Jeffrey Herlings interviewRed Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings sure knows a little about winning. After six moto’s of the 2015 MX2 championship he has won five of them, and only lost the other because of an accident caused by his team-mate Pauls Jonass.
While the MX2 class might be getting a little less love in 2015 due to the very competitive MXGP class and the arrival of Ryan Villopoto the two time MX2 Champion Herlings isn’t losing any sleep, and despite a less than enjoyable winter and injury riddled 2014, his quest for title number three is on track.
We gave the fastest MX2 rider in the world a call this morning as he was driving to Belgium, putting the hours in to become the best he can be, in a sport that doesn’t take lightly to poor work ethic. Herlings is the king of hard work will pay off.
MXLarge: It seems as though you generally only have bad luck man?
Herlings: Well, that’s true. It is tough with what happened last year, then coming back from a broken femur and then come back and win both moto’s in Qatar and also in Thailand. In Argentina I felt much better because I had spent more time on the bike. I dominated Saturday and then Sunday first moto, first lap my team-mate jumped on me and that wasn’t the plan obviously. I didn’t have eyes in the back of my head. I felt I could have won both moto’s I feel. I had a lot of pain in my bad leg in the second moto, but I still dominated with a 20 second lead and moto win. I am pretty sure I would have won the first moto and have a big lead on second place in the championship.
Mxlarge: The track looks awesome, how was it for you?
Herlings: It was a beautiful track, just like a track should be, wide, some good jumps, waves, a big crowd and some tracks like in Qatar and Thailand you have big rocks. In Argentina you had the sand on the top, good line selection. It was one of the best tracks I have ever raced on.
MXLarge: Dylan Ferrandis has been riding really well, but in the press conferences he often makes statements about running with you if he gets a start. What do you think of that?
Herlings: I mean he has stepped it up a bit and he was a bit lucky he won that moto that I DNFed, so he made up 25 points on me in the championship, but he keeps saying in the press conference whenever he starts up front he will beat me straight up, you know the last three years (smiling). For sure he stepped it up and he is at the moment my biggest title contender.
MXLarge: What about Arco the next round of the championship, do you like that place?
Herlings: I like it, it’s alright, for some reason I always ride well there. It is hard-pack and slippery. I have won there I think the last three years in a row. It isn’t one of my favorites, I mean the next one after Italy is Valkenswaard and I look forward to that more than Arco, but we have to ride it and like I said I have done well there.
Mxlarge: I am guessing you are super happy to have those fly-aways out of the way?
Herlings: I was struggling with time on the bike for those first three rounds, because we did a lot of travelling and it was hard to put hours on the clock. I could barely ride during the week and now we have the European rounds it’s just Friday until Monday and then you got the rest of the week to train. I mean I enjoyed the three fly-aways and we had good rounds winning five out of the six moto’s. We had a good time, but for sure I am happy to be back in Europe and spend more time on the bike. I am sore from the crash in Argentina with my knee and ankle, so we take a week off and then get back into it.
MXLarge: Like many of the National championship races in Europe the Dutch championship seems a little in trouble. Low crowds, not the top guys at the races. What is your opinion of the whole thing?
Herlings: For the moment, as an outsider it looks like a disaster. If I look at videos from Halle the second round of the championship last weekend, it hardly had any crowd, it did look like an amateur race. I think it isn’t the way to go with a National round the same weekend as the Grand Prix. I mean I wanted to race the championship and from the seven rounds three are held on the same weekend as a Grand Prix. Glenn Coldenhoff and I can’t race those three rounds.
Mxlarge: Big names at the National championship races might be a thing of the past in the near future. Desalle doesn’t race his national championship, you missed the first two rounds. Running the Dutch championship without yourself and Glenn seems like a pretty bad idea.
Herlings: My personal opinion is that it’s a bad idea. The clubs need big crowd and everyone wants to race in front of big crowds. People want to see the top guys racing and if you pay 25euro you want to see the best riders possible. I mean last weekend there was a GP live in television in the afternoon or evening, the heavy-hitters were in Argentina and it was bad weather in Holland, so the crowd was really bad. I am just a rider, but I don’t agree with how its run.
MXLarge: I have to ask you again, what is your opinion of the MXGP class after three rounds?
Herlings: I mean, the biggest surprise is Clement Desalle man. I mean you look at guys like Antonio Cairoli and Ryan Villopoto and he is leading those guys in the points race and then you have Max Nagl who has won two GPs, those two guys are really surprising me. Max won two of the three GPs and Clement has a lead by around 10 points in the championship points. I think we all thought maybe Villopoto would do better, he has only won one race from the six moto’s run, but the season is long and Cairoli and Villopoto are champions and at the end of the season I think it will be one of those guys. Sure Villopoto disappointed a bit, but everything is new for the guy, it’s a new culture, new tracks, new competition, everything is different and he needs time to adapt. The season is long and Cairoli is always there and injury free for a while and I think he is the guy to beat.
http://www.mxlarge.com/2015/04/02/jeffrey-herlings-interview-17/