This was Herlings’ second-straight qualifying win of 2015; last week at the Qatar MX2 season opener, Herlings dominated qualifying and followed the performance with a double for the overall win.
When the MX2 gates open, Herlings grabbed the holeshot ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s duo of Dylan Ferrandis and Jordi Tixier.
As Herlings pulled away from the grid, the true battle was for second. Jonass initially battled with Seewer, but the Suzuki RM-Z250 pilot crashed, falling back to sixth. This allowed Jonass to take a comfortable second, and the Kawasaki duo of Ferrandis and Tixier to battle for third.
These two were joined by Gajser, and the three displayed some impressive MX2 skills when they began tripling in the rhythm section – a jump not even the MXGP riders were doing.
Honda’s Gajser would earn the race for third, followed by Ferrandis and the reigning MX2 Champion Tixier, who remounted from a crash at the end of pit lane to finish fifth.
2015 Thailand MX2 Qualifying Results, Top 10: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:22.323; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:15.751; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:17.694; 4. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:28.623; 5. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:31.415; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:35.128; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:40.125; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:46.505; 9. Mel Pocock (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:56.238; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +1:01.487
[…] scorching conditions, the 26-year-old KX450F pilot dominated MXGP qualifying, and followed this up with a win in race one, and a third in race two. His performance gave him the […]