VOL. 53 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 17, 2016 P81
of 20,000 Dutch fans, including
many more friends and family,
but the title was the goal and he
can now move into the MXGP
class as champion.
First, though, he had the small
matter of trying to wrap up the
overall against Webb and For-
kner who were trying all out to
stop him from winning on Ameri-
can soil. Before the race For-
kner had made it clear his goal
was to beat Herlings, and Webb
certainly wasn't about to let his
250-career end in a "failure" in
front of his home crowd.
Once again, Forkner ripped
the holeshot with Herlings in
second and Webb buried in
the depleted MX2 field. It didn't
take him too long to slice his
way through, but by that stage
Forkner was well clear and look-
ing pretty good out front. Gradu-
ally as the race wore on, Webb
closed in on Herlings, who was
closing in on Forkner as the dif-
ferent race styles became appar-
ent. Forkner had pushed early,
while Herlings was content to
let the race come to him, Webb
was in full-on attack mode.
With a few laps remaining,
Webb put in the fastest lap of
the race, closing right up and
passing Herlings, much to the
delight of the fans who were
really getting into the action.
Soon, Webb passed Forkner
and the crowd erupted again,
producing the same atmosphere
as we've seen at French or Italian
MXGPs recently. The euphoria
was matched by Webb himself
it allowed him to overtake both
riders after a drag race around
the sweeping first turn—a move
that was perfect for the NAS-
CAR fans in the stadium. He
pushed on and won the moto
before coming across the line
and celebrating his title success
with a small band of KTM staff.
He mentioned afterwards that
he would have preferred win-
ning the title last week in front
ship after missing out the last
two years with injury. To accom-
plish this, all he had to do was
finish in front of Jeremy Seewer
in the first moto, so when he
came around the first lap behind
Forkner and Webb, he could
very well have backed it up and
settled for the crown. Instead,
he continually pushed the two
Americans so that when For-
kner tipped it over in a corner,
