With a two week breaks between the Grand Prix of Thailand and the Grand Prix of Netherlands, set for Valkenswaard on April 1, many Grand Prix riders have been doing National championship races to prepare for round three of the FIM World Motocross Championships.
The biggest winner last weekend was Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings who went 1-1 in the opening round of the Dutch MX2 Championship, held at Halle in the east of Holland. The 2012 World MX2 Champion looked at home in the deep sand, although didn’t have the same fast starts as he is used to. He will also race the second round of the Dutch series this weekend.
Herlings led home a bunch of leading MX2 Grand Prix riders like Romain Febvre, Dean Ferris, Glenn Coldenhoff, Jordi Tixier, Harri Kullas and Jake Nicholls.
“I wasn’t that happy with my weekend,”Herlings said. “I didn’t get the types of starts I usually get and crashed a couple of times, which is unusual for me. I won both motos and have also won all four motos in the FIM World MX2 Championship, so I should not complain. Now I got to Valkenswaard and see what I can do there.”
In the MX1 class in Holland it was Honda World Team rider Evgeny Bobryshev who took the victory, winning ahead of several GP riders like Jeremy Van Horebeek and Marc De Reuver.
In Great Britain the opening round of the British Motocross Championship was played out and it was Kawasaki rider Tommy Searle who won the MX1 class and KTM teamster Elliot Banks Browne who won the MX2 class. Several leading Grand Prix riders were also on show including Jonathan Barragan, Tanel Leok and Mel Pocock.
MX2 winner Browne was happy to leave his national series with the red plate and is now looking towards Valkenswaard to improve his FIM World MX2 Championship position.
“The day started with a lot of wet conditions, the first race was not so bad, but then it rained again and the last race was a mud race, one of the worst I have been in for a long time. I won the first moto easy and then in the second one I followed Mel Pocock and didn’t need to catch him to win the overall. I lost my goggles and that made it difficult.”
The weather conditions in England were far worse than the GP riders had enjoyed in Qatar and Thailand as the first round at Fatcats Park was nearly cancelled due to heavy rain and eventually the program was shortened due to the terrible track conditions. The second round, which was expected this weekend at Canada Heights, has been cancelled.
Also in France the opening round of the French Motocross Championships was cancelled due to wet conditions.