Herlings Back On Top In France
J
effrey Herlings hurled him-
self back into the MXGP
Championship points lead after
a hard-fought win at the MXGP
of France at LaCapelle-Marival,
October 10, round 12 of 18 of
the FIM Motocross Grand Prix
Championship.
Urged on by the home crowd,
Monster Energy Kawasaki's
Roman Febvre charged past
the Dutchman, Herlings, in the
first moto to take the lead, and
then he barely held off the Red
Bull KTM rider to take the excit-
ing first-moto win, much to the
delight of the French crowd.
After getting around early
leader Antonio Cairoli in the sec-
ond MXGP moto, it was another
Herlings/Febvre duel for the win,
and this time it went Herlings'
way.
Febvre led much of the race
but couldn't shake Herlings, who
eventually got around Febvre and
inched away for the moto and
overall win.
The victory moved Herlings
back into the championship lead.
Both Herlings and Febvre surged
ahead of now former points
leader Tim Gajser (Honda HRC),
who went 6-3 on the day for third
overall.
Herlings, Febvre and Gajser,
1-2-3 in the championship, are
covered by just 10 points. Her-
lings leads Febvre by six points
with Gajser another four points
back.
"A pretty good day," Herlings
said. "I already knew this morning
that Romain would be good here
and I had to step up my game.
The setup I had for the first moto
was pretty hard and there were a
lot of off-cambers; I was strug-
gling with some arm-pump. Ro-
main made a pass and I had to let
him go. At the end of the moto, I
tried to close him back, but I was
just a bit too late. He won fair and
square. I had another good start
in the second moto and tried
to pull away, but it was tough. I
entered a turn too hard and just
IN
THE
WIND
P54
Jeffrey Herlings is the
MXGP points leader once
again after going 2-1 at
the MXGP of France.
PHOTOS: RAY ARCHER
