A faultless 100 points, four moto wins and two Grand Prix successes represents an ideal start to 2015 for Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings even though the Dutchman claimed to be just “60 per cent” fit entering his sixth GP term.
The 20 year old has been prolific and led 60 laps from 71 so far already re-igniting the kind of form and supremacy that has cast him as one of the very top names in Grand Prix racing since 2012.
Herlings has only lost one Grand Prix in which he has contested since the end of that ’12 season (when he suffered mechanical trouble at Teutschenthal in Germany). That defeat was the emotional surrender to then team-mate Jordi Tixier in Mexico last year where #84 tried to compete with a femur that was not fully healed and from the affects of a stomach virus that had left him drained and unfit. From a lead of 145 points he eventually lost the 2014 championship by just four.
The hard experience of last summer and a troublesome winter period recuperating fully from the femur break has hardened his outlook on racking up GP statistics for what is almost certainly his last championship in the MX2 class. “In 2013 I missed out on two motos and last year was only one or two before the injury,” he said at the Thai GP press conference. “It [a perfect season] just brings extra pressure. We’ll see, it is just important to win the championship because we won a lot of battles last year but not the war. It is important to stay healthy and win as much as I can.”
Despite appearances to the contrary Herlings has not had it easy so far in 2015. He struggled like many of his MX2 peers in Thailand and collapsed near the podium after owning the first moto in temperatures touching almost 40 degrees. “In the last few laps I started to feel really sick and started puking but I kept going and managed to win the moto,” he explained. “The heat got me when I stopped the bike and I pretty much fainted. I managed to get some food in and was good to go again. I kept feeling good in the second one though.”
That second race was reduced to 25 minutes and two laps duration by race officials after at least five riders could not recover sufficiently (or had medical attention that prevented their participation) and Herlings believes it was the correct decision. Almost all Grand Prix riders had come from winter preparation in Europe with no reference for the kind of heat that would be found at Nakhonchaisri.
“Five minutes is not that much, just three laps, and it didn’t really matter but for the safety of all the riders I think it was a good choice,” he said. “There were a lot of guys not out there for the second race. If at one point it starts to get dangerous then you need to change things.”
