HERLINGS,
COVINGTON
TOP
MXGP OF
TURKEY
R
ed Bull KTM Factory Racing's
Jeffrey Herlings (1-1) con-
tinues on a roll towards his first
MXGP World Championship title
at the MXGP of Turkey, Septem-
ber 1-2. It was his 15th overall win
of the season, 13th double win of
the year, and the 29th moto win
of the year. And in MX2, Ameri-
can Thomas Covington (Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna) grabbed his
first overall victory of the year and
the fourth of his career.
Herlings won both MXGP mo-
tos. He cruised to victory in the
first moto, taking the checkered
flag by more than 25 seconds
ahead of his teammate and de-
fending champion Antonio Cai-
roli, who finished four seconds
ahead of another former cham-
pion Tim Gajser (Honda HRC).
Clement Desalle (Kawasaki) and
Jeremy Van Horebeek (Yamaha)
rounded out the top five.
In moto two, Herlings didn't
have it quite so easily. Gajser put
on a late-race charge that car-
ried him up to leader Herlings.
Gajser challenged Herlings for
a bit, but Herlings responded by
upping his pace and eventually
took the moto win by just four
seconds.
Herlings and Gajser pulled
well clear of third-place Desalle,
who was followed across the
finish line by Gautier Paulin
(Husqvarna) and Jeremy Seewer
(Yamaha).
The top five overall finishing
order was Herlings, Gajser, De-
salle, Paulin and Van Horebeek.
Cairoli crashed after tangling
with a fallen rider early in the
moto and could finish no higher
than 15th.
Championship contender
Romain Febvre (Yamaha) did not
compete. The Frenchman went
down during Saturday's qualify-
ing and suffered a concussion,
ending his weekend prematurely.
Herlings now leads Cairoli by
95 points in the championship
and will most likely sew it up at
the next round.
In MX2, Covington won the
first moto and was hoping to
make it a 1-1 sweep, but a high-
speed front-wheel washout
ended that idea. Fortunately a
1-3 on the day was good enough
for his first overall victory of the
season.
"I got off to two good starts
in the races here and I saw the
opportunity to win, then just tried
to hang on to it," Covington said.
IN
THE
WIND
P36
American Thomas Covington
captured his first MX2 overall win of
the season in Turkey.
