Jeffrey Herlings, Red Bull KTM, 1-3 for second overall in MX2
It was all a good weekend, you know? The first time I’ve got to race in America, and mainly against Cooper. He’s American champ, supercross champ. It was like the best of one side of the ocean against the best of the other side of the ocean. It was very cool. I’m very happy that we could pull it off for the championship. Once again I’m just super pumped. After three years and all the things I’ve been going through—dislocated my hip, broken femur, all things that are some serious injuries. To get back from those, it’s pretty tough. I’m pleased that I have the championship.
Tell us about that second moto. We saw you racing with Cooper, how was that race?
Racing in America is just way different. Those guys are so much more focused on the sport. In Europe we all talk, have fun, laugh. Those guys don’t talk to each other! [Laughs] It’s like, wow, okay! It’s really weird when we get here. Those guys, they’ll shoot somebody to win probably! [Laughs] We are just much more like having fun, whatever. So I think they’re so much more focused and the development of the bikes and the way they live. We just have fun and we train, but not like they train. It’s different. I think we can really learn a lot from those guys, the intensity that they have. When they come from supercross into the nationals we always do like all 40 minute motos and those guys the speed they carry at the beginning, it’s was like, freaking… I never had to do that speed! On a normal GP weekend it’s just like fifth place start, and just win. But with those guys I had to step up my game. So I think first moto I was the fastest and in the second moto, I’m just going to be honest, Cooper was faster. Everybody will say, who is now the fastest guy? Is it Cooper, is it Jeffrey? I think that’s something you cannot compare because it’s just one event. I won first moto, he won second moto so it’s one, one. But I think to really know who is the fastest you have to race a full championship on different kind of tracks. It’s just the one event. You cannot say that guy’s faster than that guy. Once again, I have a lot of respect for those guys. They’re gnarly. They race super fast. So I’m very pleased to after all these years finally race, for me the two fastest American Lites riders, which currently are here.
Jeffrey, could you take me through that battle when you and Cooper were side by side in the first moto? That was pretty close.
I think this track wasn’t really easy to pass. Just one major good line and that was the line. So I knew I was next to Cooper. I knew I had to make it happen. Obviously things turned out my way with Austin going down. Cooper lost a little bit of time there. So we were just drag racing and I was like, able to get going and get it back from him again. I just went wide open. Then like he just mentioned, I tried to put in two or three good laps, make a little gap, and then the race was won.
Jeffrey, you pretty much put the bookmark on your MX2 career now with a third world title. Can you talk a bit about your 250 days and moving to MXGP next year?
Yeah, I think in Europe there’s not much to gain. If you take away Austin and Cooper today then I would have probably won the race by a minute. And more and more guys are going into the MXGP, so it’s definitely got time to do that. The reason I stayed in MX2, people know with the injuries I had I just couldn’t prepare myself for MXGP, but now I think we’re ready and we have to make the step. I think I had a great Lites career, great MX2 career. We won 60 GP’s; we won three championships. Could have been five but we had some bad luck. I think we’ve been really good in the Lites. Its just time to step it up and race the big guys.
Did you ever think about maybe riding the 450 at Glen Helen?
Well, we haven’t tested any 450s yet so for the moment that’s not on the program. We also don’t have any things to test here, the parts. I won a championship, but we’ll be in U.S. all week so we don’t have materials to test. I’m not planning on racing a 450 at Glen Helen. Just try to finish my career off good on the 250. Last race with Austin being there and also Jeremy Martin. Try to do everything to hopefully possibly get a win to finish off my career. That will be amazing, but I’ve got some strong competition. I’m a little bit heavier guys, this track was so many 180 turns and I felt like they had a little advantage on that point, but I think in Glen Helen the track is a little more sandy, more fast, so there is not a lot of turns where you have to start from nothing. So I think we’ll be a little bit better at that track. Still it’s no guarantee we’re going to win but we’re at least going to try to do our best.
Jeffery, everybody knows about Cooper Webb and stuff but what were your thoughts on Austin Forkner?
I was surprised how much speed he had in the beginning! Like Cooper just mentioned, in the beginning when the gate drops those guys are so gnarly and so fast. We like to start slowly and then get in the rhythm. But those guys when the gate drops it’s just wide open. So I think that’s also the point that I’ve maybe lost today is I didn’t have the speed at the beginning. Those guys race like that every weekend and for me it was the first time I had to race such fast guys, so that was pretty tough. But I think if I were racing those guys every weekend I’d get better at it. For now I was just surprised because all year long I won easily pretty much everything and now I’m racing those guys who are like two seconds faster than the competition. That’s tough, and obviously with a broken collarbone I was out for five weeks, so I think I missed a little bit of bike time because I’ve only been on the bike for two and a half weeks. That’s not an excuse. I’m not saying I would have won if that didn’t happen. But I think that played a little part.
Clinched the championship the first moto. Second moto, how much were you hanging it out there?
I just give 100 percent. I give 100 percent the first moto, I give 100 percent the second moto. I think first moto was just fastest and second moto I just wasn’t.
Jeffrey, I know it’s an emotional title because of the way the last two years went. Is it weird that you actually probably aren’t going to be home for a week or so? Does that make it more special or kind of odd that you’re actually at a fly-away race when you finally get to celebrate this thing?
Yeah, the last weekend was my home GP so there were like 25,000 spectators, all Dutch fans. So it’s a shame I couldn’t have won the championship there. Now at least I won the championship, so that’s a good thing. But to win it here, it’s less nice because there’s not so many supporters, family, friends, whatever. It’s a serious trip. But at the end of the day I won the championship and I should be very proud and very thankful for that, but definitely would have liked way more to win the championship in Europe.
Austin Forkner, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, 3-2 for third overall in MX2
It was really good. I actually kind of surprised myself the second timed practice whenever I set the fastest lap time. But it was really good. Just got pretty comfortable with the track pretty quick. I was surprised on the first lap of practice whenever we jumped out of the stadium and I could barely even see because it was so dusty. That was a big surprise. I thought it was going to be a mud fest today. But they actually did a really good job. The track was pretty good all day. It got a little bit slick whenever the moisture started coming up at night. It was a little bit hard to see in some spots, but for the most part the track was good. I rode good. That mistake in the first moto kind of cost me. Those guys were catching me a little bit. It may have had the same end result, but I wanted to battle with them and kind of just handed it to them. Second moto, we battled. I tried to break away at the beginning. Did for like the first 20 minutes and then they kind of slowly started inching me back in. I pretty much left it all on the track. I was pretty spent after that last moto. It was tough, but glad I got on the box. That’s kind of what I came for.
How different was it from racing an AMA race?
For the most part it was pretty similar. We do the same motos and stuff. The start was a little bit different because our mechanics can’t actually go to the gate. We have to pack our own gate and stuff like that. But I think just the biggest thing was, like Jeffrey said, their kind of style of riding that at the beginning of the motos we just go for it. That’s just kind of how we do it over here. That’s kind of how we have to do it. I was going for it at the beginning and then he kinds of slowly started inching in and middle of the race - that’s kind of how it was going both motos. Kind of have some different styles of riding. His obviously worked out the first moto. Ours may have worked out a little bit better the second moto, but it was good racing. I was just glad to get out there and battle with those two guys, both champions. It was just good to battle with them and race with them.
Tim Gajser, Gariboldi HRC Honda, 4-2 for second overall in MXGP
How is it being an MXGP world champion?
It’s just amazing. It’s just another dream come true. Up to last year when I won the MX2 championship and this year, actually today, I won MXGP. Just amazing two years. Really looking forward. I’m still young and really motivated. Really happy and just want to say huge thanks to everybody. All the team, HRC guys, my team, my family, my dad, my girlfriend, my brother, my mom, everybody. Thank you very much, guys.
Last weekend we see you making several mistakes. You mentioned that you were not comfortable at all, but this weekend you managed to stay on two wheels. I guess there’s a lot of psychological stuff going on?
Yeah, for sure. First moto, first race was really tough. I didn’t have the best start and then I was riding [behind] Jeremy [Van Horebeek] all the race. So I didn’t find the rhythm. I was really fighting with the bike. Didn’t enjoy at all. But finally in the end it was just amazing when I came over there everybody was waiting for me. Amazing feeling.
Tell us about the second moto.
After the first one I went back to the truck and I said to myself, it’s done so not any pressure. I think [I needed] a good start, and I did that. Also riding first couple laps was good. I was feeling good. But then make a small mistake and wash the front end in one corner because the track was sketchy. It was slippery. Then I came back in good rhythm. So I stayed in second place for overall second. It was good.
Did you kind of have any idea that you’d won the title in the first moto? I think you tied on points with Tony so it was very close for a while there. Any idea that you’d done it?
Actually when I crossed the finish line I didn’t know. I just saw a couple laps before the finish they write me that Tony was 15th, 14th, something like that. So I didn’t count during the riding so I didn’t know.
Jeremy Van Horebeek, Monster Energy Yamaha, 3-5 for third overall in MXGP
We were just saying a few minutes before that finally it’s so good to finish the season like this. Finish the season on the podium and things are coming up well for you.
Yeah, it’s been a really good season. A lot of fourth places, fifth, but never really back on the podium like I did in 2014. So my team worked really hard on the bike for the starts and everything. Finally everything is coming together. I know it’s the end of the season but it’s good for next year. We are already improving for next year so it’s really good We have just been testing some new things on the bike and trying to get off to a good start. I got two good starts today, I felt good all day, I just have to give this one to my team. It’s because of them. They are putting the effort in, so thanks to them.
We saw you quite good out there. In the timed practice you surprised many of us. Also the races we saw you there consistent riding. How did you feel?
I felt comfortable all day long. I made a few mistakes in both motos that made it tough but we finally made it. So I’m happy about that. The track was really sketchy second moto, so with the lights it was sometimes really difficult. But I think they’ve done a great job over here. At last I want to say congratulations to Tim and to Jeffrey for world titles.
