1-2 for the overall, while Australian Hunter Lawrence (Honda) claimed third overall with a 5-3. American Thomas Covington (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), who won Saturday's qualifying moto, finished seventh overall with a 4-11. Championship leader Prado now has a 30-point cushion over Jonass, 739-709. Denmark's Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna), fourth overall in Bulgaria, is third in the championship, 154 points behind Jonass. CN MXGP 1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 1-1 2. Tim Gajser (Hon) 2-3 3. Clement Desalle (Kaw) 3-4 4. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 8-2 5. Romain Febvre (Yam) 4-5 MX2 1. Jorge Prado (KTM) 2-1 2. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 1-3 3. Hunter Lawrence (Hon) 5-2 4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Hus) 3-5 5. Ben Watson (Yam) 6-4 7. Thomas Covington (Hus) 4-11 Jeffrey Herlings pulled off his 12 th double-moto victory of the season at the MXGP of Bulgaria. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ARCHER