Herlings, Renaux Top MXGP of Italy
R
ound six of the FIM Moto-
cross World Championship
played out in Faenza, Italy, Sep-
tember 6, with the MXGP of Italy,
where Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull
KTM) and first-time winner Max-
ime Renaux (Yamaha SM Action
M.C Migliori – J1 Racing) came
away with the big wins, Herlings
in MXGP and Renaux in MX2. For
Herlings, it was his 90th career
Grand Prix victory.
The 2018 MXGP Champion,
Herlings, won both motos af-
ter skirmishes with teammates
Antonio Cairoli and Jorge Prado,
defending champ Tim Gajser,
Kawasaki's Romain Febvre and
Yamaha's Jeremy Seewer, who
would go 2-2 for second overall.
Cairoli took third overall with a
3-3, and Romain Febvre fourth
overall with a 6-4. Prado ended up
rounding out the top five with a 4-6.
Crashes hindered Gajser's prog-
ress. He went 8-6 for sixth overall.
Herling is currently atop of
the MXGP leaderboard with 263
points, a full 60 points clear of his
KTM teammate Cairoli with 203
and Gajser with 196.
Herlings said, "In the first race
I almost got the holeshot, I just
went a bit wide but [Jorge] Prado
was really good in the beginning
and the roost hurt so it was hard
to overtake him as he was riding
the best lines. I felt like I could go
faster but I couldn't really pass.
Both races when I could sense
that he was tired that's the point
where I tried to overtake him in
both races and open a small gap
between me and Jeremy.
"In the second race, I overtook
him. The rest of the pack, like
Jeremy, were pretty quick so I
had to race to the finish line. The
speed of the top 10 is unbeliev-
ably fast, everybody is so close
to each other. I felt good all day,
I had two good starts, and two
race wins so was a good day in
the end. Starts are key and I will
keep working on them."
"In the first race I messed up
my start by myself as I went a
IN
THE
WIND
P48
Jeffrey Herlings won
both MXGP motos at
the GP of Italy.
PHOTO: RAY ARCHER
