Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/981926
IN THE WIND P42 HERLINGS, OLSEN COOK AT KEGUMS J effrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) scored his fifth overall win in the first seven races of 2018 with his dominating 1-1 performance at the MXGP of Latvia, May 12-13. As has happened a few times already this season, living legend Antonio Cairoli got out to early leads in both MXGP motos only to have Herlings work his way into second, chase Cairoli down, and then pass him to take the win by a few seconds at the checkered flag. In the second moto, Cairoli again led early, but Herlings started much closer to the front and worked for eight laps to find a way around Cairoli, but once he did, with about seven laps left, he pulled away to a six-second margin of victory. "It was a little more demanding than I was expecting today, especially after the result of yesterday," Her- lings said, referring to his dominant performance in the Saturday qualifying race. "But we did good things for the championship." Cairoli is hoping to wear down the young speedster as the series goes on. "I'm really happy because my speed was good and we are in one piece. The track was very difficult and the rhythm was really very fast," Cairoli said. "I am a little disappointed with the second race, my plan was to hold him a little bit longer and fight for the GP win. But overall I'm really happy about the starts and the championship is very long so we are looking forward to the next races." Gautier Paulin came through with a 4-3, giving him third on the day. Herlings now leads Cairoli by 29 points in the championship with 13 races—26 motos—still left to run. In MX2, Thomas Kjer Olsen (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) had a day to remember. In the first moto, he got the holeshot and led points leader and defend- ing champ Pauls Jonass (Red Bull KTM) for the entire moto, while Olsen's American teammate Thomas Covington returned from a knee injury to snatch third in the moto. The top three each had about 10 seconds on the person behind them at the finish line. But in moto two, Covington was working his way up through the field after a poor start when he went down, leaving his motorcycle too damaged to con- tinue. However, out front, Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM) controlled the race from start to finish, while Olsen worked his way from outside the top five to second at the finish, less than three seconds behind Prado. Jonass had a terrible start and settled for fifth. Olsen took the overall with a 1-2 score over the 4-3 of Belgian Yamaha pilot Jago Geerts and points leader Jonass, whose 2-5 gave him third overall. "It's been a positive weekend," said the American Covington. "I felt good coming back from my knee injury and the speed was there to battle with the top guys. I had a good start in the opening moto and gradually worked my way up to third. Then in the second moto my start wasn't that good, but I did my best to get as close as possible to the leading pack. My bike was working great so I kept improving my speed. Unfortunately, following a crash, I had a small issue that did not allow me to finish the race. Overall, I'm happy with the progress made and I'm now looking forward to the next GP in Germany." Jonass leads the points by 22 over Prado with a long way yet to go in the championship chase. CN Thomas Kjer Olsen came away with the MX2-class win at the MXGP of Latvia. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUAN PAUBLO ACEVEDO