CROWN DUELS
By Alex Hodgkinson on 21st Dec 12
It was the duel of the year Tommy Searle versus Jeffrey Herlings.
Between them they won all bar one GP – and that only went astray because both of them retired – while the moto count was equally impressive as their lieutenants, Joel Roelants and Jeremy Van Horebeek, snapped up the crumbs, with just three out of 32.
Herlings' KTM carried the red series leader's plate all summer, but the tension was maintained until mid-July.
Tommy pulled back an early 41-point deficit to turn the screw until that fateful day in Latvia, when his second mechanical breakage and a tyre defect settled matters, even if Herlings' teenage dramas maintained hopes of a reversal in fortunes until the clincher in Italy.
Away from sand Searle was actually the faster of the duo for most of the year.
Nevertheless even the brave Brit had to admit in the end that the third-youngest title holder of all time was a worthy
champion, as he coupled the Roczenlesson of ‘run and hide' with an ability to dig deep when necessary.
Early-season injuries to Zach Osborne and Arnaud Tonus wrecked Steve Dixon's Yamaha squad's GP hopes, but Jake Nicholls stayed healthy to advance to the verge of a medal.
Max Anstie kept battling away despite a camel of a bike, Mel Pocock was a worthy stand-in for his absent colleagues – Tonus and Osborne – between his domination of the Euro series, and Elliott Banks-Browne kept plugging away against devastating misfortune to confirm his top-ten potential by the end of the year.
Indeed four of the top ten had UK connections in no less than seven of the 16 GPs and only once, at the bike-wrecker in Latvia, were there less than three.
FOR FULL TEST AND PICTURES SEE TMX DECEMBER 21
