DIRT NEWS

Jeffrey Herlings was fast from the very first GP gate drop in his new Honda HRC Petronas team, posting a 1-1 scoresheet in the main races and bringing up his 113th GP win. The weekend didn’ t start as flash though, crashing in the qualifying race and missing out on the bonus points. With teammate Tom Vialle instead swooping on those points, his 1-2-4 tally sees him and Herlings tied on 50 after the first foray of the season. For a man who played down his chances earlier, stating father time was also working against him, any of the new generation who were hoping he may have slowed by a percent or two were left with a reality check. Herlings means business and he is not waiting to stamp his mark on 2026. Gauntlet thrown, who is

going to pick up the challenge? In the current company, pretty much all of them. The Petronas duo have started how they intend to roll all season and with that level of talent and a result like that, confidence is flowing in the Honda camp, winning is contagious, so we are looking forward to a tail-up Herlings coming out swinging again in the next round. Vialle will be keen to swap the order but one thing is for sure, the experienced( can’ t call him old yet) campaigner knows every trick and line in the book. He used them all in the second moto where he got bumped back to tenth but put his head down and was ruthless, making the final pass for the win at the last minute. He wanted that red plate.

14 KIWI RIDER