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FEATURE<br />
2) WHAT ABOUT<br />
JEFFREY?<br />
The World Champion should get<br />
a medical update on his broken<br />
right foot around the time of the<br />
first Grand Prix at the beginning<br />
of March. While his rivals are<br />
accustomed to some ‘flexibility’<br />
with the truth when it comes to<br />
how fit Jeffrey actually is (perhaps<br />
a hangover of disbelief<br />
after his return from collarbone<br />
surgery to win in Indonesia last<br />
July) there is little escaping the<br />
complexity of multiple fractures<br />
to the foot, and how the ailment<br />
will have to be carefully<br />
assessed before he can contemplate<br />
the kind of punishment<br />
riding a dirtbike will cause.<br />
There is also the damage to<br />
his conditioning, race pace<br />
and confidence. The 2018 collarbone<br />
break (also a training<br />
accident) was a momentary<br />
bump of turbulence in a fastflight<br />
to his destination. This<br />
latest episode is a case of a ‘severe<br />
delay’. Herlings will return<br />
and he will win and he’ll have<br />
frustration to exorcise but the<br />
hundreds-of-thousands-of-euros<br />
question is ‘when?’<br />
3) WHO WILL WIN<br />
THE KTM BATTLE?<br />
No, not that battle. Tony Cairoli<br />
remains the Austrian factory’s<br />
best hope of an eighth premier<br />
class championship since<br />
2010…and he won’t be alone<br />
for 450 SX-F back-up. Former<br />
teammate Glenn Coldenhoff<br />
– the reaper of RedBud – is<br />
back on his Standing Construct<br />
KTM after recovering from neck<br />
injury and has two capable<br />
teammates in the form of Max<br />
Anstie and Ivo Monticelli (surprisingly<br />
rapid at Hawkstone).<br />
Max Nagl has already shown<br />
some speedy potential on his<br />
return to the brand where he<br />
finished as MXGP championship<br />
runner-up (and the reunion<br />
with Sarholz KTM means<br />
re-nesting where his career<br />
started in Grand Prix) and<br />
Britain’s sole winner in MXGP,<br />
Shaun Simpson, is another one<br />
looking for inspiration in the<br />
orange. Simpson won Grands<br />
Prix in 2015 with KTM and as a
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