Disappointingly the forecast was true and the deluge of rain predicted for Sunday morning unloaded onto the Eurocircuit south of Eindhoven. The Grand Prix chimed into life with the EMX300 first practice at a yawn-inducing 7.45am and there was not much of a feel-good factor under such dank skies. The climate would vary from cold wind (several team flags were sent tumbling in the paddock), to sunshine to more brief showers and ultimately Valkenswaard was a very European welcome back to MXGP after trips to Qatar and Thailand to open 2016.

The presence of two European classes with a copious entry subscription (the two-stroke 300s significantly bigger in 2016 with a full forty gate and more familiar names involved) a much bigger spread of team personal and industry interest and attendance meant that Valkenswaard was packed…and the trackside fences were also busy for a ‘Saturday’ schedule. It was good to see.

Accustomed to the venue, the layout, the expectation, the fuss and even the barmy weather Jeffrey Herlings went about spinning his Valkenswaard ritual. Fastest in every session and a clear winner for Pole Position in the MX2 Heat race it will take only a technical problem to stop the Dutchman from a seventh consecutive win and the fiftieth of his career (at the age of 21) on Monday. “I’m feeling really confident on the bike and we’ve done a lot of training in the last few weeks,” said the undoubted star of the show. “I think it might be tough in worse weather tomorrow.”

When pressed on what goes through his mind while forging a lead of some thirty-five seconds the former double world champion was not flippant. “It [the GP win] still needs to happen! Today went easy…but I could have a start crash and what happened to Max Anstie could easily happen to me and the whole party could be ruined,” he said. “If it goes to plan then I am expected to win and to win with a big lead. [Lapping up to third place as he did in Lierop 2012] It doesn’t bring anything. At that point I didn’t need to deal with injuries and now it is different. I’m not ‘busy’ with those kinds of things any more. I just want fifty points and hopefully wrap up the championship this year quite quickly.”

“The motos feel way-shorter because you are just in your practice rhythm,” he added. “You are just clicking off lap after lap. When I am out front on my own then I’m comfortable and in my zone. When I’m mid-pack sometimes crazy things happen. I like doing what I do best and that’s leading.”

Herlings might be enacting more Dutch deja vu but another Valkenswaard success carries more significance on this occasion and will be another milestone in a career that has mixed genuine greatness with moments of staggering incident and drama. “To make fifty is pretty special and there are only four guys who have done that,” he offered. “It will be an honour and to get there so quick in my career.”

Herlings has little in the way of a challenger for reaching the half-ton. A crash on the start straight for Rockstar Husqvarna’s Max Anstie means the Briton has so far shown little of his renowned sand capabilities. The likes of Pauls Jonass, Alex Tonkov (bearing illness), Petar Petrov and the eye-catching Calvin Vlaanderen provided the only action in the typical Eurocircuit tussle for second in the 250s. Suzuki’s Jeremy Seewer was also down in the sand metres out of the gate and his flight to thirteenth from last was commendable.

MXGP was tricky to call. 2015 winner HRC’s Gautier Paulin was absent with a vertebra and rib injury and is likely to miss the next three events. Monster Energy Yamaha’s Jeremy Van Horebeek, Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle were all pushing for quick lap-times but Pole Position and the heat race was won fairly comfortably by Rockstar Husqvarna’s Max Nagl. The German kept a safe distance over Wilvo Virus Performance KTM’s Shaun Simpson (the Scot still not fully fit after a post-Thailand stomach virus) and once Strijbos had buckled with arm-pump and crashed out of a sizeable lead. “I had a lot of difficulty to pick up the bike and at that point they [his forearms] were so hard and big I couldn’t even pull in the clutch,” the Belgian said “It was one big struggle after that. It is strange [the arm-pump]. Maybe because it was the first time leading this year…but I did not think about that.”

Van Horebeek had taken himself and Searle out of contention for Pole by hitting the rear wheel of the Brit on the third corner when they were both sitting in the top five. Romain Febvre rode to third position. The World Champion endured his worst result of 2015 at Valkenswaard and came into the Grand Prix a little insecure after a training crash through hitting another downed rider had affected part of his upper right hand.

Tony Cairoli, in fifth and behind an inconsistent Gajser, admitted that it needed “five or six” outings in the sand to get to the point where he felt better and able to improve after Thailand. The combined effects of his left arm break and then multiple rib fractures and neck injury pre-season were lingering still and were more acute in the sand where the Sicilian and winner of this Grand Prix from 2009 until 2014 – needed to call on all of his strength.

Comments from the awnings post-motos drifted towards the difficulty of the Eurocircuit and the one-liney nature of the layout. The generous Saturday night rain did not help much in this aspect and it took a long time for berms to pop up and the terrain to roughen, spreading options for the riders. It was odd to hear preoccupations about starts around a sandy course but – as people are wont to say more and more – Valkenswaard is not the sand it used to be.

The European Grand Prix (so called as Assen has the Dutch naming rights) was the first time the teams could reveal and show off the full extent of their winter set-ups and working infrastructure. IceOne pulled a new hospitality trailer into the paddock (their Rockstar patronage meaning the Red Bull Energy Station is now off limits) but the Finnish/Belgian crew’s rig paled onto comparison with the likes of the ex-F1 truck unveiled by the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki crew, the freshly assembled Yamaha hospitality and then Honda Gariboldi, whose new custom-built and fitted facilities set a new benchmark and were deemed appropriate for the world championship winning squad.

The age-old question: ‘is it all necessary?’ hovers in the mind but largely continues the speculate-to-accumulate thinking of many inside the sport and is a visual reminder of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and the various agendas inside the paddock as to why and how people go racing. Giacomo Gariboldi – a gregarious and very successful businessman – is well aware that any visitors to his enclosure will know the team are deadly serious about their vocation and with a rider like Tim Gajser operating out of its confines then it is a potent mix indeed.

MXGP 2016’s veneer looks trick and even the miserable (and bafflingly irregular) Dutch weather could not make too much of a mess. You can only hope ‘the stage’ is sustainable and teams and riders (Estonia’s Tanel Leok rode to thirteen place on a stock KTM without a single sticker on the bike) can maintain this aesthetic of rude health.

Also displaying fecundity were the support classes. WMX is all the richer for Courtney Duncan’s verve and upstaging of the usual names (Nancy Van der Ven also prospering) and the New Zealander should have won the first moto at a canter until a mistake cast her to the back of Kiara Fontanesi’s (watched again by other half Maverick Viñales) rear wheel. EMX250 was owned by British class rookie – but long-hyped – Conrad Mewes with latest Aussie sensation Hunter Lawrence playing back-up. A popular view is that MX2’s feeder division actually has more depth that the Grand Prix category itself.

On Sunday night Easter Egg chocolate was on hold at Valkenswaard. Fingers were crossed against a forecast that was horribly grim on the iPhone weather app. On the ‘plus’ side only hours after this third round of eighteen will wrap teams will be prepping freight for a Tuesday pick up to Argentina (already anticipated to be a sell-out at Neuquen) and Mexico for another different air.

MXGP Qualification

1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), 24:56.988; 2. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:07.932; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:09.667; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:11.580; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:12.967; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:15.594; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:20.399; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:23.972; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:37.081; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:37.329; 11. Filip Bengtsson (SWE, Suzuki), +0:44.244; 12. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:45.019; 13. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), +0:46.527; 14. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:58.113; 15. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:03.643; 16. Elliott Banks-Browne (GBR, Yamaha), +1:04.892; 17. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +1:18.423; 18. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:22.044; 19. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:27.084; 20. Harri Kullas (EST, KTM), +1:28.190; 21. Ben Townley (NZL, Suzuki), +1:29.405; 22. Milko Potisek (FRA, Yamaha), +1:29.759; 23. Gert Krestinov (EST, Honda), +1:29.935; 24. Steven Lenoir (FRA, Honda), +1:34.415; 25. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:41.206; 26. Angus Heidecke (GER, KTM), +1:42.544; 27. Valtteri Malin (FIN, KTM), +1:44.196; 28. Toms Macuks (LAT, Kawasaki), +1:54.134; 29. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Kawasaki), +2:04.386; 30. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), -1 lap(s); 31. James Hutchinson (GBR, KTM), -1 lap(s); 32. Ander Valentin (ESP, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); 33. Davis Ivanovs (LAT, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 34. Klemen Gercar (SLO, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 35. Jeffrey Dewulf (BEL, KTM), -4 lap(s); 36. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, Honda), -5 lap(s);