The battle for “Orange” in the sands of Lommel…
This weekend, the Belgian Grand Prix will take place in the sand of Lommel for the fourth year in a row. It is the first time since the Motocross of Nations in 2012 that Red Bull KTM teammates Tony Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings will face each other in the premier class of motocross.
Cairoli has not won in Lommel since 2014. Various injuries forced him to be absent for two years and due to a lack of fitness, the Sicilian did not get further than third place last year. More surprising is Jeffrey Herlings, who was unable to participate in the Grand Prix in Lommel even from the Nations in 2012 due to injuries, but in 2012 on his 250SX-F made it difficult for Cairoli and almost took the victory.
Herlings has a terrible reputation when the Belgian Grand Prix comes around... in 2013 he crashed and broke his collarbone in Bastogne. He will miss the next three editions in Lommel due to a broken femur, dislocated hip and a broken collarbone twelve months ago.
The Dutchman is currently just 13 points behind Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Clement Desalle in the current MXGP standings and can thus give KTM a 450 and 1 in the World Championship final standings with the 2SX-F. Leader Cairoli has a 92 point bonus over Herlings with six games to go and 300 points to earn and seems likely to be on his way to his ninth title.
“Jeffrey is very fast, but the championship is more important to me than any race,” said #222 when we asked him about the upcoming 'orange' battle in the sand of Lommel. “To fly around in the sand for forty minutes you have to be in perfect shape and I am, but Jeffrey is also very fast. If it is possible we can compete, but the points are more important now and it is not worth making stupid mistakes now.”
Herlings will not only discover the new layout of the circuit in Lommel, but also the feeling in the heavy sand with the 450. “It will depend on how they are going to work the circuit, if they leave it it will be difficult with deep wells and I like that.” He admits his honest opinion. “We also don't know whether it will rain or the circuit will be leveled, so we could have different situations.”
A possible podium candidate could well be Rockstar Energy IceOne rider Max Anstie who already took two MX2 victories on two different bikes in Lommel. The young Brit has already made some progress in his first year in the MXGP class. 2016 winner Kevin Strijbos and Arminas Jasikonis from Stefan Everts' team are the other riders to keep an eye on and could perhaps ensure a first triumph for the Suzuki team. 2015 winner Shaun Simpson is still recovering from his broken arm and so the Wilvo Yamaha rider will not return to action until Sweden at the earliest.
Original: Adam Wheeler – ontrackoffroad.com – Dutch Version: @Kris…
Photo: KTM Images / Husqvarna Images
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