Cycle News Staff | May 9, 2023
Round six of the FIM Motocross World Championship took to the Spanish hillsides for what ended up being a historic day with Jeffrey Herlings eclipsing Stefan Everts’ MXGP win record. The Red Bull KTM rider went 1-1 on the day for the overall and his 102nd career GP win. In MX2, Simon Laengenfelder also went 1-1 for the sweep.
Jeffrey Herlings broke Stefan Everts’ GP win record in Spain. Photos: Ray Archer
MXGP
The Spanish Grand Prix serves as the home race for MXGP contenders Ruben Fernandez and Jorge Prado, but it was Prado’s teammate Mattia Guadagnini who found himself up front early on. Guadagnini made the move around Jeremy Seewer after Seewer’s bout of food poisoning kicked in midrace.
All smiles for the new all-time GP wins leader.
Herlings and Prado both caught fire late in the race as the duo battled their way into the top positions. Herlings eventually overtook Guadagnini for the lead, while Prado followed suit for second on lap 12. These three filled the podium in race one.
Race two saw Fernandez take the lead. The Honda rider battled with Seewer on the opening lap but eventually settled into the front position. Herlings again found his fire in the second half of the race as he began to make moves into podium territory. He passed Guadagnini and Fernandez en route to the lead and another race win and a perfect 1-1 overall.
Prado (61) gives chase to his GasGas teammate Guadagnini (101).
The victory moves Herlings just six points behind Prado for the championship lead. Fernandez held on for second in race two, earning him third overall, while Guadagnini scored his first overall podium in second with a pair of thirds.
“I’m super-happy to improve my moto wins total and take the GP win record outright,” said Herlings. “The rest of the guys have really stepped it up this season—Jorge is riding awesome—and they are really pushing, so I did not expect this would come so soon. It is still anyone’s game on any particular Sunday. To have won three from six until now is something I wouldn’t have imagined. My starts got a bit better, not great though, and top-five positions were enough today.
Spanish native, Ruben Fernandez scored second in moto two and landed on the overall podium.
“In the second moto, I could always see a leader in front of me, so I could rely on that, even though it was tough to pass here, because there was only really one fast line. In the end I could control the moto.”
MXGP podium.
MX2
Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant was the early leader in MX2 race one, with Factory GasGas’ Simon Langenfelder in second. Benistant made a crucial mistake early on, which allowed Langenfelder to slip by for the lead. The GasGas rider led the rest of the way to claim the opening-moto win.
Simon Laengenfelder won both MX2 motos.
Yamaha teammates Jago Geerts and Benistant duked it out, with Geerts taking second and Benistant third.
Geerts took second with a pair of twos.
Langenfelder grabbed the holeshot in race two, with Geerts getting a much better start in second place. These two stayed put for almost the entire race, as Langenfelder cruised to another smooth race win and overall.
Andrea Adamo went 5-3 for third overall.
Geerts tipped over on the final lap but still remounted to finish second overall. Andrea Adamo ran third for most of race two and used 5-3 scores to finish third overall. Geerts still leads the points by 48 over Adamo. CN
RESULTS
MXGP
- Jeffery Herlings (KTM) 1-1
- Mattia Guadagnini (GG) 3-3
- Ruben Fernandez (Hon) 5-2
- Jorge Prado (GG) 2-4
- Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam) 4-6
MX2
- Simon Laengenfelder (GG) 1-1
- Jago Geerts (Yam) 2-2
- Andrea Adamo (KTM) 5-3
- Kay De Wolf (Hus) 2-5
- Thibault Benistant (Yam) 3-5
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