IIn the scorching hot sandpit of Lommelwood, Jeffrey Herlings won the first race convincingly. The Bullet danced through the Lommel sand and faced no opposition. The other sand specialist, Kay de Wolf, finished a strong second ahead of the Slovenian Tim Gajser.
Jeffrey Herlings was the first to cross the white line of the holeshot award. Andrea Adamo, Tim Gajser, and Tom Vialle were on his wheel. Kay de Wolf quickly overtook Adamo to claim that third spot. Reigning world champion Romain Febvre was in sixth place, while Jago Geerts had taken tenth position after two laps. At that moment, Brent Van Doninck was spotted in P19.
At the front, Kay de Wolf seemed to be attacking Tim Gajser's position. In lap three, he successfully completed a comeback and snatched the place from Gajser. The Dutchman extended his contract with Husqvarna just this weekend. Meanwhile, Herlings already had a ten-second lead over his compatriot. The Bullet can do golden business again today due to another withdrawal by Lucas Coenen.
Andrea Adamo (KTM) clashed with Romain Febvre and eventually had to give way to the heavy pressure from the Kawasaki rider. At the front, Tim Gajser had kept a close eye on Kay de Wolf and seemed to want to launch an attack in the final stages of the race. The Dutchman did not let it come to that and stepped up the pace to extend his lead over the Slovenian.
Jeffrey Herlings didn't let it get to him and won the race with a comfortable lead of 45 seconds over Kay de Wolf. Romain Febvre launched a final attack on P3 but ran out of time, leaving Tim Gajser in third place in this race.
The second series will follow later at 17:10 PM.
MXGP Race 1
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 34:33.732; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:45.474; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:46.826; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:58.311; 5. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +1:25.908; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:32.593; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:37.688; 8. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), +1:42.078; 9. Ben Watson (GBR, Triumph), +1:51.325; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:58.772; 11. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +2:06.188; 12. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +2:07.869; 13. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), -1 lap(s); 14. Kevin Brumann (SUI, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 15. Brent Van Doninck (BEL, Fantic), -1 laps; 16. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Ducati), -1 lap(s); 17. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), -1 lap(s); 18. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), -1 lap(s); 19. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, Fantic), -1 lap(s); 20. Cato Nickel (GER, Honda), -2 lap(s); 21. Thomas Vermijl (BEL, GASGAS), -2 lap(s); 22. Maximilian Spies (GER, KTM), -7 lap(s); 23. Adam Sterry (GBR, KTM), -17 lap(s);
Photos: Gino Maes
Editorial team: Danny Hermans
