Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings will almost certainly be part of the MXGP class of the FIM Motocross World Championship in 2017. The twenty-one year old and currently undefeated MX2 series leader was considering another term on the factory 250SX-F but the decision was largely taken out of his hands with a revision to the rules for the series dictating a rider has to move out of the category after winning two titles or having defended the crown twice. With a 148 point lead in the standings Herlings is firmly on course for his third No.1 plate in five years.
Allegedly the FIM MXGP Commission and MSMA were in agreement after a meeting in the wake of the British Grand Prix to reinstate the rule over the maximum number of championships an athlete can obtain in MX2, and is another limitation on the class along with the twenty-three year age ceiling designed to propel the best talent on 250s into the MXGP fray.
Herlings is on fifty-eight Grand Prix wins and has yet to be knocked from the top step of the MX2 podium this year. The Dutchman has made no secret of his desire to chase records and statistics and it was this motivation that had earnestly left him undecided for 2017 and the last year of his works KTM contract. ‘There is not much to say,” he offered exclusively. “If it’s the rule then it’s the rule. Normally the plan was to move up anyway. Now there might not be much of an option.”
“The long-term plan was to be one of the greatest of all-time and I felt like I had nothing left to learn in MX2 any more. I might be one of the only guys to have won more than ten GPs in the class,” he added. “I’ve won two championships and lost two through injury but there isn’t anybody who has accomplished four titles in this class and that was my main goal while winning as many GPs to get to the ‘100’ as soon as possible. I guess the rule has come in because they want to make MXGP the main attraction and I understand that; it is the premier class and the one everybody wants to see. It brings a better show. From my point of view I have mixed feelings about the change but if that’s the rule then we have to accept it and go from there.”
KTM are also understood to be supportive of Herlings switching motorcycles although it is not yet clear if he will become part of Claudio De Carli’s set-up alongside Tony Cairoli and Glenn Coldenhoff (both contracted for 2017) or remain in the MX2 awning. It also looks likely that ‘84’s 250 saddle will go to Spanish sensation Jorge Prado who is on the verge of confirming his first Grand Prix term in ’17 and keeping patient with his move to the AMA Supercross scene.
The FIM are likely to publish the revised ruling sometime before the FIM Congress this autumn and the provisional 2017 calendar (featuring eighteen fixed rounds and one reserve date as well as a return to Sweden and possible removal of Spain from the list) will be announced imminently. Herlings can already start to think about preparation for 2017 in the upcoming summer break in the MXGP schedule although the hairline fracture of his right heel is proving troublesome.
“We planned to start testing [the 450] in this small break and then I had a small fracture in my heel and that changed a lot,” he said. “I was advised to take two weeks off. So we will see. Our main idea was to test and make a decision [on 2017] with a view to moving up anyway. KTM would like to see me in MXGP and I would not say they are forcing me but I’m sure they would prefer to see me in the big boys class.”
Photos by Ray Archer
