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MXGP World Championship

Stat Sheet: Fourth Round

News, notes, stats and facts.

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There is so much that goes on at each FIM Motocross World Championship round that it is inevitable that you will overlook certain things. That is where our regular ‘Stat Sheet’ feature comes into play, however, as we focus on the details that you may have overlooked.

MXGP

Holeshot (Moto One)

Jeffrey Herlings

Best Times (Moto One)

Clement Desalle

1:47.422

Jeffrey Herlings

1:47.542

Antonio Cairoli

1:47.726

Romain Febvre

1:47.816

Tim Gajser

1:48.536

Laps Led (Moto One)

Jeffrey Herlings

19

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Sunday marked one of the biggest victories of Jeffrey Herlings' career.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

Holeshot (Moto Two)

Antonio Cairoli

Best Times (Moto Two)

Jeffrey Herlings

1:46.273

Antonio Cairoli

1:46.986

Clement Desalle

1:47.378

Glenn Coldenhoff

1:48.390

Gautier Paulin

1:48.613

Laps Led (Moto Two)

Jeffrey Herlings

17

Antonio Cairoli

2

– Jeffrey Herlings took a holeshot at the Grand Prix of Trentino, which is always a novelty. It had not actually been that long since his last holeshot though. The last time that he led right off of the bat was in the final moto of the previous season at Villars sous Ecot. Those are the only two holeshots that he has taken on a 450F and, to put that into perspective, Antonio Cairoli has claimed twenty-one holeshots through that same period.

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Jeffrey Herlings is now sat on a ten-point advantage in MXGP.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

– The race was on at the beginning of the second moto, as Jeffrey Herlings and Antonio Cairoli started in first and second. Herlings pushed into the lead quite quickly, which most readers are aware of, but Cairoli kept things close for a while. The chart below highlights the lap times from that point in the moto.

Jeffrey Herlings

Antonio Cairoli

Difference

Lap 1

1:48.661

1:48.845

-0.184

Lap 2

1:48.267

1:48.320

-0.053

Lap 3

1:46.515

1:48.582

-2.067

Lap 4

1:47.605

1:46.986

+0.619

Lap 5

1:47.596

1:47.538

+0.058

Lap 6

1:46.734

1:47.027

-0.293

– Something odd happened in the first encounter at the Grand Prix of Trentino, as neither Red Bull KTM rider set the best lap of the race. Clement Desalle managed to do that on the fifth lap. When was the last time that someone other than Antonio Cairoli or Jeffrey Herlings set the fastest time in a moto? The opening moto at the USGP last year, as Eli Tomac went quicker than anyone else, but when did another Grand Prix regular last stop those two? Romain Febvre managed it in the second moto in Sweden last season.

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Antonio Cairoli salvaged points in race one. It could have been a lot worse!

KTM Images/Ray Archer

– In the post-race press conference at the Grand Prix of Trentino, Antonio Cairoli stated that he always struggles in the turn after the finish. “On that corner I always struggle a little bit to find the braking points, Cairoli stated. “I went a little bit too far and I was thinking that he would be coming from the outside, like the lap before, so I just kept the outside line, but then he was on the inside. He had a good move on that lap. I had a small mistake, which made it a little bit easier, but that is racing.” The times below cover the first sector during the second moto and it is quite clear that he consistently lost two or three tenths a lap right after the finish.

Jeffrey Herlings

Antonio Cairoli

Difference

Lap 3

0:27.440

0:29.041

-1.601

Lap 4

0:27.562

0:27.663

-0.101

Lap 5

0:27.746

0:27.855

-0.109

Lap 6

0:27.322

0:27.794

-0.472

Lap 7

0:27.748

0:28.036

-0.288

Lap 8

0:27.925

0:27.872

+0.053

– Jeffrey Herlings swept the Grand Prix of Trentino, so stood atop the podium for the seventieth time in his career at just twenty-three years of age. This was the ninth time that he has triumphed on Italian soil and also his ninth victory in the premier division. Is it time to ask who will reach one hundred victories first? Antonio Cairoli currently has eighty-four wins. Even if he reaches the milestone first and breaks the record, it is likely that he will not hold it for very long at all.

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Good starts make Tony Cairoli tough to beat over an entire season.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

– Clement Desalle is off to a very strong start in the premier division, with three trips up onto the overall podium in three races. When was the last time that he was this consistent at the beginning of a season? 2015, his final term with Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP, when he finished on the box at the first four stops on the calendar. Desalle was second overall at three of those events and had one hundred and seventy-one points following the eighth moto. One hundred and forty-five points is his current total.

– The one hundred and forty-five points that Clement Desalle has are enough for him to occupy third in the championship standings and that is actually a rather high number. It is rare for the rider in third to have a total that high after four rounds, as the last time that it happened was four years ago. Jeremy Van Horebeek sat third in the standings with one hundred and fifty-four points that season. Can Desalle maintain his current level of form across an entire season? It was tricky for him to do that last year.

– Clement Desalle actually did a good job of staying close to Jeffrey Herlings in the opening moto, as the lap times below show. Could Desalle be the one who stops the KTM domination in MXGP? There is no doubt that he is a great candidate.

Jeffrey Herlings

Clement Desalle

Difference

Lap 1

1:48.666

1:49.538

-0.872

Lap 2

1:48.152

1:47.994

+0.158

Lap 3

1:48.134

1:48.355

-0.221

Lap 4

1:48.381

1:49.071

-0.690

Lap 5

1:47.542

1:47.422

+0.120

Lap 6

1:48.443

1:48.198

+0.245

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Clement Desalle has ensured that he is viewed as the best of the rest.

Monster Energy Media/Ray Archer

– The runner-up position that Clement Desalle acquired in the second moto was a season-best finish. Who else had one of those at Pietramurata? Tim Gajser (fifth), Maxime Desprey (eleventh), Ken De Dycker (sixteenth) and Ander Valentin (eighteenth).

– Yamaha have not had a rider on the overall podium thus far, which is obviously fairly disappointing. It was actually the year that they ended up winning the championship with Romain Febvre, 2015, so perhaps that stat acts as a reminder to not read too much into the series standings at this stage? Honda are in exactly the same position, with no overall podiums to their name, and have not started a season like that since 2012.

– There are no British riders in the top ten in the premier-division standings, following four rounds, but has a season ever started in that fashion for British fans? There were actually no British riders in the top ten at this point three years ago, as Shaun Simpson sat in eleventh and Tommy Searle ran twenty-second.

– Max Anstie has been remarkably consistent through his career, but does not get much recognition for that. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider has not scored points in four motos in a row now, because he has not lined up, and reached the same figure with a knee injury at this point last season. Missing two consecutive rounds is foreign territory though, as that has never happened to him before. A majority of riders would love to have stayed as healthy as that throughout their respective careers.

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Max Anstie is expected to return to racing at the Russian MXGP.

Husqvarna/J.P Acevedo

MX2

Holeshot (Moto One)

Jorge Prado

Best Times (Moto One)

Jorge Prado

1:49.674

Henry Jacobi

1:50.920

Thomas Kjer Olsen

1:51.094

Pauls Jonass

1:51.194

Jago Geerts

1:51.452

Laps Led (Moto One)

Jorge Prado

19

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Jorge Prado is now twenty-eight points down on Pauls Jonass.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

Holeshot (Moto Two)

Jorge Prado

Best Times (Moto Two)

Jorge Prado

1:50.005

Thomas Covington

1:50:130

Vsevolod Brylyakov

1:50.665

Calvin Vlaanderen

1:50.931

Pauls Jonass

1:51.235

Laps Led (Moto Two)

Jorge Prado

18

Thomas Covington

1

– Jorge Prado has climbed up in the record books, thanks to his latest victory. With four overall wins to his name, he is now tied with Andrew McFarlane and Christophe Pourcel on the list of all-time MX2 winners. Rui Goncalves also has four to his name. The Italian victory was the one hundred and forty-second time that a KTM-mounted rider has won an MX2 Grand Prix too. Incredible!

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Amazingly, Jorge Prado has only just turned seventeen-years-old.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

– For the second time this season, Thomas Covington slipped past Jorge Prado to take a victory on the final lap. How did that happen? The lap times that are highlighted below offer a great look at how the former was able to inch closer and eventually pounce.

Jorge Prado

Thomas Covington

Difference

Lap 14

1:52.346

1:51.784

+0.562

Lap 15

1:54.179

1:54.622

-0.443

Lap 16

1:51.955

1:51.506

+0.449

Lap 17

1:51.884

1:52.364

-0.480

Lap 18

1:51.474

1:51.322

+0.152

Lap 19

1:54.907

1:51.861

+3.046

– Thomas Covington always seems to turn his campaign around at the fourth round. ’64’ had not finished higher than eighth through the first three rounds last year, for instance, and then came out and won the second moto at the fourth race. Things were similar two seasons ago, as he bettered his results from the first three races at round four.

– For a great look at how Thomas Covington has improved since he first arrived in Europe, just peruse his results at the Grand Prix of Trentino. One could certainly argue that Pietramurata meets all European stereotypes and can be difficult for expats to get accustomed to. That was certainly the case with Covington, as he pulled in a total of two points the first time that he raced there. 27-19-21-16-11-3-5-1 is the scorecard that he has amassed over the last five seasons at this particular circuit.

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Thomas Covington has turned a corner, after an inconsistent start.

Husqvarna/J.P Acevedo

– Henry Jacobi became the first breakthrough star to land on the overall podium for the first time. It is actually rare for a German rider to do that in MX2, as no one had managed it since Ken Roczen last did it in 2011. There was a drought of two thousand four hundred and nine days for German fans. Have any other German riders finished on the overall podium in MX2? Just one. Marcus Schiffer managed it at the Grand Prix of Sweden in 2007.

– Husqvarna have had some great riders pilot their FC 250 machinery in recent years. Romain Febvre, Aleksandr Tonkov, Max Anstie, Thomas Covington and Thomas Kjer Olsen have all put the Austrian manufacturer up onto the box. However, unbelievably, the Grand Prix of Trentino was the first time that Husqvarna have had two MX2 riders on the overall podium at the same time. It is extremely likely that will happen again at some point this season.

– Vsevolod Brylyakov was extremely pleased to return to the top three at the Grand Prix of Trentino. It has been a rocky road for the Russian, who will be booted out of the MX2 division at the end of the season, as he spent a majority of the previous season on the sidelines. Brylyakov went seven hundred and twenty-two days without finishing inside of the top three at the highest level. This was the second time that he has slipped into the top three in a race.

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Vsevolod Brylyakov is completing his final term in the MX2 division.

Yamaha Racing

– The third-place finish that Vsevolod Brylyakov acquired in the second moto was a season-best finish. Jorge Prado (first), Thomas Covington (first), Henry Jacobi (second), Davy Pootjes (sixth), Michele Cervellin (sixth) and Zachary Pichon (sixteenth) also recorded personal bests on the rocky surface.

– Ben Watson made more moves than anyone else at the Grand Prix of Trentino – he passed twenty-five riders across the two motos. Although he was pushing through traffic for a majority of the opening moto, he was actually the fastest rider on track at points. The table below highlights how his lap times compared to Jorge Prado, the winner the opening moto, towards the end. Prado obviously backed it down significantly on the final five laps, but note that Watson managed to maintain the same pace all of the way to the end.

Jorge Prado

Ben Watson

Difference

Lap 14

1:53.365

1:53.051

+0.314

Lap 15

1:53.959

1:52.580

+1.379

Lap 16

1:52.838

1:53.436

-0.598

Lap 17

1:54.831

1:51.813

+3.108

Lap 18

1:55.809

1:52.654

+3.155

Lap 19

1:59.527

1:52.843

+6.684

– The Grand Prix of Trentino was poignant for Davy Pootjes, as it was the third-best weekend of his career. A sixth and an eighth left him in sixth overall on the day and with twenty-eight points to his name. The only time that he has done better than that at the Grand Prix of Belgium back in 2015 (thirty points) and the Grand Prix of Indonesia (twenty-nine points) last season.

Words: Lewis Phillips | Lead Image: Husqvarna/J.P Acevedo

British MX Nationals

Thank you. It’s been a hell of a ride.

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Since buying back MX Vice in November 2019, it has been challenging. One of those crystal balls would have been handy for navigating some problematic situations. Who would have thought COVID-19 would be a thing?

Those who follow MX Vice know we started from nothing but an idea. A fan who loved the sport created a Facebook page, website, and social media presence that would become disruptive. It has made numerous talented media people who were allowed to run with it for over thirteen years. Being in the UK/Europe has always been difficult; I’ve always believed that if we were a US media company, we would have been embraced and appreciated for our work ethic and the content we produce. We always cast one eye over the US in Europe, and you can’t blame the top European riders for doing the same.

MX Vice has always tried to give people a voice, especially the riders who are not in the limelight and the teams that put so much into the sport. We love people’s passion and sacrifice to improve and challenge themselves. That, for me, was the natural pull, not the money but the passion and sacrifice. We all know we would not be in motocross if it were about the money. I always considered MX Vice the media version of Steve Dixon’s team in MXGP (which I have a huge amount of respect for), where we have always tried to challenge without the factory budgets.

We knew it would be tough this year with so many businesses and brands cutting marketing budgets and reducing costs; this was never going to be good for us. We have just had two incredible months of stats, with January and February bringing in over 1 million people to the website, which is quite bittersweet. As much as the funds are low, so is my energy and health. COVID impacted me more than I could ever envisaged. My health has deteriorated ever since I caught COVID; my immune system is not in a great place, and when I try and work to the standard I set myself, my body breaks on me, and it takes me days to recover. Ed Stratmann has been a revelation since he took the editorial reigns and has pushed MX Vice to new heights, which is incredible given the lack of resources he has had to work with and support from myself. I have been missing from the podcast show to reduce my time, as I am now self-employed and working for two companies to pay the bills.

Every journey ends, and that’s not what we want. Over the past 13 years, we have given it everything, leaving no stone unturned. We’re proud of how we have disrupted, challenged decisions, held organisations accountable, and illuminated incredible stories.

We will have an auction for signed shirts donated by riders, podcast equipment, and memorabilia to pay off the invoices of some contributors. If, however, you want to see MX Vice continue, you can donate here: https://ko-fi.com/mxvice or purchase a shirt or memorabilia. If we meet our target of £25,000, which is currently outstanding to run this year, then Ed and I will continue. However, we fully expect this won’t happen due to the large sum required.

It’s hard out there at the moment. Take care of your health and family, and never lose your passion for the most fantastic sport in the world.

Burf.

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Features

Lit Kit Gallery: MXGP of Patagonia – Argentina

The best from round 1.

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Check out some of the freshest fits, helmets and more from the MXGP of Patagonia – Argentina. Lead Image: Nestaan Husqvarna – Full Spectrum.

Photo credits: Red Bull KTM – Ray Archer / Nestaan Husqvarna – Full Spectrum / Yamaha MXGP – Full Spectrum + Eva Szabadfi / JM Honda / Kawasaki MXGP / Fantic MXGP / Yamaha MX2 – Full Spectrum / HRC MXGP / GasGas – Juan Pablo Acevedo


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MXGP World Championship

Video: MXGP Pre-Season Training with Jeffrey Herlings

Watch now.

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Join Jeffrey Herlings during his pre-season testing after his streak of injuries. Will he get back to his old form?

Lead Image: Ray Archer/KTM

Love what we do? Please read this article as we try to raise £30,000.

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