Honda HRC PETRONAS’ Jeffrey Herlings took victory at the MXGP of Czech Republic qualification race, moving him to within one of the 2026 MXGP World Championship lead as we move onto race day of round 13.
The sunshine beamed down on the hard-pack Loket terrain, providing a perfect backdrop for the best motocross riders on the planet, with Herlings proving once again that he is in the very highest tier. Fastest in free and timed practice, the #84 got another good start on his Honda CRF450RW, pulling in behind teammate Tom Vialle for the first lap. The pass followed quickly and from there, the Dutchman controlled the race to take the maximum 10 points and make it three race wins in a row. With a further 50 points up for grabs tomorrow, the goal is take control of the red-plate, something he hasn’t had his hands on since round one in Argentina.
Finishing in third place was Vialle, who is determined to get himself onto the podium here in the Czech Republic. This was a positive first step and if he able to repeat the holeshot, and the riding afterwards, he definitely stands a good chance of breaking his Loket curse.
Ruben Fernandez also scored points in ninth, but the Spaniard wasn’t happy with performance, after what was a season-best points haul last week in Great Britain. He really wanted to continue that momentum here and there were good signs in the timed practice when he finished fourth. Still, with an open gate, ninth pick is good enough to give him the opportunity for a strong start and that’ll be his aim when they line-up for the GP-scoring races tomorrow.
In the MX2 class, Valerio Lata got a great jump out of the gate and was inside the top three for the first few corners, but eventually got shuffled down to seventh by the time he received the chequered flag. It wasn’t quite a repeat of his second-place from last year, but he still hopes that those results will come before the end of the season.
Rubén Fernández 70
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Bit of a frustrating race really, because even though I started an finished in ninth place, my speed was a lot better than that, and a crash cost me a few spots. I feel like with a good start, I can challenge for a podium spot and then good thing about this track is that the gate is pretty open so the goal tomorrow is to get some good jumps out of the gate and mix it up nearer to the front.
Tom Vialle 16
Honda HRC PETRONAS
A better race and it was good to finish it off and stay in third place. I’m still not entirely comfortable because if I was, I think I’d be a lot closer to the leader, but we are working on it. Once again I got the holeshot, so that was great and that makes life a lot easier on this track. Now I want to repeat that for tomorrow and just keep riding up front for longer and longer, and try to get up onto the podium.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
Honda HRC PETRONAS
The gap is now just one point, but I hate to see Lucas struggling like this because I know what it’s like to be leading a championship and getting injured. It is tough on him and I hope he can recover and we can battle in the remaining rounds, but right now I’m just trying to do what I can do. The whole of Honda HRC PETRONAS have been working so hard to help make this happen so a big thanks to them and tomorrow we try to keep it rolling.
Valerio Lata 18
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I got a decent start on this track, which seems to be good to me, unfortunately I never really found the rhythm of the top riders and I gradually dropped a few spots. I ended up in seventh place, which is okay, but still not really where I’d like to be.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas –
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Jeffrey keeps doing exactly what he needs to do, putting himself in the position to take the win and then going out and executing. He got another good start and moved into the lead quickly and controlled the race. Hopefully tomorrow he can do the same and we can leave Loket with the red-plate. Tom also rode really well for third place and he showed a lot of determination to make that happen. We almost know he’s going to get a good start, so the work comes after that, but he is improving and we are trying our best to make things as good as possible for him. Ruben had a tough race, never quite reaching the position he deserved, but we think that tomorrow will go a lot better and he’ll be fighting for the podium spots again. Unfortunately Valerio wasn’t able to capitalise on his good start, ending up seventh so we will try to work with him to make him more comfortable on this tricky circuit.
©HondaRacing_@shotbybavo
