Five-time world motocross champion Jeffrey Herlings has taken his 118th Grand Prix victory via a 1-1 performance in the U.K. He has closed the points gap in the championship to just 11 points, of course with help from Lucas Coenen getting injured yesterday in the MXGP qualification race and not being able to finish either moto.
Herlings has lost so many titles of his own due to injuries in the past. So even though this race benefitted him, he felt for the young Belgian and wished him well in the press conference. Still, as he said on the podium, it’s part of racing and the HRC man will still go to Loket this upcoming weekend with some confidence in taking the red plate.
MXlarge: Congratulations, 1-1 on paper sounds easy, but I guess it was anything but and in doing so, you have reduced the points gap to 11 points. Can you explain it for me?
Jeffrey Herlings: First of all, I feel really sorry for Lucas. I have had bad luck with my DNFs. I would prefer he had a broken bike rather than issues with his health. I am really gutted for him, as a sportsman and somebody who has been doing this for a long, long time and I have lost a lot of championships due to injuries. It is never nice to see anyone get hurt and my prayers go out to him. I hope next weekend he is fit again and we can have some battles again.
How did you feel your races went?
It was good yesterday (in qualifying). Obviously, I had a crash and came from last to fourth. I felt really strong and I actually thought I rode better yesterday than today. Today, I led every single lap. Really lucky, I had two holeshots and I had pressure in both motos. I managed to hold them off. The second moto was sketchy, and the sun was low, then at some point, Pauls Jonass had a crash, then a yellow flag and then a green one, so I didn’t know if you could jump or not jump. I was leading and didn’t want to make any mistakes, so I decided not to jump. They (Gajser and Febvre) came close, but I didn’t want to do any risks, or get points deducted or anything like that. I did all I could this weekend and felt like I did a really good job.
The team has done a good job, also, and I want to give it to Giacamo and the whole team and Patronas and everyone involved. We race on Sunday, but we win races on Monday. We will put our head down and come to Loket in five days. I have had good memories there and bad memories. Hopefully we go for a good one this time.
Sixth win of the season and fifth on British soil. What is it with England and winning here, on circuits like Matterley Basin and now here?
I did a race here in 2023, but the track has changed a lot, back in 2023 it was just hard baked. They have put a lot of work into it this year. It was great coming back here again, unfortunately, last time I came here a photographer was hit by a bike and died, and we only had one moto because of that horrible accident. I don’t have so much time on this track, but I feel like England is my second home almost, because I did the British championship a few years ago and I still do some rounds of that championship. I always enjoy coming to England and it’s an easy trip for us. I always enjoy it and England was good to me again this weekend.
For old people like myself, this is really a legendary track. We have seen some great racing here. How would you describe this track. It’s very different to many other tracks on the GP calendar?
To be honest, I think yesterday was better, because lucky I didn’t have to pass anyone today, but yesterday, there aren’t many tracks where you can come from last and get into fourth place, like I did yesterday. When you got to Lommel or Arnhem, you can make a big difference, but not on hardpack tracks. Yesterday, there were more places to pass, but today, it felt like they maybe watered less in the morning, so it wasn’t as deep. Coming back to your question, it’s an awesome track. I enjoyed it in 2023 and I enjoyed it today. It is special and unique with the uphills and the downhills. I am happy it’s on the calendar. It isn’t as fast as Matterley and less big jumps and that makes it good, even though Matterley is also a nice track. I hear it’s coming back next year, so I am happy about that.
It looks like this year that you are really having to work hard for your moto or GP wins, maybe more so than ever before. Does it feel this year it’s the hardest you have had to ride to get these wins?
Like we talked about when we were coming to the track, we are getting older Geoff, so it isn’t getting any easier! I miss those days in 2012, 2013, 2014, winning by a minute, or a minute and a half. Those days are gone. When I get a win, it’s already a big victory, buy hey, I have the most GP wins so far this year. I am not even sure how many GP wins I have now (Paul Malin reminded him its 118). Ok, 118, it’s more than any anyone has had and it keeps going up, but the championships don’t go up like the GP wins. It would be nice before I retire if I can get another championship, at least one more.
You are working with a lot of people at Honda. How long did it feel to get comfortable with the team?
I felt comfortable with them straight away, with Giacamo (team owner) and Marcus (team manager). I work with those guys in a daily basis, and we see the Japanese sometimes. I felt at home straight away. It is a bigger group than I was used to at KTM and I think it’s more professional. I had the chance many times in my career [to switch], but I wanted to stay loyal to KTM. I don’t have any regrets because of that, and I had a good time with KTM. I just felt I need to make a change; de Wolf was coming up; others were coming up. The team I was in was kind of falling apart. I was working with Ruben, and he left for Nestaan and we lost more people and I felt it was time to go to Honda. My heart felt I wanted to go to Honda.
