Motocross

Fairytale Finish to MXGP Season For Tomac and Herlings

Posted:

Monday, September 12th, 2016

2:54 PM

What better way to wrap up the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship than in the Golden State of California, America, on one of the most incredible tracks in the world, Glen Helen Raceway, where good weather is promised, as is good racing.

As expected, the final gate drop of the 2016 season had the fans that were on site here at the Monster Energy MXGP of The USA, on their feet, and the fans that were back home, glued to their television sets, as Monster Energy Kawasaki‰Ûªs Eli Tomac recovered from two bad starts and destroyed the field in both races for yet another perfect score and his second consecutive, and second ever, grand prix victory, while Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeffrey Herlings had a fairytale ending to his MX2 career with a two wins for his first ever grand prix win on US soil.

Fairytale Finish to MXGP Season For Tomac and Herlings

Eli Tomac made it two from two for his MXGP account for 2016

Monster Energy Kawasaki‰Ûªs Eli Tomac and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Antonio Cairoli are two of the biggest names in motocross right now. Both riders shook off the effects of their mediocre qualifying results to lead the way in the main events today. Tomac, in particular, was incredible! He takes lines that no one else takes, and just hits the throttle so much earlier than everyone else, and because of it, he cleaned everyone up once again to become the first American to win multiple grand prix‰Ûª in the same calendar year since Mike Brown back in 2000.

As for Tony, it was good to see him looking like his former self as he hung it out on the hills of Glen Helen for second overall. The eight-time champ was striving for his ninth world title this year, but couldn‰Ûªt match the consistent strength of Slovenia‰Ûªs motocross extraordinaire Tim Gajser. He did claim the silver medal though, and the impact of being the bridesmaid in terms of the championship was softened by the 10,000 euro cheque he was awarded by Fox Head Europe as the winner of the Fox Holeshot competition.

These days the podium doesn‰Ûªt look right without Honda Gariboldi‰Ûªs Tim Gajser standing on one of the steps. The recently crowned world champion would have liked to have topped the box this weekend, but instead had to settle for third, which is not so bad considering he only qualified fourteenth after having a yard sale on the first lap of the qualifier. The champ went 4 ‰ÛÒ 3 today to land on the box for the sixteenth time this season, which is an incredible feat on its own.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Team‰Ûªs Max Nagl flew under the radar this weekend, which is kind of a random statement, since it‰Ûªs common knowledge he is capable of winning grand prix especially when he gets a good start. The German was a rocket ship out of the gate today and carried that same blistering fast momentum through both races to finish on the same points as Gajser. Because Gajser had the better result in the final race, he was awarded third while Nagl had to settle for fourth overall, but looking at the bigger picture, was happy to have cemented the bronze medal in the premier class this season.

After two shocking rounds, last years vice world champion, Team HRC‰Ûªs Gautier Paulin, bounced back this weekend and nailed a top five finish.

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing‰Ûªs Romain Febvre didn‰Ûªt have the desired end to his season, but if you‰Ûªre searching for positives you‰Ûªll hold onto the emphatic qualifying heat win he took yesterday. Today was a new day, and it wasn‰Ûªt a good one for the Frenchman who had a bike issue in race one and binned it in race two. As a result, he only finished fifteeth overall, but we look forward to seeing him return to the front of the field next year.

Jeffrey Herlings finished out the year in fine fashion with another MX2 GP win

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeffrey Herlings is one of the heaviest guys on the line in the smaller bike class, MX2, and while he typically races number ‰Û÷84‰Ûª, this weekend he rode with the number 1 plate, a number plate that often weighs heavy on a riders bike. The last thing Herlings needed was extra weight to carry up, especially against the lightweights like Austin Forkner and his Red Bull KTM teammate Jorge Prado, but it didn‰Ûªt give him any trouble whatsoever.

The Bullet bossed it in both motos for two convincing wins, and his first ever grand prix win on US soil. ‰ÛÏTo finish with a win is amazing, it was my final ride in the lites class and now I will move up to the 450, it‰Ûªs been a hell of a ride, so many ups and downs, but I‰Ûªm very grateful for what I have achieved and I hope to have the same success in the MXGP class.‰Û

MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Eli Tomac (USA, KAW), 50 points;
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 44 p.;
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 38 p.;
4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 38 p.;
5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 27 p.;
6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 24 p.;
7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 23 p.;
8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 23 p.;
9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, KAW), 22 p.;
10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 21 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 731 points;
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 647 p.;
3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 603 p.;
4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 564 p.;
5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 545 p.;
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 536 p.;
7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 406 p.;
8. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 372 p.;
9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 352 p.;
10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 343 p.

MXGP Manufacturers:
1. Honda, 767 points;
2. Yamaha, 697 p.;
3. KTM, 696 p.;
4. Husqvarna, 618 p.;
5. Kawasaki, 553 p.;
6. Suzuki, 377 p.

MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points;
2. Jeremy Martin (USA, HON), 44 p.;
3. Mitchell Harrison (USA, YAM), 32 p.;
4. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 31 p.;
5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 30 p.;
6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 27 p.;
7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 26 p.;
8. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 25 p.;
9. Chris Alldredge (USA, KAW), 24 p.;
10. Austin Forkner (USA, KAW), 23 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 739 points;
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 625 p.;
3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 512 p.;
4. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 504 p.;
5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 403 p.;
6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 398 p.;
7. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 378 p.;
8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 377 p.;
9. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 351 p.;
10. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 320 p.

MX2 Manufacturers:
1. KTM, 835 points;
2. Kawasaki, 641 p.;
3. Suzuki, 636 p.;
4. Yamaha, 631 p.;
5. Husqvarna, 621 p.;
6. TM, 377 p.;
7. Honda, 341 p.