Tommy, Jake, Max and Mel all make the top 10 in Holland but it’s Jeffrey Herlings who bakes the lot in his Dutch oven…
Okay, so Jeffrey Herlings might have dominated in his native sand but let’s ignore that fact for a moment and celebrate Tommy Searle coming third overall (actually joint second but missing out on a poxy tie-breaker) and Max Anstie, Jake Nicholls and Mel Pocock all squeezing inside the top 10! It’s not such a good day for Jordan Booker or HM Plant KTM UK’s Mitchell and EBB who fail to crack the points in either moto but all three of our non-scorers still run strong in the power-sapping Dutch sand.
Hard-hitter Herlings delivers a knockout blow to the competition by running 1-1 and lapping up to sixth in race one and fifth in race two but that was to be expected. Failing a plane falling out of the sky and landing on the #84 KTM or having his team-mate beat him in race two Tommy Searle’s day couldn’t have gone much better. By running 2-3 in today’s motos he only sits eight points shy of Herlings in the series standings – pretty much where he expected to be.
With Herlings, Joel Roelants and Searle standing on the podium and factory KTM teamsters Jeremy van Horebeek and Jordi Tixier filling fourth and fifth it’s Jake Nicholls who’s sixth overall. The Reverend finishes a career-best equalling fifth in moto one after leading briefly from the start before battling through to ninth from way outside the top-20 in race two. Anstie’s day is not dissimilar as he bounces back from around 30th to 11th in race one after hitting a housebrick and crashing then has a much smoother ride in race two to forge home fifth.
Monster Energy Yamaha stand-in Mel Pocock only races Holland as a favour to team-boss Steve Dixon but goes home 10th in the series standings after running 8-12 in the two points-paying motos. Pocock holeshots race one but gets a little sideways in the first turn causing a small pile-up which he rides away from (gingerly – fnar!) while race two is relatively uneventful by comparison. To be fair Mel’s lucky to be riding at all after his pre-qualifying session crash that left his armpit bruised and battered.
It’s a day to forget for Elliott Banks-Browne who expected and deserved better than a zero point haul while Jordan Booker’s unlucky not to score after getting a lastminute.com entry.
Results
MX2 Overall
1 Jeffrey Herlings Red Bull KTM 25+25=50
2 Joel Roelants Floride Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki 20+22=42
3 Tommy Searle Floride Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki 22+20=42
4 Jeremy van Horebeek Red Bull KTM 18+18=36
5 Jordi Tixier Red Bull KTM 15+14=29
6 Jake Nicholls Nestaan JM Racing KTM 16+12=28
7 Max Anstie Gariboldi Honda 10+16=26
10 Mel Pocock Monster Energy Yamaha 13+9=22
World championship standings as above.
