The Bullet and the Belgians
I have no idea how you are doing, but we are still recovering from the most exciting motocross year ever. Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser and Romain Febvre let us enjoy a dazzling show for the entire season that lasted until the last series in the MXGP class.
There, Jeffrey Herlings came out on top and sealed an extremely tough season with a fifth world title. Together with his title rivals, he regularly made us postpone going to the toilet until there was no other option. We let the food get cold several times and occasionally we even forgot to get chilled beers from the refrigerator because the risk of missing something was too great.
Orange above
The exciting season must have had a nasty effect on the bystanders because we have rarely seen so much stress on the face of Pit Beier, among others. The KTM Motorsport director watched the last series in Mantova with nail-biting attention. The discharge afterwards was at least as great. Ruben Tureluren, mechanic and confidante of Jeffrey Herlings, could not hide his emotions and watched the celebration of The Bullet from a distance with tears in his eyes.
The built-up tension from 18 hard-fought GPs now flowed out like an orange-glowing lava flow. Pent-up stress, the hard work of an entire team and the almost otherworldly efforts of Herlings at times created rarely seen emotions. The contrast with the distressed faces of Gajser and Febvre was great, very great.
The club with five titles
With this fifth world title, Jeffrey Herlings joins an illustrious club of champions. He is now the equal of Roger De Coster, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and Joël Smets. These Belgians each have five world titles and they are now joined by a northern neighbor.
Roger De Coster was able to win his titles during Suzuki's heyday and only had to let Heikki Mikkola go ahead in 1974, otherwise there would have been five in a row. Jobé, in his stubborn way, was proud to win his titles in both the 250 and 500cc classes, even on several occasions with a private team without factory support. Eric Geboers showed that you could win world titles with refined and unprecedented training and Joël Smets was able to win his five titles through an enormous amount of perseverance.
The Bullet is a predator
We, who have been following motocross at the highest level for more than fifty years, rate Jeffrey Herlings very highly. He has shown a kind of rare determination in recent years. The Bullet is a fighter of the purest breed who, when cornered, lashes out unrelentingly like a predator and always returns after yet another nasty injury. Herlings has gained so much respect in motocross and that is completely justified. It is difficult and premature to award him the title of best motocross rider of all time, but we can say without a doubt that he is, together with James Stewart, one of the fastest motocross riders ever.
The fast Dutchman also showed that he is a clean motocross rider. Not once were we able to catch him in an unsavory maneuver and that means that Herlings is respected on and along the circuit. Congratulations Jeffrey Herlings and may we enjoy your fantastic show for years to come.
Tekst: Danny Hermans
Photos: Niek Kamper and archive
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