MRW Issue 33

When did you first think the record might be
possible? I would say in 2018, towards the end of
that season I reached 84 wins, and I was only 23-24. I
knew I was coming up fast and I had another seveneight
years ahead. My average win rate was ten GPs
a year until then. I also thought ten championships
might be possible but that’s done now.
When things do not go well, and you have
setbacks and injuries then the motivation for
training also drops. When I start winning then it’s
like a snowball; it just gets bigger and bigger. I don’t
need to do it for the money anymore. I do it because
I’m still passionate about racing and winning. Even
though I make some huge crashes that cause me to
think ‘why the hell am I still doing this?!’ I get back
up, and for moments like in Portugal when I lead and
really dominate like I used to I’m like ‘yeah boy, this is
why I’m out here’.
I won today [Sunday in Spain] but tomorrow
morning I’ll be back on the cycle…we don’t get
time to really enjoy a win as much, that’s how racing
goes. It’s the game, but this record has been on
my bucket list for a while. I’m very happy to have
accomplished that. Stefan was one of the best ever
and he had strong opponents but so does every era.
For me I had the likes of Jorge [Prado], Tony [Cairoli],
Tim [Gasjer], [Gautier] Paulin, [Arnaud] Tonus; they
were fast guys too, especially Tony, to fight with him
was not easy. Some people say “Yeah, but you have
60 MX2 wins…” Bull***t. A GP win is a GP win.
Stefan won 500s and 125s. Everyone is in MXGP
now whereas in those days it was split because there
were good guys in 125s, good guys in 250s and
500s. Yes, a 250 win is easier than a 450 win now,
but a win is a win. I hope I can win one or two more
championships and then I will be pretty satisfied.
We’ll see where we end up.
The ‘journey’ rather than the destination? It’s
true. Especially all the hard work. On Friday morning
before Spain, I did a huge interval training session
and I was so tired but I told myself to keep pushing
because, for me, the sacrifice and the journey to win
a race and the tiredness and the training during the
week brings the satisfaction and happiness on the
Sunday.
The orange crew celebrating a big milestone – all of Jeffrey’s 102 GP wins were achieved with
the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team.
Of all the wins I honestly don’t have one
favourite…but if you asked me to make a list of five
or ten then I could do it! Valkenswaard and my first
one, the first 1-1 that brought me a championship
in Faenza [2012], the 1-1 in Lierop [2012, where
he lapped most of the field], the 1-1 at Assen that
brought my first championship in MXGP [2018] and
in front of so many home fans…then beating Tony at
Matterley Basin [2018] was special. There have been
plenty of nice ones, but apart from the first, not many
that standout strongly.
In Portugal I had matched the record…but
someone else had already won 101 so I wanted to
beat it! I wanted the next six days to go quickly. If I
could not make it happen in Spain, then I at least
wanted to try. 101 was a goal but I wanted to go
beyond it and 102 means way-more than 101. I think
100 was even nicer than 101.
Celebrating his first MXGP title on home ground in Assen (NL), 2018, was a remarkable
milestone for Jeffrey Herlings.