Jeffrey Herlings wins in MXGP opener
With four riders within four seconds, leader Jeffrey Herlings and his pursuers crossed the finish line in the first series. The Bullet thus recorded its 11th series victory of the season. Head starter and polesiter Jeremy Seewer rode to a nice second place ahead of Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser.
In a similar race as in the first MX2 race, it also proved difficult to overtake here. Jeremy Seewer in particular benefited from this. He took the holeshot ahead of teammate Watson, Herlings and Prado. In recent months, the sympathetic Swiss has been struggling with the Epstein-Barr virus, but now he seems to be getting back into shape.
Watson made a mistake in the initial lap and saw his favorable starting position go up in smoke. The first round went even worse for home driver Tony Cairoli. He fell, hurt his leg and disappeared from the race. Febvre, meanwhile, immediately attacked and advanced from P6 to P4 in two corners. Then Febvre also tried to attack Herlings' position, but it did not budge.
After 11 laps, Herlings had enough with Seewer's solo run. Although Jeffrey passed smoothly, he could not simply shake loose his competitors. All the big names were at the front, but winning a place proved to be very difficult. Title candidate Gajser crossed the line in fourth place, 0,6 seconds behind Febvre. Glenn Coldenhoff finished fifth, well behind the top 5.
Due to a heavy fall - when he was in 5th position - Prado had to settle for 8th place. Mathys Boisrame finished ninth in his first series for the Kawasaki factory team. Jeremy Van Horebeek had a bad start, but the Brabant Limburger was able to recover nicely to P12. The decisive second race starts at 16:10 PM.
MXGP Race 1
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:14.099; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:02.146; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:03.665; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:04.234; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:41.383; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GASGAS), +0:44.401; 7. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:48.810; 8. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +1:09.882; 9. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:10.696; 10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), +1:11.881; 11. Tom Koch (GER, KTM), +1:17.703; 12. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Beta), +1:23.403; 13. Dylan Wright (CAN, Honda), +1:24.975; 14. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Honda), +1:26.262; 15. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +1:30.803; 16. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Yamaha), +1:38.000; 17. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +1:43.923; 18. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:44.769; 19. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +2:26.868; 20. Brian Bogers (NED, GASGAS), -1 lap(s); 21. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), -5 lap(s); 22. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), -6 lap(s); 23. Henry Jacobi (GER, Honda), -8 lap(s); 24. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), -9 lap(s); 25. Timothy Hoarau (FRA, Kawasaki), -12 lap(s); 26. Vsevolod Brylyakov (MFR, Honda), -13 lap(s); 27. Alberto Forato (STONE, SCRATCHES), -14 lap(s); 28. Josh Gilbert (GBR, Husqvarna), -14 lap(s); 29. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, Honda), -16 lap(s); 30. Lawrence Locurcio (VEN, KTM), -16 lap(s); 31. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), -20 lap(s);
Photos: Red Bull content pool/Samo Vidic
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