Flying Dutchman

The Dutch teenager won every GP he started and only dropped a moto twice.

 

Had he not been forced to sit out Bastogne and Matterley Basin he would probably have ended the campaign with more than double the score of seventh-ranked Jake Nicholls.

 

Before his 19th birthday the boy from Elsendorp in Brabant has a career record of 31 GP victories from 58 starts.

 

When they lined up for the first MX2 GP of the year under the floodlights in Qatar, the Bullit was the only rider at the gate who had ever won a GP before.

 

None of his rivals had even taken a moto and the mountain they faced to beat the greatest sand rider the world has ever known on any surface was monumental.

 

As Jeffrey himself said on several occasions throughout the year, his own impetuosity was his most dangerous rival, a fact he illustrated more than once.

 

It was usually merely a question of how long he would need to take the lead, as the factory KTM – voluntarily down 500 rpm as the CDI refused to play ball – rarely even sniffed a holeshot.

 

Valentin Teillet, that well-known accident waiting to happen, had headed qualification all the way as Herlings surged back through the pack from a turn two tangle, but it was the Frenchman's turn to bow to the inevitable in the MX2 moto on race day.

 

Youthstream introduced the Superfinal ‘confrontation' of the top 20 from each class in the overseas GPs for the second moto, with a view to presenting all of the names in a one-hour TV show to a public all over Asia and the Americas. 

 

The MX2 boys were clearly on a hiding to nothing, the only plus from their point of view being first choice of gate.

 

But the 250Fs were eaten up long before turn one by the MX1 front runners and only Herlings ever figured in the overall top ten of a Superfinal all year.

 

In both Qatar and Thailand he banged bars with the 450s for 15 minutes before frustratedly  throwing in the towel: "I was busting a gut to pass the 450s in the turns and they went back past me on the straight even though I was flat out. 

 

"My goal is the perfect season and I was half a minute in front of the next 250. Why should I risk the 25 points?” The concept was amended for the final overseas GP, round seven in Brazil, but not for the better. Even the gate choice bonus was scrapped, and just three 250s came round in the top 20 on the opening lap. 

 

Herlings, trapped in the pack, had gone down in a tangle at turn two and even he needed half the moto to get back to second in class, on a single lane expressway filled with midpack 450s. 

 

MX2 holeshot king Jose Butron maintained his tenth place in the mixed classification to the finish with a frustrated Herlings still 14 seconds down at the chequered flag

 

"I wanted to win every moto and I could have caught Jose in an MX2 race, but I lost too much time behind those 450s,” said the Dutchman,

 

"I guess I'll have to amend that target to every overall.”

 

By then Herlings had gone 1-1 through the first four GPs in Europe and added two more maximum scores in France and Italy before his next points hiccup.

 

But the way had not always been without pitfall.

 

At Valkenswaard he had ended up under the fence in qualification and had last choice of gate after fans leapt to his aid.

 

He got dragged off at turn one in Arco qualification, he needed 22 minutes to find a way round Aleksandr Tonkov at Maggiora and promptly binned it at the next turn, but the luckiest escape during the first half of the year came at Ernee, France. 

 

Way out in front of the Saturday race, he cased a downhill triple, flew over the bars and was smacked in the face by his own bike: "I got lucky that day,” he admitted.

 

His run of MX2 GP moto victories finally came to an end at Uddevalla as the front end washed out on a heavily-watered entrance to turn one.

 

He snatched third from team-mate Jordi Tixier halfway round the final lap, but, headed home by Christophe Charlier and Jake Nicholls, he no longer had his fate in his own hands.

 

"Jordi saved me today,” he laughed after the second moto. 

 

"We joked in the awning after race one that he had to ride shotgun for me and finish second ahead of Charlier in moto two – and he did just that. I owe him !”

 

Four more maximum scores followed as record followed record – most career GP wins by a Dutchman, most consecutive GP victories.

 

But that thin line between success and failure was never more evident than at the start of the qualifier in Finland, as the kid with more lives than a cat survived the most horrendous incident – which was not of his own making.

 

The moto was the first-ever start on the rather dubious first turn.

 

And the scene was hectic even before Dean Ferris planted the front wheel in soft sand, Dylan Ferrandis bouncing off the Australian straight across the path of Herlings as the entire field was on full throttle exiting the turn.

 

Herlings was flung ten feet in the air, but miraculously escaped with nothing more than a shaking, to run away with the GP next day.

 

Another double win in Germany and the most interesting aspect of the opener at Loket was to make sure Tixier finished top ten to prolong the celebrations to race two. 

 

The Czech track was, of course, the place where Josh Coppins' dreams were shattered in 2007 and it was also the scene of the only accident to sideline Herlings in four years, as a wayward Christophe Charlier inadvertently wiped him out in 2010 and his season ended with a busted shoulder.

 

But there was no such drama this year. 

 

FOR FULL REVIEW AND PICTURES SEE TMX JANUARY 3