It’s KTM at the double

"That's like a win for me round here,” said Searle.

 

There were top ten finishes for Jake Nicholls, Max Anstie, Shaun Simpson and Mel Pocock, while Maxxis leader Kevin Strijbos made the factory boys sweat with fifth in MX1.

 

There was few who doubted that Herlings would again score two runaway wins in MX2. 

 

"He'll be four-seconds-a-lap faster than anybody else round here,” admitted Searle frankly before proceedings even began.

 

And the Dutch teenager admitted: "I can only beat myself!” Even a missed start and two crashes couldn't prevent him winning the 20-minute qualification race by half a minute and onlooking record Dutch GP winner Dave Strijbos admitted: "Jeffrey is the fastest sand rider the world has ever seen.”

 

In the opener ‘Jeffro' needed just four turns to storm past new holeshot king Jake Nicholls and was already six seconds down the track after a lap. By halfway he was coasting but still won by nearly a minute, with just five riders on the same lap at the finish – and only three of those in sight.

 

Completely out of shape at the gate he needed a lap and a half to haul in Searle in race two and Roelants kept him in sight for half the race

 

"They graded nearly the entire track so anyone could ride it,” he said, before extending the lead to 36 seconds as the holes swallowed up the opposition and only four rivals raced the entire distance.

 

Searle, who had settled into a moto-length rhythm as early as lap four in the opener, to ensure he didn't put second place at risk, admitted after the second race: "I pushed too hard in the early laps that time and had to let Joel go. 

 

"I was coming back at him before lappers got in the way, but I'll settle for what I got today. 

 

"I'm not a sand rider and if they'd offered me fourth not to ride, I'd have taken it. This is a bonus, and there are only two sand tracks in 16 rounds!”

 

Even Herlings admitted: "I've been working at my speed on hardpack this winter, but I need to work on my starts!”

 

After two holeshots in three starts Nicholls clearly showed that he is the fifth force in the class after Roelants and Van Horebeek.

 

"I was really pleased with the qualification race where I led for five laps and didn't stress,” he said.

 

"But I had a big crash in warm-up which left me feeling dizzy and I rode a little stiffly in the first race but found my own pace. When Horebeek got back up just in front of me in the first race I had to go for him.

 

"And even though he picked up the pace again, it was good for me because Tixier couldn't follow us.” 

 

First lap dramas in race two meant Jake had to charge from 16th for his eventual ninth.

 

 

Rd 1 – Valkenswaard, HOLLAND

 1 Antonio Cairoli (I - KTM) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Clement Desalle (B  - Suzuki) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Steven Frossard (F - Yamaha) 20 + 20 = 40

 4 Gautier Paulin (F - Kawasaki) 18 + 14 = 32

 5 Kevin Strijbos (B - KTM) 15 + 16 = 31

 6 Ken De Dycker (B - KTM) 16 + 15 = 31

 7 Rui Goncalves (P - Honda) 11 + 18 = 29

 8 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Yamaha) 10 + 13 = 23

 9 Tanel Leok (EST - Suzuki) 12 + 10 = 22

10 Xavier Boog (F - Kawasaki) 13 +  7 = 20

11 David Philippaerts (I - Yamaha) 14+6=20, 12 Matiss Karro (LAT - KTM) 6+11=17, 13 Marcus Schiffer (D - Suzuki) 9+5=14, 14 Christophe Pourcel (F - Kawasaki) 0+12=12, 15 Jonathan Barragan (E - Honda) 4+8=12, 16 Davide Guarneri (I - KTM) 8+4=12, 17 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda) 0+9=9, 18 Matteo Bonini (I - KTM) 7+0=7, 19 Gert Krestinov (EST - Honda) 3+2=5, 20 Herjan Brakke (NL - Yamaha) 5+0=5, 21 Sebastien Pourcel (F - Kawasaki) 0+3=3, 22 Milko Potisek (F - Honda) 2+0=2, 23 Martin Barr (GB - Kawasaki) 0+1=1, 24 Anthony Boissiere (F - TM) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 Frossard, 4 Paulin, 5 De Dycker, 6 Strijbos, 7 Philippaerts, 8 Boog, 9 Leok, 10 Goncalves, 11 SIMPSON, 12 Schiffer, 13 Guarneri, 14 Bonini, 15 Karro, 16 Brakke, 17 Barragan, 18 Krestinov, 19 Potisek, 20 Boissiere.

RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 Frossard, 4 Goncalves, 5 Strijbos, 6 De Dycker, 7 Paulin, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Christophe Pourcel, 10 Karro, 11 Leok, 12 Bobryshev, 13 Barragan, 14 Boog, 15 Philippaerts, 16 Schiffer, 17 Guarneri, 18 Sebastien Pourcel, 19 Krestinov, 20 Barr.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 16) rounds: As Overall above.

NEXT ROUND: April 22 – Sevlievo, BULGARIA.

 

Rd 1 – Valkenswaard, HOLLAND

 1 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - KTM) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Joel Roelants (B  - Kawasaki) 20 + 22 = 42

 3 Tommy Searle (GB - Kawasaki) 22 + 20 = 42

 4 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KTM) 18 + 18 = 36

 5 Jordi Tixier (F - KTM) 15 + 14 = 29

 6 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - KTM) 16 + 12 = 28

 7 Max ANSTIE (GB - Honda) 10 + 16 = 26

 8 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Kawasaki) 11 + 13 = 24

 9 Valentin Teillet (F - Kawasaki) 12 + 11 = 23

10 Mel POCOCK (GB - Yamaha) 13 +  9 = 22

11 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - KTM) 6+15=21, 12 Alessandro Lupino (I - Husqvarna) 8+8=16, 13 Harri Kullas (SF - Suzuki) 5+10=15, 14 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - Honda) 14+1=15, 15 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Suzuki) 9+0=9, 16 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - KTM) 0+7=7, 17 Roberts Justs (LAT - Honda) 2+5=7, 18 Valentin Guillod (CH - KTM) 3+4=7, 19 Petar Petrov (BG - Suzuki) 7+0=7, 20 Romain Febvre (F - KTM) 0+6=6, 21 Priit Ratsep (EST - KTM) 4+0=4, 22 Kevin Fors (B - Yamaha) 0+3=3, 23 Waal De Waal (NL - Suzuki) 0+2=2, 24 Ivanovs Davis (LAT - Kawasaki) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Herlings, 2 Searle, 3 Roelants, 4 Van Horebeek, 5 NICHOLLS, 6 Tixier, 7 Tonkov, 8 POCOCK, 9 Teillet, 10 Ferrandis, 11 ANSTIE, 12 Larsen, 13 Lupino, 14 Petrov, 15 Coldenhoff, 16 Kullas, 17 Ratsep, 18 Guillod, 19 Justs, 20 Davis.

RACE TWO: 1 Herlings, 2 Roelants, 3 Searle, 4 Van Horebeek, 5 ANSTIE, 6 Coldenhoff, 7 Tixier, 8 Ferrandis, 9 NICHOLLS, 10 Teillet, 11 Kullas, 12 POCOCK, 13 Lupino, 14 Rauchenecker, 15 Febvre, 16 Justs, 17 Guillod, 18 Fors, 19 De Waal, 20 Tonkov.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 16) rounds: As Overall above. 

NEXT ROUND: April 22 – Sevlievo, BULGARIA.