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/1063250
VOL. 55 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 18, 2018 P173 overdue move to the premier MXGP class in 2017, and he reeled off six wins and took second in the championship behind seasoned veteran Anto- nio Cairoli, his teammate at Red Bull KTM. And no one was at all surprised by how well he did in his rookie season; in fact, it was pretty much expected. With a year under his belt in the MXGP class, many predicted Herlings would win the title in 2018, and those predictions turned out to be right on the money. Not only did he win the championship he simply blew ev- eryone away! The way he could pass guys like Cairoli, Desalle, Febvre, Paulin, Gajser, Colden- hoff, etc.—some of the best MX racers in the world—seemingly at will was incredible. He won 33 out of 38 motos that he com- peted in. And don't forget that he broke his collarbone just past the halfway point of the season, sat out one round and gave up 50 points to his closest rival in the championship, Cairoli, yet he still clinched the 2018 MXGP title with three motos to spare! That's Rider of the Year material to us. But it wasn't a clean sweep among voters in the CN of- fice. We had one standout who argued that MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez should be this year's CN Rider of the Year. This person had a valid argument, without question, and we dis- cussed it thoroughly, but votes are votes. And we all know how that goes sometimes. There were other deserving racers in the conversation, as well. We talked about Jared Mees being our second-ever back-to-back CN Rider of the Year recipient but the AFT Twins champ, Mees, faltered a bit at the end of the year. (In case you are wondering, Ricky Carmichael was the first back- to-back winner in 2001-'02, but this does not include the "Phan- tom Duck of the Desert," Louis McKey, who won the Cycle News West ROY several times in a row in the '70s when we let our readers chose Mr./Ms. ROY. McKey was recognized for his accomplishments more off the track than on.) We also briefly chatted about 450MX National Champion Eli Tomac—just those jaw-dropping come-from-behind wins alone were enough for him to be con- sidered our rider of the year! But remember who beat Tomac in his own backyard at the MXoN? Supercross Champion Jason Anderson's name was thrown into the mix but his 2018 season was cut short by injury, unfortunately, through no fault of his own—but we're talking Herlings here. And what about Cameron Beaubier? Yes, his name came up as well after reclaiming the MotoAmerica Superbike Cham- pionship despite getting off to a rough start. Still, Herlings. Even Ryan Sipes was men- tioned for his versatility. He represented the U.S. on the World Trophy Team at the ISDE and Puerto Rico at the MX of Nations, grabbed a top-10 finish in GNCC and even won an AFT TT race in the Singles class. And the AMA recognized him as this year's AMA Athlete of the Year. Impressive stuff, for sure. Again, we're talking Herlings here. So, there you have it—Jef- frey Herlings our 2018 Cycle News Rider of the Year. He is someone who we think is well deserving of the title and who will probably be in the running again for many years to come. Who knows, maybe he'll be the second-ever back-to-back CN ROY winner. Switching gears a bit, you might have noticed that this is our signature issue number-50, which signifies our final issue of the year. The magazine returns on January 7, 2019, and will have our coverage of the open- ing round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series from Anaheim, and more interviews with champs, including new AMA Hare & Hound Champion Kendall Norman, and our first riding impression of the 2019 Ducati Panigale VR R. These are just a few of the cool things that you can still expect to see from us in the year to come. Braaaap! CN