Have to say, as much as I (as a Herlings fan) would love to see Jeffrey Herlings win every single Grand Prix until the end of the season, and take his sixth World motocross championship, it is looking more likely that the title fight will be fought between defending champion, Jorge Prado and red plate man, Tim Gajser. I think had Herlings won in Sweden and not gone 7-5-2 for the Saturday and Sunday, he would be a lot closer to the two front men and his chances would still be great.

Either Prado or Gajser would be a deserved World champion, two of our all-time greates and whoever wins the title, will take a step up our all-time list of amazing champions. Exciting times, no matter who wins.

Of course, motocross is a sport that doesn’t hand out favours, just because you want it to, and Herlings, who has lost a handful of World titles because of his brittle bones, probably deserves a little help. Imagine him winning a title on the back of somebody else getting injured?

Now, nobody wants anyone to get injured, because we all want our World champion to be a worthy champion and while winning a World title under any circumstances is worthy, the biggest titles ever won, were won when three or four men were battling for supremacy. The greatest motocross riders the sport have seen all won a title or two under heavy fire and pressure us fans cannot even imagine.

Battled like Torsten Hallman and Joel Robert in 1967, when Hallman won by just two points and both won five motos each, were motocross gold, or maybe that 1974 250 World title battle between Guennady Moiseev and Jaroslav Falta, that ended in drama with the other Russian riders helping their countryman out. The final gap in that championship was just six points, although like in that 67 battle between Hallman and Robert, the titles were often won on only your best results were counted. From memory, the best eight rounds were counted out of the 12 rounds, but still, it was a legendary finish to a dramatic title fight and one that is still talked about now, some 50 years later.

Moiseev wasn’t so lucky in 1976, when he lost the 250cc title from Heikki Mikkola by just one point. Again, motos were split, seven each and the final round went to Moiseev 1-1, but it wasn’t enough to pull back the points deficit.

British rider Neil Hudson won the 1981 250 World title from Georges Jobe, 235 points to 233 and in the final three rounds, Jobe scored just 12 points to 68 points. The Brit coming home strong with Jobe clearly struggling with an injury, but that’s the sport, just ask Herlings.

In 1983 it was the turn of Swedish legend Hakan Carlqvist and Belgian legend, Andre Malherbe to fight until the end, with the Swede getting the 500cc title, 260 points to 253 Malherbe, or a year later in Michele Rinaldi won the 125cc title from Corrado Maddii, 302 to 299, or n 1985 when Heinz Kinigadner won the 250 title from Jacky Vimond, 291 to 289. For Vimond a horrible end as he scored just 13 points in the final round to 27 by Kinigadner.

Of course, one of the greatest eras in our beautiful sport happened in the 500cc class in the 1980s and while Dave Thorpes 1985 win over Malherbe, by just 10 points was a close call, that didn’t go anywhere near as exciting as the 1986 season, when Thorpe, Malherbe and Eric Geboers spent the entire season going backwards and forward for the championship. Eventually, in the end it was Thorpe with 316 pts, Malherbe 311pts and Geboers 299 pts. It should also be added, another huge legend of the sport, Georges Jobe was fourth with 296 pts. The final GP of that season, which decided to championship, Jobe won with 3-1, Thorpe second with 1-3, and Malherbe third with 2-2, while poor old Geboers ended the weekend with just 5-6 scores, which ultimately, more or less, lost him the title. Still, it was Thorpe, just like his other three titles was the best man in that season, a season that is still talked about some 40 years later.

J.M. Bayle beat Dave Strijbos by just three points to win the 1988 125cc title, Stefan Everts won his first World title in 1991, in the 125cc class and beat American Bobby Moore by just nine points, the same season, two American riders, Trampas Parker and Mike Healey went first and second in the 250cc title, 242 to 238, with third placed man, Alex Puzar on 232. Georges Jobe won the 1992 World 500cc championship over Kurt Nicoll, 550 to 548, Nicoll going 1-3-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (back in those days they rode three motos on a Sunday) in the final three rounds, but still coming up short.

Many championships since those golden 70s, 80s and 90s saw close battles, with many also won easily, like in the Everts and Cairoli years, although Greece in 1998 was a close one between Everts and Tortelli, Tortelli winning by eight points after Everts entered that final round with the points lead. Another legendary round, many still remember.

Prado, Herlings, Gajser – Title Points

Of course, there was that 2014 MX2 championship, where Jeffrey Herlings rode the final round with a broken femur and lost the title to Jordi Tixier by just four points, but many of the titles won by Herlings were also a one man show. Similar story for Tim Gajser and Jorge Prado, the men who have won a majority of World titles in the last decade.

Then of course that classic 2021 title fight between Herlings, Gajser and Febvre, which also went down to the final round, Herlings getting the verdict. And then we sat in 2024 and again, we have a battle for the ages, again Herlings and Gajser, but this time Prado, who has made a thing about winning titles easily in the past.

Prado won his first title in 2018 by nearly 100 points over Pauls Jonass (873 to 777), then in 2019 by more than 200 points over Thomas Olsen (837 to 624) and finally last year over Romain Febvre, with the points 921 to 854. So, this is the first year the Spaniard has had to really fight for a title at the end and until now, he seems to relish the challenge.

Gajser on the other hand has won his titles also rather easily. 2015 in the MX2 class he beat Jonass 589 to 564, 2016 MXGP title he beat Antonio Cairoli, 731 to 647, again in 2019 in MXGP, he beat Jeremy Seewer 782 to 580, and in 2020, he won the MXGP class again over Seewer, 720 to 618. Just to prove a point, the Slovenian won his last World title in 2022, again over Seewer, 763 to 657. All easy work when it comes to pressure at the end of the season.

Herlings five titles came with a little resistance, but not a lot, 2012 he beat Tommy Searle 694 to 651, 2013 he beat Tixier 742 to 607, 2016 he beat Seewer 739 to 625, 2018 he beat Cairoli, 933 to 782 and of course, that sensational 2021 season, he won in a tight battle, with 708 points, to Febvre 703 and Gajser 688.

So, until now, Herlings is really the only one who has won a title under huge pressure, and these final four rounds, will tell us which of these three, deserve to be called the greatest motocross rider in the World. As I said earlier, whoever it is, has 100% earnt it, in one of the all time fights for a World motocross championship in our sports history.