There is becoming a bit of a trend in the 2023 MXGP championship, but it is a trend we have seen so many times before. Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings is building momentum and not even that horrible bad luck in the French GP, when his goggles broke and then his foot peg are seeming slowing him down.

Renthal support Jeffrey Herlings and MXlarge: RENTHAL 2023

Herlings has gone 1-9-1-1-3-4-1-2 so far this year and we all know that 9^th could very easily have been a victory had it not been for his bad luck. His confidence and speed are growing and a confident Herlings is near unbeatable.

The speed at which Herlings can catch and pass his opposition we don’t see from anyone else, in fact, we have probably hardly seen it in the sports history. You just know in a moto, with 10 minutes to go, it doesn’t matter where he is on the track, he is making a charge and in fact, if he doesn’t make some type of ridiculous charge through the field, well, that would be unusual.

One the Saturday, during the MXGP qualification race, Herlings won, but it was the closeness of the finish between himself and series leader Jorge Prado that made everyone sit up and wonder if the Spaniard might have something for him on Sunday.

“It was good,” Herlings said after the moto. “I had a good start and got to the lead. Jorge kept me honest, and he had some good lines, and I wasn't focusing on ahead. Let us hope they keep it dry, and we can win tomorrow.”

Prado looked determined on Sunday and took it to the Dutchman, even causing Herlings to slip over when in pursuit of the GasGas factory rider. As is often the case, a mistake from Herlings fired him up and he came back from around eight seconds down to catch and pass Prado with ease.

“First moto still with arm pump and I don't understand why, I am racing so much. Very happy and pleased and I lost points in France and got a point back yesterday and three today, so I hope the second moto is the same. Hopefully we can get win number 103.”

The final race of the weekend and Herlings again had to chase, this time both Prado and Romain Febvre, but he left no doubt as he moved to the lead and went 1-1-1 for the weekend, closing down the points lead to just 15 with the German GP and two in Indonesia coming up in the next month. Can the Dutchman leave Asia with the red plate, or even Germany?

“A tough race (the second one). I was a bit scared the start mesh was going to be slick in the second moto, so I dropped the revs and almost missed the start, but I still came out 3rd. I had to work hard to get through and it was not easy at all to catch and pass Jorge and Romain but when I went for it, I could make it happen. Romain was riding really good. I had to fight. 1st place as well yesterday so a good GP and I’m very happy and pleased to have a perfect weekend. Now onto Germany.”

Yes, onto Germany, another hard pack circuit and another place where Herlings has had success around the very tricky, bumpy and treacherous Teutschenthal circuit, going 2-1-2-1 in his last four appearances there and won on two other occasions in Germany. Another 1-1-1 performance and that 15 points might be very much a red plate to “The Bullet”. Let’s wait and see.

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