IN
THE
WIND
P38
PAULIN, JONASS WIN MXGP OF EUROPE
A
s the teams and racers
gathered for round six of
the 2017 FIM World Motocross
Championship, set to take place
in the sand of Valkenswaard
in The Netherlands, fans and
pundits alike knew there could
be a slightly different group of
racers at the front of the pack in
both classes. Sand specialists
are a real thing, and the favorites
in each class had to be Red Bull
KTM's 16-year-old Jorge Prado
Garcia (MX2) and his teammate
Jeffrey Herlings (MXGP).
Herlings is Dutch, and Garcia
Spanish, but both know their
way around the sand. Add to
that the fact that Garcia just won
his first-ever MX2 GP a week
earlier in Italy, and you have
some idea of why he was ex-
pected to put a whooping on the
field. As for Herlings, he's had
a dismal opening few rounds in
his MXGP career so far, and with
Valkenswaard being his home
GP, it was easy to believe he
would be tough to beat.
But it wasn't to be for either of
them.
In the MXGP class, Herlings
was up front or near the front
in every timed session, but his
starts in every racing session left
much to be desired. He came
from the tail end of the top 10 to
fourth in the qualifying race on
Saturday, won by teammate An-
tonio Cairoli in front of Monster
Energy Yamaha's Jeremy van
Horebeek and Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Gautier Paulin.
In the opening MXGP moto,
Paulin got the start and led
every lap to take the moto win
in front of Van Horebeek and
Herlings, who again came from
behind for third. Cairoli had to
come from even farther back
than Herlings and ended up los-
ing his goggles, putting sand in
his eyes. He struggled to ninth
place in the moto, then had to
have his eyes rinsed out before
moto two.
In the second moto, Cairoli
got the holeshot and took off,
leading every lap in front of
Paulin in second, who barely
Husqvarna's
Gautier Paulin had
fun playing in the
Valkenswaard sand
and came away
with the MXGP
win with 1-2 moto
scores.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
HUSQVARNA
IMAGES/JUAN
PABLO
ACEVEDO
