It is a date that seems so long ago, Sunday, August 18th, 2024, the day Jeffrey Herlings won his 107th and last Grand Prix. In a career full of so many magical moments, JH84 no winning just doesn't seem right.

As we now sit in May of 2025, I hope we don’t have to wait too much longer for the flying Dutchman to win again. But, unfortunately, eight months waiting is nothing new to "The Bullet".

The eight months he hasn't won a GP isn't the longest without victory for the Dutchman. When he won the USGP in the MX2 class in early September of 2016 and picked up an injury, he didn't win again until May of 2017 at Latvia in the MXGP class, so nine months without a win. Of course, when he missed the complete 2022 season, he won a GP in November (Covid GP) of 2021 and his next win came in March 2023, so around 16 months!!!

What is interesting, both those long injury periods of 2016/17 and 2021/23 came after he was crowned World champion, close to the peak of his career. Yes, we all know these damn injuries have cost him dozens and dozens of GP victories.

I don’t think anyone is enjoying watching the five-time World motocross champion riding around in the positions he is, in the first four rounds of his comeback from an injury at the end of 2024. It has been one of the toughest periods, as far as results go, in his whole career.

Obviously preparation is everything and while we might have gotten “The Bullet” coming back from injury and still blitzing everyone, his most recent return has seen NO off-season prep and even when he missed the complete 2022 season and came back in 2023 with 2-1-4-3, he had a good off season to prepare, so he came in confident and it showed.

Back in 2017, when he again came back from injury, and didn’t have a great preparation, his opening four rounds were 15-17-9-12, so in fact, his current 15-9-7-9 is a lot better than that 2017 run, some eight years ago. In 2017, it took him seven GPs to win, and it might be a similar story this year, at least we hope.

With another Red Bull KTM rider Lucas Coenen arriving on the scene, it might just be hard for anyone else to get a win, as he rolls into top form, and still not 100% health wise. If ever we have seen anyone with the speed of Jeffrey Herlings, it is Coenen.

If anyone can handle the young Belgian though, it is Herlings and when the time is right, WOW, I cannot wait to see this battle. As I have mentioned before on this site, it will be epic. Coenen would like it in the sand, but I would like it ASAP, so hard pack in Spain, France, or Germany will do me.

It is unusual to see Herlings racing in the positions he is now racing and for me, its pretty sad, but we cannot expect a miracle from the 30-year-old. We all know his will to win has been unmatched over the years, and we also know his determination to come back from injury is legendary. If he didn’t feel he could win, he would retire and of that, I am sure.

Going by his moto results, that fourth place in Switzerland showed us a lot, and while a 10-7 in the mud in Portugal isn’t an improvement on that 4th place, he is starting to build consistency, and Portugal was without question his most consistent weekend yet.

Below are his results and comments from the first four rounds of his season. Do not be surprised to see him on the box in Lugo this weekend, you just get the feeling its coming and I think we all want to see that happen, as soon, as possible.

Portugal - 10th and 7th for 9th overall in MXGP

“Yesterday we were quite hopeful until the crash in the Heat when I was thinking about pushing for the lead. I was hit by another rider and bruised my ribs and had a sore elbow. I was struggling with the ribs today and I could feel every bump. It was annoying! We could finish 10-7 and that’s not what we wanted from this GP but after Saturday I think it was OK. I’ll definitely be 100% for the next race and I hope to be closer to that top five.”

Switzerland - 14th and 4th for 7th overall in MXGP

“Quite an OK weekend. In the first moto I had a really bad start, and the track was really tough for passing. I didn’t manage to make many places. The second start was better, and I was in 3rd for a long time. A shame to have some contact with a lapped rider otherwise it would have been P3. It’s just my fourth week back on the bike so 4th is quite decent. 7th is not where we want to be, but the others have a lot more race time. Portugal is a difficult track for me, so we’ll keep pounding, keep working and get better every week. We’ll work on some more race rhythm before Portugal and hopefully we’ll try and sneak our way into the top five. That will be the aim.”

Trentino - 10th and 11th for 9th overall in MXGP

“10-11 and 9: not too bad for an old man who has only been on the bike a couple of weeks. We’ll keep working and trying to build from here. We’ll wait and see what we can do in Switzerland now. I just want to give my best every weekend.

Sardinia - 20th and 7th for 15th overall in MXGP

“We decided at the last minute to come to this race and use it as the best practice. Yes, a P20 can hurt but…I think it was just my sixth day on the bike after six months. So, for the circumstances I think it was quite good today. It was the first time I’d done a 35-minute moto! We got some points and finishing 7th in the second moto was quite good. Now just to build and get better every single week. Step-by-step now.”

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