VOL. 55 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 18, 2018 P69
The tall and lanky
Herlings is not super
flashy on the bike
but he can certainly
do amazing things
on them. He uses his
strength and leverage
to his full advantage.
MXGP victory in Latvia. He claimed
six of the final seven rounds, and
opted to race at the final AMA Pro
National at Ironman, adding that
"overall" to his list.
Come 2018 and Herlings
maintained the run by amass-
ing all of his learning from seven
seasons in grand prix. Cairoli was
reigning champion and eyeing an
Everts-equaling 10th accolade.
The Dutchman knew it would take
something special to overthrow
the Sicilian. Cairoli, nine years
Herlings' senior, had climbed
back to the top of the MXGP tree
after two injury-perturbed years.
At the opening round and through
the volcanic earth of Neuquen in
Argentina, the duo set about pro-
viding a race for the ages. Cairoli
claimed the first moto, Herlings
the second and thus the overall. It
was the manner of the victory that
had many wondering if the sym-
bolic torch had been passed from
one "great" to another-in-the-mak-
ing. Herlings closed a nine-sec-
ond gap in nine laps to overtake
the champ on the final circulation
to conquer. They would clash
in Great Britain and Indonesia
later in the year in incidents that
caused KTM management to
watch through their fingers but
that first swashbuckle in Argentina
set the tone for Herlings.
When asked in the Neuquen
post-race press conference how
he'd managed to shrink the mar-
gin to a baffled Cairoli, Herlings
replied, "I burned a lot of 'fuel' in
that second moto, especially try-
ing to get up to second position,
but I felt I had more to keep go-
ing. I was in a good zone and felt
comfortable. I was closing in and
got some confidence, closed in
again and got some more. It was
a good day."
Cairoli could only remark: "Why
don't you ask me how I lost nine
seconds in nine laps?"
By round five in Portugal and
after two more wins to Cairoli's
one, Herlings' KTM crew had fit-
ted a custom-made rpm indicator
to the top of the 450 SX-F fender.
"He had a bit of a tendency to run
away with the revs when all the
other bikes were blasting away
