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MXGP France: Herlings wins qualifying race by 18s

Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) will go to the start line first for tomorrow’s MXGP of France at St Jean d’Angely after a dominant 18-second win in the qualification race this afternoon.

The 23-year-old Dutchman holeshot the 20-minute plus two lap moto from home favourites Gautier Paulin (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha) and, in 30 degree heat, simply checked out.

Herlings is primarily known as a sand rider but he’s super-quick on any surface and he took the stony, hard-pack of St Jean d’Angely in his stride with a series of fastest laps pulling him clear of his pursuers to make it six qualifying wins from the last seven races.

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“I pulled the holeshot and I think on this track it’s really needed,” he said. “It’s a beautiful track but it’s tough to pass with big rocks but we did good and it was a dream Saturday.

“I was fastest in each practice and, obviously, the qualifying moto but it’s all about tomorrow. I’ll focus on the start and work from there. I feel like I have the speed and also the strength to win but we definitely need the start.”

Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki) clipped Tony Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) on the first lap and crashed, collecting Glenn Coldenhoff (Red Bull KTM) and Tommy Searle (Bike It DRT Kawasaki) as he went down.

Tim Gajser (Team HRC) was an initial fourth ahead of Cairoli. The Slovenian passed Febvre – who won here in 2016 – on the opening lap but no-one could live with Herlings’ pace and after five minutes he was already four-and-a-half seconds clear of Paulin.

In the closing stages both Febvre and Cairoli passed Gajser and on the final lap the defending champion pushed the Frenchman back to fourth but he was over two seconds behind Paulin at the flag.

Russia’s Evgeny Bobryshev (BOS GP Suzuki) was sixth from Jeremy Seewer (Wilvo Yamaha) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (Monster Energy Yamaha).

The UK contingent was at full strength for the second consecutive weekend with Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Searle, Shaun Simpson (Wilvo Yamaha) and Graeme Irwin (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) all back in action after recent injuries.

After the opening lap Simpson was ninth, one place ahead of Anstie and four in front of Irwin with Searle 14th after a quick recovery from his crash.

At the flag it was Anstie in ninth from Searle and Simpson. Irwin crossed the line in 20th, one place behind Desalle.

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MXGP France qualifying race

1    84    Herlings, Jeffrey    NED     KNMV    KTM    24:35.251    13    0:00.000    0:00.000    1:48.625    12    53.6
2    21    Paulin, Gautier    FRA     MCM    Husqvarna    24:53.241    13    0:17.990    0:17.990    1:50.997    4    52.5
3    222    Cairoli, Antonio    ITA     FMI    KTM    24:55.239    13    0:19.988    0:01.998    1:50.316    11    52.8
4    461    Febvre, Romain    FRA     FFM    Yamaha    25:03.173    13    0:27.922    0:07.934    1:50.816    4    52.6
5    243    Gajser, Tim    SLO     AMZS    Honda    25:10.250    13    0:34.999    0:07.077    1:51.504    4    52.3
6    777    Bobryshev, Evgeny    RUS     MFR    Suzuki    25:21.210    13    0:45.959    0:10.960    1:52.179    7    51.9
7    91    Seewer, Jeremy    SUI     FMS    Yamaha    25:21.571    13    0:46.320    0:00.361    1:52.077    11    52
8    89    Van Horebeek, Jeremy    BEL     FMB    Yamaha    25:25.759    13    0:50.508    0:04.188    1:52.214    11    51.9
9    99    Anstie, Max    GBR     ACU    Husqvarna    25:27.034    13    0:51.783    0:01.275    1:52.447    11    51.8
10    100    Searle, Tommy    GBR     ACU    Kawasaki    25:27.171    13    0:51.920    0:00.137    1:52.110    7    52
11    24    Simpson, Shaun    GBR     ACU    Yamaha    25:36.441    13    1:01.190    0:09.270    1:53.432    8    51.4
12    77    Lupino, Alessandro    ITA     FMI    Kawasaki    25:44.454    13    1:09.203    0:08.013    1:53.349    6    51.4
13    22    Strijbos, Kevin    BEL     FMB    KTM    25:47.511    13    1:12.260    0:03.057    1:53.549    7    51.3
14    128    Monticelli, Ivo    ITA     FMI    Yamaha    25:48.741    13    1:13.490    0:01.230    1:53.242    6    51.5
15    6    Paturel, Benoit    FRA     FFM    KTM    25:49.574    13    1:14.323    0:00.833    1:52.912    6    51.6
16    12    Nagl, Maximilian    GER     DMSB    TM    25:49.891    13    1:14.640    0:00.317    1:52.765    7    51.7
17    259    Coldenhoff, Glenn    NED     KNMV    KTM    25:50.302    13    1:15.051    0:00.411    1:52.874    9    51.6
18    92    Guillod, Valentin    SUI     FMS    KTM    25:58.204    13    1:22.953    0:07.902    1:55.003    6    50.7
19    25    Desalle, Clement    BEL     FMB    Kawasaki    26:08.161    13    1:32.910    0:09.957    1:52.922    8    51.6
20    55    Irwin, Graeme    GBR     MCUI    KTM    26:12.244    13    1:36.993    0:04.083    1:56.262    6    50.1
21    7    Leok, Tanel    EST     EMF    Husqvarna    26:13.371    13    1:38.120    0:01.127    1:55.404    12    50.5
22    17    Butron, Jose    ESP     RFME    KTM    26:24.935    13    1:49.684    0:11.564    1:54.704    11    50.8
23    711    Dercourt, Nicolas    FRA     FFM    Yamaha    26:29.115    13    1:53.864    0:04.180    1:56.796    8    49.9
24    152    Petrov, Petar    BUL     BMF    Honda    26:33.423    13    1:58.172    0:04.308    1:55.913    6    50.3
25    141    Desprey, Maxime    FRA     FFM    Kawasaki    24:42.547    12    1 lap     1 lap    1:55.809    8    50.3
26    85    Ekerold, Stefan    GER     DMSB    KTM    25:07.109    12    1 lap     0:24.562    1:56.451    7    50
27    93    Bengtsson, Jonathan    SWE     SVEMO    KTM    25:17.359    12    1 lap     0:10.250    1:59.116    7    48.9
28    30    Hjortmarker, Eddie    SWE     SVEMO    Suzuki    25:19.130    12    1 lap     0:01.771    1:58.966    8    49
29    83    Renkens, Nathan    BEL     FMB    Honda    24:38.701    10    3 laps    2 laps    1:56.923    7    49.8
30    920    Valentin, Ander    ESP     RFME    Husqvarna    16:36.852    8    5 laps    2 laps    1:55.909    5    50.3
31    120    Zecchina, Simone    ITA     FMI    Yamaha    13:07.594    6    7 laps    2 laps    2:02.897    4    47.4
32    27    Jasikonis, Arminas    LTU     LMSF    Honda    8:30.134    4    9 laps    2 laps    1:54.506    4    50.9
33    403    Jorry, Adrian    FRA     FFM    Kawasaki    2:52.875    1    12 laps    3 laps    2:09.538    1    45
34    62    Gercar, Klemen    SLO     AMZS    Husqvarna    0:50.015    0    13 laps    1 lap    0:00.000         0
35    220    Aranda, Gregory    FRA     FFM    Kawasaki    1:47.538    0    13 laps    0:57.523    0:00.000         0

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