It could easily have gone wrong for Herlings but he survived the first lap and took two more circulations before picking off teammate Pauls Jonass (an undisputed runner-up here). A drier terrain for the second moto saw Herlings at his most insatiable and his margin of victory reached more than one minute. A perfect seventh for Jeff was inevitable once he gained the holeshot—but they haven’t all been a walk in the park.

“This was one was easy, maybe one of the easiest but I had some tough ones,” he pondered. “Like against [Ken] Roczen and [Marvin] Musquin in my rookie year. In 2013 I was disqualified on Saturday and had the fortieth gate pick. The last two years [though] have been pretty solid and easy and I hope to keep it that way.

“A fiftieth GP win is something special and it is one of the big numbers,” he added. “It is pretty cool to do it here in front of the home fans even if the weather was not too great.”

The Red Bull KTM show did their own thing but the scrap for third place in the second moto at one point involved seven riders and was utterly engrossing. Once Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Petar Petrov had tumbled and lost any chance of repeating his third position from the first race, it was left to the impressive figure of Suzuki’s Jeremy Seewer to take the bottom step and his second trophy on the bounce. The Swiss is in his second full year and his rate of improvement is highly evident in his results. On the sand as well his capabilities have accelerated; the 21-year-old was able to observe the measure himself.

“If I think back to here a few years ago in the sand then I was lapped twice! I remember having a European 85cc race here and not even qualifying. So it was hard to come here but I have done a lot of hard work in the sand and it paid off; I felt really good,” he said.

Also charting a rate of progress was MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre. The Frenchman suffered his worst result of his triumphant rookie premier class campaign last year at Valkenswaard with a 10-5. In the first race last Monday he made mistakes and tensed up while following Honda Garibold’s Tim Gajser (another on the U-turn from Valkenswaard misery: a huge crash in MX2 in 2015 from which he was lucky to hobble away from to a maiden MXGP moto win in the sand) and even lost second place to a speedy Rockstar Husqvarna’s Max Nagl.

“I struggled so much in the first moto and everything I tried was not working out. I got arm pump and just wanted to finish the race and start a new one,” he said. “In the second moto I was really angry and wanted to win so bad.”

Febvre was sensational and created a captivating grandstand finale by hounding the rear wheel of Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek (the Belgian again not quite up to the mark of his rivals) for much of the distance and then pouncing on the penultimate lap before closing a near-three second gap to Red Bull KTM’s Tony Cairoli who had led the entire moto. The Sicilian was attacked three corners before the flag and made a mistake in the rhythm section that permitted Febvre a few tenths of a second to escape and lodge his third moto win from nine. Cairoli had ridden well on the 450SX-F after admitting pre-race that he still did not have full strength and conditioning to deal with the sand—his preferred surface.

Gasjer showed his rookie status in the second moto with a fall and then several more mistakes that meant he was eighth and fortunate to reach his third podium in a row by just two points over Cairoli, who has yet to breach the top three. Nagl sprayed champagne for the first time this year and claimed that his team had solved a technical issue on the FC450 that would now permit the Germany to be competitive out of the gate.

Post-Thailand viruses and illness seemed to affect some key members of the MXGP pack. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle had been laid low and his second moto was curtailed by a technical hitch on the new KX. Wilvo Virus Performance (an oxymoron?) KTM’s Shaun Simpson was also not 100 percent after a stomach bug and his three crashes across the two motos accounted for his eighth on the day even if the winner of two sandy GPs in 2015 was resolutely quick in his recovery from positions deep down the leaderboard.

Suzuki’s Ben Townley was in a worse state and the New Zealander somehow found the energy to reach fourteenth in the first moto before retiring from the second. “Just to give my best today was the plan,” he said. “The illness side had gone but the energy side from being in bed for four days was on the empty mark. The little I had in the tank I used it up today. It was a shame but I have never experienced anything like it. I couldn't feel my muscles and was just absolutely ruined; I feel like I have run two marathons.”

The likes of Evgeny Bobryshev (sixth) couldn't find their rhythm in the conditions with at least two of the riders commenting that the first soggy moto was akin to enduro through the slippery, slow and technical sand. Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos excelled on this stage in his charge from the mid-twenties to sixth after his malaise on the opening lap was apparently caused by a problem with his roll-offs. The Belgian (seventh overall) suffered a bit more in the drier and faster second sprint. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle was also frustrated after his bike stopped on the final circulation with a fuel problem and denied the fast-improving Brit another top ten finish.

Kudos to Estonia’s Tanel Leok. The former GP winner and factory Kawasaki and Suzuki rider provided the unusual sight of a stock KTM totally devoid of stickers or decals in a GP pack as the 30-year-old fielded a wild-card effort funded by friends and supporters from his country. Leok finished tenth overall with typical speed in the sand.

Rockstar Husqvarna’s Thomas Covington attempted the Grand Prix despite suffering a fracture and ligament breakage of his lower leg in a training mishap. The 20-year-old couldn't manage any points through a combination of his illness and that of the FC250 in the second moto and will be hoping the days pass as slowly as possible before MXGP reconvenes overseas for Argentina and Mexico back-to-back—the American celebrating victory at Leon last year.

It was encouraging to see forty rider gates across all the class in Holland and a busy site welcomed European Championship 250 and 300 (two-stroke) category’s as well as the second outing in seven for the Women (again owned by Nancy Van der Ven). Courtney Duncan won the second moto and should have cleared off in the first but was ultimately fortunate to remount from a heavy crash and take fourth to preserve her championship lead. Kiara Fontanesi is now forty points adrift of her new rival after a second moto throttle problem ended her day early with a taste of the Dutch sand. Van der Ven rightfully said that her name should be considered as a title hopeful along with the Kiwi, Italian and Livia Lancelot. WMX is close this year and after two seasons of last event-last moto championship showdowns it looks as though the ladies could deliver again.