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Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal

Jed Beaton Notches Up First MX2 Podium

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Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Jeffery Herlings repeated his performance from last weekend and went back to back with a complete domination of the weekend in the MX1 class. Photo: Youthstream
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado have dominated the 5th round of the 2018 FIM Motocross World Championship in Portugal!

The MXGP of Portugal will be remembered as one the best tracks of the year by many riders with a multitude of lines for passing and a high level of technicality. Agueda without doubt challenged many of the world‰Ûªs top riders but resulted in a perfect weekend for Herlings and Prado.

The MXGP class racing started with Qualifying Race winner, Jeffrey Herlings taking his second Fox Holeshot of 2018. Herlings just beat out Team HRC‰Ûªs Tim Gajser and Clement Desalle.


2018 rival of Herlings and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Antonio Cairoli started the race in 4th but lost 2 positions on the first lap when he stalled his KTM. Taking advantage of the mistake from Cairoli was Gautier Paulin and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP‰Ûªs Romain Febvre.

On the 4th lap of 16 Paulin pushed his way past Desalle who was suffering from a clutch issue. Desalle pulled off the track and into Pit Lane immediately but soon discovered he would not be able to finish the race. Desalle who came into the race 3rd in the championship was understandably disappointed to have a scoreless result.

With the loss of Desalle, Febvre moved into 4th but was soon moved back to 5th after Cairoli passed him on lap 7. During the next 7 laps the top 5 remained the same until Cairoli found his passing spot. One lap after another Cairoli passed Paulin and then Gajser on the entry to the corner just before the straight in front of Pit Lane. With one lap remaining and broken goggles Cairoli was unable to catch Herlings who took the race win by 6 seconds.
Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
Herlings' team-mate Antonio Cairoli was once again runner up in MX1 and is now starting to drop back in the points as the Herlings gets on a roll. Photo: Youthstream
Race 2 started with Cairoli ahead of Herlings but both behind Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP‰Ûªs Shaun Simpson who took his first Fox Holeshot of 2018 and the Factory Yamaha of Romain Febvre. By the end of turn 2 Cairoli take over the lead and blocked Herlings but shortly after lost the spot to the #84.

On the opening lap the 4th place finisher from Race 1, Gautier Paulin pulled of the track and of the race with an unknown technical issue. After the first complete lap Herlings already had more than a 7 second lead on Cairoli who had Desalle, Febvre, Gajser, and Simpson following.

On the second lap Simpson was passed by his Wilvo Yamaha teammate Jeremy Seewer and continued to loose positions lap after lap. Herlings grew his lead to just over ten seconds before a fall cost him 6. Herlings, still over 4 seconds ahead of Cairoli, remounted his KTM and again put down multiple fast laps.

Cairoli struggled throughout the race with a swollen right eye after the impact of the rock through his goggle in Race 1. Regardless of the hinderance Cairoli still pulled away from Desalle but was unable to keep up with Herlings.
Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
HRC's Tim Gajser had his best result for the season landing on the third step of the MX1 podium. Photo: Youthstream
First across the finish line, taking his 7th race win of the year, was Herlings 34 seconds ahead of Cairoli, then Desalle, Febvre, and Gajser. The most impressive ride outside of the win from Herlings was perhaps the constant charge of his dutch Red Bull KTM teammate Glenn Coldenhoff. Coldenhoff came from 15th on lap 1 to finish 6th.

In the overall standings Herlings‰Ûª perfect performance took 50 points over Cairoli‰Ûªs 44 while Gajser achieved his first podium of the year with 36 points. The championship points lead of Herlings over Cairoli is now 16 with Febvre taking over 3rd from Desalle.

‰ÛÏIt was a perfect weekend, perfect starts, it can‰Ûªt be any better, same as last weekend and I just want to keep it going to this way," Herlings said. "I have so much motivation in the tank to keep going, I feel like we are a good position right now and I can‰Ûªt wait for Russia already.‰Û
Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
Spaniard Jorge Prado has narrowed the points gap to championship leader Pauls Jonass to 14 after another dominant MX2 win in Portugal. Photo: Youthstream
Perfection wasn‰Ûªt only achieved by Jeffrey Herlings in MXGP it was also accomplished in MX2 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jorge Prado. Prado won Saturday‰Ûªs Qualifying Race and took the momentum straight into the start of MX2 Race 1 claiming the his 4th Fox Holeshot of 2018.

Prado was chased by Thomas Covington for the opening 6 laps but Covington unfortunately twisted his recovering knee and was unable to continue with the pain. The extent of the injury is unknown but hopefully we will see the American racing in two week time for Russia.

With Covington out Australian Jed Beaton assumed second position after taking full advantage of his 3rd gate pick from qualifying on the start. Beaton held the spot for 2 laps before the hard charging Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Pauls Jonass made it past. Beaton then managed to hold off Olsen the remaining 8 laps even applying pressure to Jonass along the way.

At the finish Prado won with Jonass, Beaton, Olsen, and Kemea Yamaha Official MX Team‰Ûªs Ben Watson rounding out the top 5 and Beaton‰Ûªs Teammate Adam Sterry took 6th.
Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
Thomas Kjer Olsen was second in the MX2 class and now sits in a solid third place in the standings after 5 rounds. Photo: Youthstream
MX2 Race 2 came into the first turn led by Prado once again now with 5 Fox Holeshots this season. Jonass positioned himself much better to start the race, coming across the first lap in 2nd. Jonass however was quickly caught off guard by Olsen on lap 2.

MX2 Rookie Beaton was the next to go around Jonass along with Ben Watson on the following lap. Jonass clearly struggled to find a rhythm as he ran in 5th for 7 laps then hit neutral in a rut and fell dropping 3 more positions.

Back up front Watson had made his way around Beaton and closed on Olsen for 2nd. During the final laps Olsen maintained his gap over Watson by around 2 seconds but on the final lap a handful of bobbles from the Dane allowed Watson right to his back wheel. Battling through the final turn in a race that went to the wire Watson just lost out by 17 hundredths of a second.

The nail biting finish and ability of Olsen to hold of Watson gave Beaton the final spot on the podium behind Olsen with Prado the clear winner. Jonass finished the race in 7th and took 5th overall losing ground in the championship to his younger teammate.

‰ÛÏSecond win in a row, last year I won three GPs but never 2 in row so I am getting there, I am getting to where I want to be," Prado said. "We are training hard and it pays off, last weekend was almost a perfect weekend just lost in the last lap but this weekend I managed to take the qualification win and two races so I‰Ûªm really happy.‰Û
Herlings and Prado Continue Winning Ways in Portugal
Aussie Rookie Jed Beaton took his first podium with third overall in a stand-out performance at Portugal. Credit: Youthstream
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:14.689
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:06.260
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:08.257
4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:10.742
5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:13.248
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:42.068
7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:45.249
8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:57.082
9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Suzuki), +1:13.250
10. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +1:29.151.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:12.692
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:34.373
3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:43.349
4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:48.023
5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +1:13.648
6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +1:22.962
7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +1:26.309
8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +1:37.942
9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Suzuki), +1:41.051
10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, TM), +1:49.071.

MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 44 points
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 36 points
4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 34 points
5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 29 points
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 28 points
7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 27 points
8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, SUZ), 24 points
9. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 20 points
10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, TM), 20 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 241 points
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 225 points
3. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 169 points
4. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 165 points
5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 147 points
6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 140 points
7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 132 points
8. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 113 points
9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 110 points
10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, TM), 88 points

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 36:19.765
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:04.848
3. Jed Beaton (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:06.210
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:12.939
5. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:43.760
6. Adam Sterry (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:53.531
7. Alvin ÌÐstlund (SWE, Yamaha), +0:56.533
8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Yamaha), +1:06.790
9. Henry Jacobi (GER, Husqvarna), +1:19.351
10. Bas Vaessen (NED, Honda), +1:21.172.

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 35:22.081
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:03.024
3. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:03.196
4. Jed Beaton (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:14.392
5. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:31.780
6. Calvin Vlaanderen (RSA, Honda), +0:34.081
7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:37.360
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Husqvarna), +0:40.860
9. Adam Sterry (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:42.100
10. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), +0:43.580. MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 50 points
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 40 points
3. Jed Beaton (AUS, KAW), 38 points
4. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 36 points
5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 36 points
6. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, YAM), 29 points
7. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 27 points
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, HUS), 25 points
9. Calvin Vlaanderen (RSA, HON), 18 points
10. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, KAW), 17 points

MX2 Championship Top Ten:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 216 points
2. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 202 points
3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 185 points
4. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 141 points
5. Jed Beaton (AUS, KAW), 129 points
6. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, YAM), 115 points
7. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 100 points
8. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, HON), 99 points
9. Calvin Vlaanderen (RSA, HON), 97 points
10. Henry Jacobi (GER, HUS), 96 p.

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