Steve Cox | May 14, 2018
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results: Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings scored his fifth overall win in the first seven races of 2018 with his dominating 1-1 performance in Latvia this weekend. As has happened a few times already in 2018, living legend Antonio Cairoli got out to early leads in both MX GP motos only to have Herlings work his way into second, chase Cairoli down, and then pass him to take the win by a few seconds at the checkered flag.
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
In the first moto, Herlings started just outside the top 10 while Red Bull KTM’s Cairoli was busy fighting off the advances of Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre. Herlings caught them just before the halfway point, passed Febvre, and then about two laps later, did likewise with Cairoli before sprinting off with a win just about 3 seconds in front of Cairoli. Febvre fell off to finish third almost 30 seconds behind the lead pair, and fellow Frenchman Gautier Paulin scored fourth in the opening moto.
In the second moto, Cairoli again led early, but Herlings started much closer to the front and worked for eight laps to find a way around Cairoli, but once he did, with about seven laps left, he pulled away to a six-second margin of victory.
“It was a little more demanding than I was expecting today, especially after the result of yesterday,” Herlings said, referring to his dominant performance in the Saturday qualifying race. “But we did good things for the championship.”
Cairoli is hoping to wear down the young speedster as the series goes on.
“I’m really happy because my speed was good and we are in one piece, the track was very difficult and the rhythm was really very fast,” Cairoli said. “I am a little disappointed with the second race, my plan was to hold him a little bit longer and fight for the GP win. But overall I’m really happy about the starts and the championship is very long so we are looking forward to the next races.”
Paulin came through for third in the second moto, with the 4-3 giving him third overall on the day.
Herlings now leads Cairoli by 29 points in the championship with 13 races – 26 motos – still left to run.
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
In the MX2 class, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Thomas Kjer Olsen had a day to remember in Latvia. In the first moto, he got the holeshot and led points leader and defending champ Pauls Jonass (Red Bull KTM) for the entire moto, while Olsen’s American teammate Thomas Covington returned from a knee injury to snatch third in the moto. The top three each had about 10 seconds on the person behind them at the finish line.
But in moto two, Covington was working his way up through the field after a poor start when he went down, leaving his motorcycle too damaged to continue. However, out front, Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado controlled the race from start to finish, while Olsen worked his way from outside the top five to second at the finish, less than three seconds behind Prado.
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
Jonass had a terrible start in the second moto and did all he could to end up fifth at the finish. Olsen took the overall with a 1-2 score over the 4-3 of Belgian Yamaha pilot Jago Geerts and points leader Jonass, whose 2-5 landed him third overall.
Jonass leads the points by 22 over Prado with a long way yet to go in the championship chase.
The series continues this coming weekend with the MX GP of Germany in Teutschenthal.
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
2018 MX GP of Latvia Results
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