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I'm torn between 2015 Tomac, 2016 Kenny, 2018 Herlings and Jett. I think those are the fastest guys/versions we have seen on a dirt bike. Just super hard to chose one, hypothetically anyone of those could probably win on their best day, probably depends more on the track they race on. Cairoli on his 350 was also unbeatable for 5 straight years, which still seems insane to me.
Gajsers pre season crash in 2018 was also one of the nastiest things I've ever seen in this sport. That could have been a career ending that day..
Herlings stats are so inflated from the 250 days. Bottom line is he’s had a disappointing 450 career, considering the hype. Tim has overachieved the whole way thru. Even right now, huuuuge Herlings hype for winning on a bike that has 4 world titles since 2016. Meanwhile Tim celebrates winning a moto on a bike that hasn’t won shit in the same timeframe and people are like “calm down”.
Tim over Jeff and it’s not close. 4 titles to 2.
RC and James both have 4 125 titles
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like David Vuillemin said in his podcast. JH is the best GP rider ever.
Both are all time GP greats! But I give the edge to Gajser just for the 450 titles alone. That’s why they are paid to race and Tim has twice as many as Jeffrey.
Someone tell me a memorable race that Gajser won .
The only one that leaps out at me is MXoN where he did Jett on the last turn.
He isnt an exciting rider, he just gets the job done, very very well.
I can think of 2 races already this season where JH has just astounded everyone.. Race 1 in Argentina, and Race 1 at Arco.
That race against Cairoli in Mantova was pretty memorable.
Moto 2 in russia. Can’t remember what year, but crashed at the start and came back to P1. Yes he also passed Jeffrey.
There's a LOT
Almost no one remembers this. That is the whole point.
That was 2021 and the one that I remember also. He didn't actually go down, but did start dead last after an off track excursion ignited by Prado.
https://youtu.be/7Rpv7MoBhl8?si=-4Cd_Uz8Xb6M_QmQ
To me its Herlings the fastest and Gajser acomplish more.
I checked on Sunday and Gajser had 47 MXGP win and Herlings 53.
thanks for all the responses guys. I was just curious more on races than championships. how many times have gasjer & herlings been in the same race & who has beat who more? that's probably a lot to dig up but these statisticians are next level nowadays so figured it's worth a shot.
Yes, but it depends on whether you think titles are the most important metric in judging how great a rider is. Sometimes the number of titles match the overall greatness - think RV with 450 SX - but oftentimes not. Webb is the prime example. If anyone thinks he is a better SX rider than JS because he has 3 titles to the latter's 2, they are tripping on some very strong acid.
The same applies for Gaiser. I don't know how you could watch The Bullet (at his peak) and Gaiser ride and not select Herlings. Finally, Dunge and RV outdoors? Apart from a few races during the 2011 season where RV was strugglng with the bike - he still won anyway - he always had Dunge covered.
Exactly this.
Gajser is a great rider and 5 time Champion, nobody can take that away from him, i am a big fan, and while i know he has won lots of races, he does it by getting good starts and amassing points, and very rarely crashing. And he is fast, no doubt.
But i could say the same about Prado, i cant remember a race where i said ' wow that was unreal' simply because he gets starts and wins, but i dont remember him doing anything other than that ( i know he probably has) , its his MO, whereas Herlings has done so many that you cant remember them all.
Everyone remembers Sexton winning at Hangtown , epic race, some riders have those, and some just dont, and that was my point.
Everyone remembers Mike Larrocco being a charger, but he had to be cos he could never get out of the gate.
Nobody lucks into a Championship anywhere, but if nobody was injured, Herlings would have won way more.
But whatever your opinion is, MXGP this year, with all riders fit, so far , it has been epic. Gajser finding his form will only add to that , as will KdW getting back to fitness.
That was round 8 of the 2021 series.
Herlings missed the first 7 through a pre season injury.
And he didnt crash, he ran off track , in a flyaway field.
Still good, but not memorable. Else i would have remembered LOL.
Far out, don't know if I had ever seen that. Brutal
Pit Row
what matters is who has the most titles. Yeah Herlings has the raw speed but has missed a lot with injuries and tim is more calculated with raw speed himself. I'll give the nod to tim for now.
Not 2021. 2021 was the epic season where Herlings won.
I don’t think Gajsers is that great of a starter. Every great rider goes in spurts where they go on a start run it seems but overall I think that’s arguably his biggest weakness. Herlings starts are vastly underrated and Gajsers overrated.
did Herlings adapt to the HRC 450 really quickly? I wonder if Tiga just started getting his Yamaha dialed to his liking? He has been off the pace until his moto 2 win
Cairoli has 70 MXGP wins and Everts (if you combine his 500cc, 250cc and MXGP wins together) 87 wins in the premier classes. Herlings stayed too long in the MX2 class, till this day he has more MX2 wins then MXGP wins. If he would've made the jump after his second title he wouldn't end up with his endless injury record. Because with staying down in the MX2 class, he tried to find crazy challenges for himself (Riding faster than 450 class, lapping the complete field, ...) to stay motivated and not to lose anything of his speed, and at the same time he knew in the back of his mind that he could win that class when he raced at 85%. That wasn't a healthy situation.
If he jumped to the MXGP class after his first two championships, with that momentum of invincibility, he could've destroyed all records in the record books!
Also a nice stat from Herlings, if you only count the races he really entered his win ratio is 53%, if you count all races he could've raced but didn't due to injury his win ratio drops to 39%, that is about the same as Everts who has 38% win ratio if you count all races he could've raced.
Not talking about regional sx titles. RC has three 125 outdoor titles and James has two, but many people consider James the greatest 125cc racer of all-time. It's an opinion I happen to share, though I'd put Mark Barnett a close second (possibly even a tie) because he faced stronger competition than James did. I view Herlings in the same way when talking about Herlings vs Gajser. Tim has a better MXGP record as far as titles, but Herlings still gets the nod from me since he has more GP wins and his wins were usually dominant. Herlings lapped our then 250 National Champion, Brake Bagget, at the 2012 MXdN, and nearly lapped Dungey. I've never seen a ride like that from Gajser.
Broc Glover has more AMA titles than James Stewart, but they are not viewed in the same way.
Herlings all the way.
Imo the 500cc class was allready for a long time not being considered the premier class by the time Everts started riding it.
He is, by objective measurement, NOT the best GP rider ever. Maybe the best MX2 rider. Maybe the greatest hype.
Think of Stefan Everts; he won another 6 titles in a row starting from the age of 28. Herlings and Gajser are not out of the game yet. Herlings is behind Gajser, that much is clear.
My prediction is that De Wolf is going to thwart that. He is developing into the alpha male this year, and his entourage will explain to him that he really is the best and most complete. He doesn't see it himself yet, but as soon as he believes it, his track record starts to count.
I have to go with Gajser: More MXGP championships, he is maybe the most down to earth pro athlete that I have ever met and of course this scrub, that I filmed back in the day at MXGP of Germany 😄
You are correct, i had too many windows open .
I didnt find the results for 2021 because its down as MFR and not Russia.
He came from 9th at the end of lap 1 to win, it doesnt leap out of my memory banks, but i do remember a few good battles at that track.
Anyway, we are blessed for sure this year.
I saw that Herlings is in to ride a race in the UK again, that isnt a British Championship, but not sure when /where.
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