The Bullet Is Back – Herlings

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings hasn’t raced Grand Prix motocross is more than a year, but you wouldn’t have known it going by his final finishing place last weekend. The rider known as “The Bullet” finished second overall and now heads to the deep sand of Sardinia with a great shot at grabbing the red plate from RedBull GasGas Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado. Despite his stunning results Herlings wasn’t keen in the early hours of the weekend.

“I was just so scared something would happen and I made it way more difficult for myself. I actually got a good start and shut off, but then there were guys on my right, on my left, guys hitting each other, hitting me. Because I was mid-pack, it was chaos there. I was just too cautious. Today I told myself, let’s just make it happen. I took a good start and was up with the top guys. I was a bit off, but I was pretty happy with what happened today.”

Despite being scared on Saturday, the Dutchman quickly came back Sunday morning to his old self in the second race. It wasn’t a heat win, but his second place behind GP winner Ruben Fernandez was special to watch.

“I felt all day that I had the speed to win, but my fitness condition was difficult at times. The track is sketchy, and I couldn’t last with that speed for the whole race. I don’t know man, but you don’t want to be me tomorrow morning when I try and get out of bed. You will need something to get me out of bed. I really don’t know how I got it done. Throughout the weekend I got better, but Saturday, I was really like, this is not Jeffrey Herlings, this is not how I want to get it done. The first race back in 10th was just a shame. Going into today, I figured I could get around fifth and I would do everything possible to get there, then to finish 4-2 is pretty good. I was like 10 seconds off the pace at some point and I didn’t have the speed of Renaux in the first race or Ruben in the second, but I wasn’t far off and we will get there.”

Now onto Sardinia and a track that will suit Herlings and without question he will be better prepared for that intensity he talks about when he first got on the gate on Saturday. Sardinia could well be the five-time World Champion’s 100^thGrand Prix victory. Now, that would really cause a lot of worry from his competition.

Photo Credit: KTM