#14: MXGP of Flanders

Brent
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Temecula, CA, USA
8/3/2026 2:33am Edited Date/Time 8/3/2026 10:19am
ATKpilot99 wrote:

And to think , a healthy Lucas Coenen probably would have be about 10 seconds in front of him !

I disagree.

I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total domination I saw from Herlings Sunday was nothing short of incredible.

His bike broke during Saturday qualifying twice, but he still managed fast time and a win despite the problems.

His Sunday performance in the motos was Jett Lawrence x2-  no active rider on this earth would have gotten near him, Lawrence’s or Coenen or Prado or even Tomac in his prime. 

I have never seen anything like it. 
Downvote away but I was there to see it in person up close, and I’m still stunned…

23
1
Brent
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8/3/2026 2:36am
TeamGreen wrote:

Not bein’ an “Internet Bitch”…but…🤔

Is it jus’ me or was that a pretty damn boring race? 
 

No.

4
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GCMS 91
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8/3/2026 3:03am

To back up Everts' point, Ruben Tureluren also said after the 2018 season that Herlings would be even better if he actually worked a bit less hard. But Herlings sees it differently. Furthermore, Everts also said yesterday that Herlings is so successful on the Honda because he put in an incredible number of hours this year (contradiction?!). As far as I'm concerned, you can draw a few conclusions from this: Everts should recognize more that what works for one rider might not work for another. Also, Herlings is truly blessed with his physical condition, because after all that hard work and all those injuries, he is still at the absolute top

4
8/3/2026 6:21am
joelsmx wrote:
It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is...

It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is crazy, well done to him

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

20

The Shop

TeamGreen
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Thru-out, CA, USA
8/3/2026 8:19am
ATKpilot99 wrote:

And to think , a healthy Lucas Coenen probably would have be about 10 seconds in front of him !

Brent wrote:
I disagree.I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total...

I disagree.

I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total domination I saw from Herlings Sunday was nothing short of incredible.

His bike broke during Saturday qualifying twice, but he still managed fast time and a win despite the problems.

His Sunday performance in the motos was Jett Lawrence x2-  no active rider on this earth would have gotten near him, Lawrence’s or Coenen or Prado or even Tomac in his prime. 

I have never seen anything like it. 
Downvote away but I was there to see it in person up close, and I’m still stunned…

On the few occasions that the camera stayed on him, he was ATTACKING…but, he’s so damn smooth that…

He makes it almost appear “easy”. Too damn easy. He kinda screws up the expectations of us mere mortals.

Herlings belongs in the Marvel Universe 🤣

The Super-Hero: “Sandman”

Theme - Enter Sandman 

1
MXMattii
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BE
8/3/2026 9:11am
Money wrote:

So what is everts problem with taking jabs at Jeffrey. Calling him mentally weak felt like little jabs towards him. 

RACING wrote:
Everts is as bad on air as he was great on a bike. Great MX 101 comments, beware, RC.And cheap shots at Herlings after so many...

Everts is as bad on air as he was great on a bike. Great MX 101 comments, beware, RC.

And cheap shots at Herlings after so many years was kinda lame, really... Wanna talk about your son's mental weakness, Stefan? 

😄

Where did Everts said this? I missed this.

PRM31
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Fantasy
8/3/2026 9:21am

Is it the clutch overheating?

Are any of the other HRC riders having the same issue? 

Mavetism
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Hannover, DE
8/3/2026 9:23am
Money wrote:

So what is everts problem with taking jabs at Jeffrey. Calling him mentally weak felt like little jabs towards him. 

RACING wrote:
Everts is as bad on air as he was great on a bike. Great MX 101 comments, beware, RC.And cheap shots at Herlings after so many...

Everts is as bad on air as he was great on a bike. Great MX 101 comments, beware, RC.

And cheap shots at Herlings after so many years was kinda lame, really... Wanna talk about your son's mental weakness, Stefan? 

😄

MXMattii wrote:

Where did Everts said this? I missed this.

First half or halfway during the 2nd 450 moto. 

YZed250
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8/3/2026 10:45am

Herlings 1

Vialle 2

Still surprises me to see Honda 1/2 at MXGP... It's been SO long since Honda was able to do this at MXGP! 

Obviously, Hunter joined Jett on the podium since 2024 in the USA, but nobody was able to stand along side Gasjer at HRC on a consistent basis. Even before the fuel injected bike, Coppins did well but never had a great teammate. 

Seems like they can do no wrong in 2026

 

Mavetism
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8/3/2026 11:05am
YZed250 wrote:
Herlings 1Vialle 2Still surprises me to see Honda 1/2 at MXGP... It's been SO long since Honda was able to do this at MXGP! Obviously, Hunter joined...

Herlings 1

Vialle 2

Still surprises me to see Honda 1/2 at MXGP... It's been SO long since Honda was able to do this at MXGP! 

Obviously, Hunter joined Jett on the podium since 2024 in the USA, but nobody was able to stand along side Gasjer at HRC on a consistent basis. Even before the fuel injected bike, Coppins did well but never had a great teammate. 

Seems like they can do no wrong in 2026

 

Still surprises me to see Honda 1/2 at MXGP... It's been SO long since Honda was able to do this at MXGP! 


Not as long as you think! Also Tim looked soooo good on the Honda last year before his injury. I really really hope he gets paid very well at Yamaha lol.

Honda1.png?VersionId=R7dbJGy15lomPu69aKB7pYZ3rFC

 

2
Brent
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8/3/2026 11:34am Edited Date/Time 8/3/2026 11:37am
PRM31 wrote:

Is it the clutch overheating?

Are any of the other HRC riders having the same issue? 

unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the bike from the 84.

small army of Honda technicians were with Jeffery all day on Wednesday at Heerde in NL conducting electronics testing - apparently they were live streaming data to HRC Japan while Herlings was doing long motos. 

Im told JH is very hard on the bike, apparently they have not had to deal with this level of wear and tear on the motors before he came to the team.

7
1
philG
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8/3/2026 1:45pm
joelsmx wrote:
It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is...

It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is crazy, well done to him

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

3
Money
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8/3/2026 4:17pm
PRM31 wrote:

Is it the clutch overheating?

Are any of the other HRC riders having the same issue? 

Brent wrote:
unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the...

unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the bike from the 84.

small army of Honda technicians were with Jeffery all day on Wednesday at Heerde in NL conducting electronics testing - apparently they were live streaming data to HRC Japan while Herlings was doing long motos. 

Im told JH is very hard on the bike, apparently they have not had to deal with this level of wear and tear on the motors before he came to the team.

That’s pretty badass if they were live streaming data back to Japan.

8/3/2026 9:46pm

Points gap with 5 rounds to go 

MXGP 

675 = Jeffrey Herlings 
-104 = Romain Febvre 
-109 = Lucas Coenen 
-141 = Tim Gajser 
-225 = Andrea Adamo 
-229 = Ruben Fernandez 
-250 = Maxime Renaux 
-266 = Tom Vialle 
-330 = Kay De Wolf 
-402 = Pauls Jonass 

MX2 

668 = Guillem Farres 
-47 = Sacha Coenen 
-60 = Camden Mc Lellan 
-70 = Simon Längenfelder 
-126 = Liam Everts 
-156 = Janis Reisulis 
-252 = Karlis Reisulis 
-313 = Valerio Lata
-316 = Mathis Valin 
-356 = Julius Mikula 

EMX250 (3 rounds left) 

352 = Francisco Garcia 
-74 = Nicolai Skovbjerg 
-94 = Jake Cannon 
-119 = Gyan Doensen 
-147 = Mads Fredsoe 
-173 = Nicolo Alvisi 
-200 = Liam Owens
-201 = Tom Brunet
-210 = Bernardo Tiburcio 
-212 = Jekabs Kubulins 
 

2
Bearuno
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AU
8/3/2026 9:57pm Edited Date/Time 8/3/2026 9:58pm
Brent wrote:
unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the...

unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the bike from the 84.

small army of Honda technicians were with Jeffery all day on Wednesday at Heerde in NL conducting electronics testing - apparently they were live streaming data to HRC Japan while Herlings was doing long motos. 

Im told JH is very hard on the bike, apparently they have not had to deal with this level of wear and tear on the motors before he came to the team.

Herlings comment  ( not verbatim) about how his Clutch would be perfect / like new, when opened up, seems to confirm your info. I thought that perhaps it was just the hydraulics, but felt that was weird to be Not an easily fixed problem.

But Electrics - well, that's another thing entirely - it's Voodoo to me. And, at times, perhaps to massive corporations🤔

And yes, the abuse to an Engine System , well, the whole Bike, at a place like Lommel, by a rider(s) of the level of JH, is otherworldly.

1
Cortami79
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NL
8/4/2026 12:52pm
ATKpilot99 wrote:

And to think , a healthy Lucas Coenen probably would have be about 10 seconds in front of him !

Brent wrote:
I disagree.I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total...

I disagree.

I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total domination I saw from Herlings Sunday was nothing short of incredible.

His bike broke during Saturday qualifying twice, but he still managed fast time and a win despite the problems.

His Sunday performance in the motos was Jett Lawrence x2-  no active rider on this earth would have gotten near him, Lawrence’s or Coenen or Prado or even Tomac in his prime. 

I have never seen anything like it. 
Downvote away but I was there to see it in person up close, and I’m still stunned…

I have seen a whole lot of performances of him live, since him riding on the 85cc back in 2008. Grand Prix's, Dutch Masters, Regional races, training sessions. And I agree with you 100%, it was unreal. Just because we've seen a lot of dominant rides the past years, we seem to get used to it. But in reality this was an amazing performance of him, just brilliant. And you could definitely see that he could have gone even faster if his bike didn't hold him back. The only mistake i've seen him make this entire weekend was that small tipover in the qualifying race

1
Cortami79
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1968
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NL
8/4/2026 12:52pm
joelsmx wrote:
It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is...

It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is crazy, well done to him

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

philG wrote:

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

I agree! I love to see a privateer team working hard to give these young talents a shot and help them out as much as possible. It's a shame I cannot attend Arnhem, would have rooted for you guys

3
8/4/2026 12:54pm
ATKpilot99 wrote:

And to think , a healthy Lucas Coenen probably would have be about 10 seconds in front of him !

Brent wrote:
I disagree.I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total...

I disagree.

I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total domination I saw from Herlings Sunday was nothing short of incredible.

His bike broke during Saturday qualifying twice, but he still managed fast time and a win despite the problems.

His Sunday performance in the motos was Jett Lawrence x2-  no active rider on this earth would have gotten near him, Lawrence’s or Coenen or Prado or even Tomac in his prime. 

I have never seen anything like it. 
Downvote away but I was there to see it in person up close, and I’m still stunned…

Cortami79 wrote:
I have seen a whole lot of performances of him live, since him riding on the 85cc back in 2008. Grand Prix's, Dutch Masters, Regional races...

I have seen a whole lot of performances of him live, since him riding on the 85cc back in 2008. Grand Prix's, Dutch Masters, Regional races, training sessions. And I agree with you 100%, it was unreal. Just because we've seen a lot of dominant rides the past years, we seem to get used to it. But in reality this was an amazing performance of him, just brilliant. And you could definitely see that he could have gone even faster if his bike didn't hold him back. The only mistake i've seen him make this entire weekend was that small tipover in the qualifying race

Do you think it was better than his MX2 Leirop ride? Nearly lapping the field. 

1
mxxxeR1
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517
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Location
NL
8/4/2026 1:22pm
Brent wrote:
I disagree.I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total...

I disagree.

I’ve been coming to Lommel for a few years now, and I’ve seen the amazing speed of Lucas and Kay in person, but the total domination I saw from Herlings Sunday was nothing short of incredible.

His bike broke during Saturday qualifying twice, but he still managed fast time and a win despite the problems.

His Sunday performance in the motos was Jett Lawrence x2-  no active rider on this earth would have gotten near him, Lawrence’s or Coenen or Prado or even Tomac in his prime. 

I have never seen anything like it. 
Downvote away but I was there to see it in person up close, and I’m still stunned…

Cortami79 wrote:
I have seen a whole lot of performances of him live, since him riding on the 85cc back in 2008. Grand Prix's, Dutch Masters, Regional races...

I have seen a whole lot of performances of him live, since him riding on the 85cc back in 2008. Grand Prix's, Dutch Masters, Regional races, training sessions. And I agree with you 100%, it was unreal. Just because we've seen a lot of dominant rides the past years, we seem to get used to it. But in reality this was an amazing performance of him, just brilliant. And you could definitely see that he could have gone even faster if his bike didn't hold him back. The only mistake i've seen him make this entire weekend was that small tipover in the qualifying race

Do you think it was better than his MX2 Leirop ride? Nearly lapping the field. 

Herlings simply takes fewer risks than he did back in lierop then ,...he didn't just want to win then ....he wanted to humiliate the others too......So,  while he might be less spectaccular now...he is actually better

1
Brent
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8/5/2026 12:00am Edited Date/Time 8/5/2026 12:01am

Do you think it was better than his MX2 Leirop ride? Nearly lapping the field. 

Good question, but considering who he is racing against this season is a factor.

Apparently he had to back it down in both motos to get the bike over the finish line, I have not looked at lap charts, but his first six or eight laps of both motos were crazy fast, you could see after about lap eight he was slowing down significantly to save the bike.

1
8/5/2026 2:38am
Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

philG wrote:

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

Cortami79 wrote:
I agree! I love to see a privateer team working hard to give these young talents a shot and help them out as much as possible...

I agree! I love to see a privateer team working hard to give these young talents a shot and help them out as much as possible. It's a shame I cannot attend Arnhem, would have rooted for you guys

Thanks, much appreciated. We try our best.

4
Sc2
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410
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Location
GB
8/5/2026 3:28am
Brent wrote:
unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the...

unofficial speculation from other un named mechanics at Lommel is that electronics and sensors are possibly getting fried due to the extreme load placed on the bike from the 84.

small army of Honda technicians were with Jeffery all day on Wednesday at Heerde in NL conducting electronics testing - apparently they were live streaming data to HRC Japan while Herlings was doing long motos. 

Im told JH is very hard on the bike, apparently they have not had to deal with this level of wear and tear on the motors before he came to the team.

Bearuno wrote:
Herlings comment  ( not verbatim) about how his Clutch would be perfect / like new, when opened up, seems to confirm your info. I thought that...

Herlings comment  ( not verbatim) about how his Clutch would be perfect / like new, when opened up, seems to confirm your info. I thought that perhaps it was just the hydraulics, but felt that was weird to be Not an easily fixed problem.

But Electrics - well, that's another thing entirely - it's Voodoo to me. And, at times, perhaps to massive corporations🤔

And yes, the abuse to an Engine System , well, the whole Bike, at a place like Lommel, by a rider(s) of the level of JH, is otherworldly.

In other words, he has ridden that Honda like it's never been ridden before 😅 

Never had that problem with ktm

Maybe, have a  sneak look inside a ktm for some answers 

 

2
joelsmx
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Castleford, GB
Fantasy
8/5/2026 5:02am
joelsmx wrote:
It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is...

It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is crazy, well done to him

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

He caught my eye at Loket with some good starts, in my opinion he’s an easy choice for the Swedish MXoN team. Malin kept saying about how Lommel was his 2nd GP of the year, so I got confused. Hopefully he’ll do a full season of MX2 next year, I think he’s got the speed for consistent top 15s 

2
joelsmx
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Castleford, GB
Fantasy
8/5/2026 5:15am
joelsmx wrote:
It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is...

It’ll fly under the radar, but what a weekend for Alve Callemo in MX2, 8-10 for 8th OA in his 2nd GP of the year is crazy, well done to him

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

philG wrote:

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

Wish I could upvote this more than once, too many riders stay in EMX to try and prove themselves despite already having speed in MX2 which will help them prove themselves better. The Mikula pathway was very good and worked well for him 

3
DeStouwer
Posts
3586
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Location
BE
8/5/2026 5:38am
Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. He is...

Thanks for noticing! Alve rides for our team. It actually was his 4th GP of the year and he did a couple of EMX rounds. 

He is very young (17) and it is his first year on the 250, but he is learning very fast and getting used to ride at this speed as well. Funny thing is that he is not a sand specialist, his favourite type of soil is more like what we had at Loket last week.

At Sweden he will do the EMX250 and at Arnhem MX2, hopefully he can show himself again to get good support for next year. 
At the moment he is a privateer in Sweden (he does the mechanic works on the training bikes himself during the week) and is helped by Tim Edberg, while we help him at the GPs.

philG wrote:

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

joelsmx wrote:
Wish I could upvote this more than once, too many riders stay in EMX to try and prove themselves despite already having speed in MX2 which...

Wish I could upvote this more than once, too many riders stay in EMX to try and prove themselves despite already having speed in MX2 which will help them prove themselves better. The Mikula pathway was very good and worked well for him 

I think Mikula went straight from EMX125 to MX2, didn't he? I remember him racing Lommel on a GasGas 125 in TLD gear a few years ago, he was ripping it already.

1
8/5/2026 7:46am
philG wrote:

Hold onto him, dont let him get bogged down in EMX.   He has GP speed, let him show it. 

joelsmx wrote:
Wish I could upvote this more than once, too many riders stay in EMX to try and prove themselves despite already having speed in MX2 which...

Wish I could upvote this more than once, too many riders stay in EMX to try and prove themselves despite already having speed in MX2 which will help them prove themselves better. The Mikula pathway was very good and worked well for him 

DeStouwer wrote:
I think Mikula went straight from EMX125 to MX2, didn't he? I remember him racing Lommel on a GasGas 125 in TLD gear a few years...

I think Mikula went straight from EMX125 to MX2, didn't he? I remember him racing Lommel on a GasGas 125 in TLD gear a few years ago, he was ripping it already.

I believe he did, I remember when he was at tiny lad riding EMX125 when he was using his original #451. Plenty of style and a hard charger. Hard not to root for the kid. 

1
philG
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GB
8/5/2026 8:01am

Had a brief chat with Ben Watson and Billy Askew yesterday,  at the Oneal 27 launch day, Billy has never raced Lommel, and said that it actually got easier for him as the day went on as he went searching for lines early , rather than waiting till too late in the race, in Moto 2 , and Ben said that he was trying to be smooth and mistake free in the first 3/4 of the lap to save his energy to throw everything at the loop round the pond, because that was where he knew he could take massive time if he got it right. He passed Fernandez on pit lane for a second, as he came down from orbit, but obviously Fernadez was hard on the gas at that point , and there wasnt a chance to get him before the line. 

Be interesting to see how they go this weekend at Duns, its going to be wet by all accounts. 

 

shuggs
Posts
1827
Joined
8/6/2008
Location
Dunfermline, GB
8/5/2026 8:06am
philG wrote:
Had a brief chat with Ben Watson and Billy Askew yesterday,  at the Oneal 27 launch day, Billy has never raced Lommel, and said that it...

Had a brief chat with Ben Watson and Billy Askew yesterday,  at the Oneal 27 launch day, Billy has never raced Lommel, and said that it actually got easier for him as the day went on as he went searching for lines early , rather than waiting till too late in the race, in Moto 2 , and Ben said that he was trying to be smooth and mistake free in the first 3/4 of the lap to save his energy to throw everything at the loop round the pond, because that was where he knew he could take massive time if he got it right. He passed Fernandez on pit lane for a second, as he came down from orbit, but obviously Fernadez was hard on the gas at that point , and there wasnt a chance to get him before the line. 

Be interesting to see how they go this weekend at Duns, its going to be wet by all accounts. 

 

The weather up here has been pants for the past week or so, flash floods yesterday, grey wet & miserable this morning and now sun is splitting the trees 🤷‍♂️

Brent
Posts
5857
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Temecula, CA, USA
8/5/2026 8:54am
Sc2 wrote:
In other words, he has ridden that Honda like it's never been ridden before 😅 Never had that problem with ktmMaybe, have a  sneak look inside a...

In other words, he has ridden that Honda like it's never been ridden before 😅 

Never had that problem with ktm

Maybe, have a  sneak look inside a ktm for some answers 

 

word from Heerde was that HRC Japan technicians claimed they have not had a rider push the bike to these levels before, who knows if it's accurate.

KTM had 17 years to learn how Herlings rides and what he breaks, so they have an advantage in durability.    

That said, I think JH is going faster on the Honda than he did on the KTM maybe?

I watched Garabouldi Honda riders at Bergham NL in the hard sand today (Wednesday) with Vialle and Lata testing -Tom looked good, but the fastest guy today appeared to be Liam Everts, followed by De Wolf and surprisingly EMX 500 Ducati rider Victor Alonzo from Spain.

Herlings was allegedly  at Arnhem Wednesday doing testing, but I didn't see anyone out when I drove by the track...

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