Prado Clinches MX2 Title In Sweden
R
ound 16 of the 2019 FIM Mo-
tocross World Championship
played out in Uddevalla, Sweden,
August 14-25, for the MXGP of Swe-
den, where Jorge Prado clinched
the MX2 Championship. It was his
second-straight MX2 title.
On the day, however, Glenn
Coldenhoff captured his second
consecutive MXGP victory, while
Tom Vialle captured his first ca-
reer victory in MX2.
The MXGP of Sweden saw the
return of 2018 MXGP Champion
Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM).
The Ducthman has been dealing
with an ankle injury since be-
fore the start of the 2019 MXGP
campaign. He made a late deci-
sion to attempt to race with a
view towards extra race time and
mileage as part of the recovery
process from a fractured right
ankle. Herlings just started riding
again a couple of weeks before
the race and made the call to use
Uddevalla as a chance for more
conditioning.
Herlings won his qualifying race
on Saturday and then proceeded
to lead most of the first MXGP
moto until he tired with arm-pump,
and a small crash led to another
rider hitting his bike. He had to
retire due to the damage. In the
second moto, he found a more
effective rhythm to take a solid
fourth.
"The problem was that I took
the holeshot!" Herlings said.
"Yesterday [leading] was fine for
20 minutes, but in the first moto,
I was really struggling with arm-
pump. We made some changes
to the bike to have the suspension
a bit softer because I was not
at my normal pace. I led for the
first 20 and then couldn't hold on
so well and had a small tip-over.
Another rider hit my bike and dam-
aged it pretty bad, so I couldn't
finish, which was a shame be-
cause I think I could have been
fifth-sixth. In the second moto, I
didn't get a holeshot: which was
pretty good because I don't feel
comfortable leading yet. I was
around eighth and worked my
way up to fourth. Together with
first yesterday, it hasn't been bad
practice for less than two weeks
on the bike. We can still work for
a few more races until the ultimate
IN
THE
WIND
P32
Jorge Prado celebrates
his second consecutive
MX2 Championship in
Sweden. PHOTOS: RAY ARCHER
