Herlings joins the half-century club
By Sean Lawless on 30th Mar 16
Jeffrey Herlings raced to his 50th GP win at Valkenswaard on Monday after dominating both MX2 motos in his home country.The 21-year-old Dutchman is only the fifth rider to reach the landmark figure and joins Stefan Everts, Antonio Cairoli, Joel Smets and Joel Robert in the exclusive half-century club.
"It's pretty amazing to do this in front of my home crowd,” he said. "Fifty GP wins is something pretty special, it's one of the big numbers.”
The track is only 30 miles from his home village and Herlings – who won his first GP at Valkenswaard as a 15-year-old and hasn't been beaten there in seven consecutive GPs – wore patriotic kit to mark the occasion.
"We didn't see much of the gear but I got the second moto holeshot so I was clean for a couple of laps but in the first moto I was very roosted after one turn. So that was unfortunate but I think it looked pretty cool – the Dutch flag – as I could win my 50th GP here in Holland.
"Just a little thank you to the home crowd and the people supporting me. Many of them support me seven years in a row so it's pretty cool.”
When asked if he thought he could win his third world title at the MXGP of the Netherlands at Assen in August he refused to be drawn.
"That would be amazing but most important is to just finish up the season,” he added. "It would be great to win it in my own country but it also depends on how I will do and how the rest of the riders will do. It's far away – it's still five or six months away.”
