MXGP: Herlings Leads into First Faenza Round in 8 Years

The World Motocross Championship begins a month of racing in Italy this weekend, with the MXGP of Italy, the first of three races to be held in Faenza in the space of seven days. 

This weekend, the Monte Coralli circuit in Faenza will host its first motocross Grand Prix since 2012, as the MXGP of Italy kicks off a trio of races at the historic venue that hosted its first World Championship motocross event back in 1979. 

Its most recent even, in 2012, saw Monte Coralli host the European Grand Prix, compared to the Italian round of the World Championship it will stage this Sunday, and on that previous occasion it was Antonio Cairoli who came out on top in what was the MX1 class, going 1-1 on the day. Christophe Pourcel was second in both motos eight years ago in his penultimate Grand Prix, whilst Clement Desalle went 3-4 for third overall and Gautier Paulin also featured in the top three in the second race, finishing third in front of Desalle. 

The 2012 European round also saw Tommy Searle take the overall victory with a 1-1 scorecard, ahead of Zach Osborne – currently leading the 2020 AMA Pro Motocross standings after four rounds – and Arnaud Tonus who currently lies 13th in this year’s MXGP World Championship after a difficult and crash-strewn triple-header in Latvia. 

Many things have changed since 2012, and many of the riders who featured strongly in the MX1 category then are not racing this weekend – Pourcel, for example – but Cairoli’s presence remains. The #222 picked up his 90th Grand Prix win in the MXGP of Riga – the second of the three Latvian rounds and now returns home to Italy to race nine times in the next month. We saw Cairoli battle hard with Tim Gajser last season in Trentino after being victorious in Mantova, and the nine-times World Champion will see these next rounds as an opportunity to strike back in the championship, in which he lies fourth, 50 points behind his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate, Jeffrey Herlings. 

Going into Latvia, Herlings was by far the favourite to come out of it with the championship advantage, although the way in which he did it was perhaps unexpected. His dominance at Kegums in Grand Prix racing had been almost completely undeniable before this year, but the #84 failed to even win a moto before the final Latvian moto of the season in the MXGP of Kegums. That moto win was also enough to secure him his third overall win of the season, but it was Herlings’ relative consistency – finishing 5-3-1 across the three GPs – that saw him extend his championship lead out to 46 points over Tim Gajser ahead of round six of the 2020 World Championship this weekend. The Jeffrey Herlings of 2020 looks to be a different beast to the one that obliterated the field in 2018, but it will be interesting to see if the ‘championship first’ mentality Herlings seems to have adopted this year continues its presence in Italy, or whether the Dutchman will revert to his monstrous type.

Whilst Herlings’ consistency stood out in Latvia, Tim Gajser stood out for the opposite reason. His speed was undoubted, he won two of the six motos and should have won at least one of the GPs overall. However, the classic, undesirable trait of Gajser – his tendency to crash – was once again present. Whilst the Slovenian had been able to temper this in the opening rounds at Matterley Basin and Valkenswaard for the most part, and looked capable of challenging Herlings for the title, in Latvia crashes cost him the overall win in the MXGP of Latvia and any chance of the podium in the MXGP of Riga, whilst a mechanical problem ended his second moto early in the MXGP of Kegums. The reigning World Champion should not yet be discounted at a 46-point deficit, although a repeat of his inspiring displays in Trentino last year against Cairoli will be required in these upcoming Italian rounds to close the gap to Herlings to something more agreeable for the HRC rider.

Glenn Coldenhoff was the rider to benefit most from Gajser’s mistake in the second Latvian GP moto, as he secured his first overall win of the season. The two rounds after that were less favourable for the #259, however, as he finished 15th and sixth in the MXGP of Riga and the MXGP of Kegums, respectively. The GASGAS rider is going hot-and-cold in 2020, but certainly he has the potential to fight for the top positions in Faenza this weekend. 

Similarly, Arminas Jasikonis should be expected to fight with the best in the MXGP of Italy. The Lithuanian took his first moto win at the MXGP of Riga and the #27 moved ahead of Cairoli in the standings, although he and the Italian are tied on 163 points. Both of Jasikonis’ podiums this year have come in the sand, albeit much different sand and much different conditions – the soft, wet sand of Valkenswaard and the hard, dry sand of Kegums. It will be interesting, though, to see whether Jasikonis’ form continues into the hard pack of Faenza. 

There was also a first for Jorge Prado in Latvia, as he took his first overall MXGP podium in the MXGP of Kegums, finishing third overall, and the assumption will be that as the reigning MX2 World Champion’s experience on the 450 continues to grow, so will his speed.

Absent this weekend will be Adam Sterry and Shaun Simpson. Sterry suffered a practice crash in the break since Latvia, whilst Simpson is suffering the combined effects of injuries sustained before the season and his crash in the second Latvian moto and is aiming to be back for Mantova. 

In the MX2 class, the battle will continue this weekend between Yamaha’s Jago Geerts and KTM’s Tom Vialle. Whilst Geerts has more wins this season than Vialle, with three wins to the Frenchman’s two, the Belgian trails his rival by eight points coming into Faenza. Theoretically, the hard pack will suit Vialle better than sand of Kegums, which theoretically suited Geerts better, although the Belgian would no doubt argue that Kegums is not a true sand track. 

However, if Vialle can make the difference in the next three races in Faenza it would greatly strengthen his championship position, and put Geerts on the back foot heading into the sand of Mantova. For Geerts, remaining in range of Vialle would be positive, but do not forget that the #193 was victorious in Matterley Basin.

Additionally, it should be expected that the F&H Kawasaki riders – Roan van de Moosdijk, Mathys Boisrame and Mikkel Haarup – will play their part this weekend, all having picked up podiums this season. Likewise, Ben Watson will be keen to rack up his first rostrum of the year, as will Jed Beaton who has been fast if inconsistent on the factory Husqvarna. Beaton’s teammate, Thomas Kjer Olsen, will be hoping the time off since Latvia has given his injuries appropriate time to heal, enough to see the Dane return to the front in the 250 class.